I’m going on a cruise for Thanksgiving, and some of the excursions suggest a water-proof camera. Some good friends of mine are lending me their camera for the week.
I’d like to get them a thank you gift from one of the ports of call…the obvious thing (for them) would be wine…but I don’t have a clue what I’m buying. I also don’t know if there is anything good where I’m going.
My friends are very well traveled - they are Canadians living in the states, have lived in the islands and Asia, have backpacked around Europe and Australia…etc etc etc.
They like wine…and beer…and other cultural things. I’d also be open to authentic spices that we can’t easily get in South Florida.
I’m going to:
Labadee, Haiti
Falmouth, Jamaica
Cozumel, Mexico
I realize that I won’t have a lot of time to go shopping in any of these places, so it’ll have to be something that is available to the general masses near the port.
The Caribbean isn’t very good grape growing country; it’s too hot and the sunlight’s too intense to make anything other than a very high alcohol wine with little character.
On the other hand, it’s terrific for growing sugarcane, which after refining, leaves a lot of molasses to be distilled into rum. From what I understand, just about every island has their own distillery and variant on the local style.
The Caribbean isn’t a country. It’s a geographic region with ports of call of several countries, including the US, Mexico, and a host of independent nations.
I’m going to join the chorus and say rum. Mmmm. I would join a Rum Chorus in a heartbeat. Our singing wouldn’t be terribly nuanced or refined, but by golly would we be loud!
Along with Rum, there are many hot sauces made in the Caribbean. My personal favorite is Matouk’s. It is produced in Trinidad & Tobago but is sold throughout the West Indies. I buy a few bottles every year. Be sure to package it carefully; my girlfriend had a bottle break in her luggage once.
It’s a figure of speech where country = land. People might say that Kansas is good wheat growing country knowing full well that it’s a state, not an independent nation.
Hmm. My friends do keep a well stocked bar, but they really are beer/wine people. I think they’d appreciate the rum…but the hot sauce idea is intriguing!
**Kayaker **- can you describe Matouk’s at all? There is hot-for-the-sake-of-being-hot, and there is hot-with-flavor.
-D/a
An authentic, local Jamaican hot sauce is called Pickapeppa. Actually, it isn’t even all that hot, but it IS very flavorful. Kind of A1 meets Tabasco. It is very Jamaican, but it isn’t all that hard to find in the US.
Melinda’s is another great Caribbean hot sauce, and VERY hot. It’s from Belize (not one of your ports of call), but still almost local.
You say that like it’s a BAD thing.
I had one other thought that fits here. Does anyone know if any good spices I should bring back? I like to cook…so if there is anything that I can bring that would be hard to get in South Florida, I can try to take advantage of it.
-D/a
Ponche, think bottled eggnog made with rum, or the Carribbean version of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Each island seems to have their own specific recipe. Ask one of your waiters in the dining room where they would recommend you get some ponche at a shore stop, probably in Jamaica. mrAru knows the good place in St Thomas to go, but I don’t remember him making a booze call in Jamaica.
