Making Ja'merican Jerk step 2

[TNAndy]

My wife and I are big fans of Jamaica. We've been there enough times they call us Ja'mericans. We'd like to bring a little taste of the Island home.

One of the essential ingredients in making Jamaican (or Ja'merican) Jerk is it is grilled/smoked over Pimento wood. In the same way we would use Hickory, Mesquite, Apple wood, Pecan, etc, for BBQ, the Jamaicans use Pimento wood for Jerk. BTW, Pimento and Allspice are the same thing, although allspice usually refers to the berries rather than the tree or wood. Unfortunately the native Pimento trees have been over-harvested and the Jamaican Government has severely limited exporting it and has restricted its harvest.

Happily, I am growing a Pimento tree in my sunroom. I save every leaf, twig, or curl of bark that falls off the tree. I've accumulated about half a dozen plastic grocery bags full. It should be enough for at least one batch.

Hurdle number two: How do I turn all of this plant material into pellets I can feed to my Traeger grill? Obviously there are commercial sized pelletizers that turn hickory trees into pellets, but I don't need one that big and I don't want to spend a fortune to buy it. I can snip the twigs into pellet-like sized bits, but what about all those leaves?

Are there binder chemicals or agents used in making wood pellets or does it all have to do with how much pressure they use to cram the wood into pellets?

Does anyone know of suitable pelletizer machines? Any and all suggestions are welcome. TIA!

 

[RayClem]

You might want to use a relatively mild wood pellet (oak, maple, or pecan) as your fuel. Then use your pimento "gold" in a smoke tube to add the pimento flavor to the jerk cook. Trying to turn your pimento leaves and stems into pellets would be too much effort.

There are two very similar words that are often confused. There is pimento which is a cherry pepper of the species Capsicum annuum. Capsicum peppers and tomatoes, eggplants, etc. are part of the nightshade family.

The other word is pimenta. Allspice is the berry of the pimenta dioica tree. While allspice is a single spice, it has some of the same chemical compounds found in cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Thus it was given the name allspice. Jamaica produces some of the world's finest allspice, so it is no wonder that allspice is central to the Jamaican jerk seasoning.

Another species of the pimenta family is pimenta racemosa. This is often called the West Indian Bay tree. This is the tree that gives us the bay rum fragrance. According to legend, pirates returning from sea would soak the leaves of pimenta racemosa in rum and splash it liberally over their bodies to mask the strong body odor of weeks at sea. The leaves can also be used in cooking.

Do not confuse the West Indian Bay tree with the bay leaves often found in Mediterranean cooking. These are the leaves of the Bay Laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). The reference to noble (crown) in the name comes from the ancient practice of fashioning wreathes of laurel leaves to crown victors of military campaigns and athletic competitions such as the Olympic Games. Similar terms are noble laureate and poet laureate.