What Jamaican breakfast dish combines salted cod with the scrambled flesh of the ackee fruit?

Jamaican ackee and saltfish combines salted cod with the cooked flesh of the ackee fruit.

The saltfish is soaked and boiled to remove excess salt, then sautéed with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and seasonings. Ackee is added near the end because its delicate flesh can break apart easily. When cooked, the fruit resembles scrambled eggs, though it has a distinctive creamy texture and flavor.

Ackee is native to West Africa and was introduced to Jamaica, where it became a defining ingredient. Only the properly ripened yellow arils are eaten; the unripe fruit and other parts can contain hypoglycin toxins. Commercially canned ackee is processed for safety.

The dish is widely recognized as Jamaica’s national dish. It is not a saltfish fritter or a coconut-based fish stew: the defining combination is ackee and salted cod.