WEST INDIAN DELICACIES.
As I have lived in Bermuda nearly all my life, and have also
visited the West Indies, I shall endeavor to give a short de
scription of the uncommon articles of food I have seen in the
two places, which so far as I know are peculiar to the two
peoples.
In the first place we will consider those articles which are
peculiar to the people of the West Indies. These will be the
pepper-pot, stuffed red peppers, bread fruit and sugar cane.
To make the pepper-pot a couple of ducks are killed, cut up
in small pieces and stewed for four or five hours in an iron
pot.. Just before the pot is removed from the fire some red
peppers are thrown in and about a quart of cassareippe (a
West Indian hot sauce containing some alcohol) is poured
over the contents. The pot is then allowed to cool.' It is
encased in white linen, and is daily warmed and set on the
dinner table. As the contents of the pepper-pot are supposed
to be very rich food it is partaken of • sparingly. Unserved
odds and ends of meat or poultry which are left over from the
daily meals are thrown into it, and from time to time more
cassareippe is added. Thus the pepper-pot once started is
not allowed to run out, sometimes for six months.
Another favorite dish for the West Indians is stuffed red
peppers. The peppers used this are extra large, some
being five inches long and two and a half inches across the
stem end. They are cored, stuffed with bread crumbs, herbs
and spices, and then baked.
The. two articles, pepper-pot and baked peppers, are deli
cacies. There are, however, two unusual articles of food
which are used by the . masses, namely, sugar cane and bread
fruit. The first of these, sugar cane,—strange as it may seem
to us Northerners—is the principal food of the negro laborers
during the harvesting season. The secoid, bread fruit, is a
large green fruit with white, pulpy flesh. This fruit is baked
and used by the laboring classes In the place of bread.
West Indian Delicacies.