What is jerk?

Question: What is jerk?

What is the jerk food that is popular in Jamaica and the Caribbean?

Answer: Jerk is the process of spicing and grilling meats, poultry, and even vegetables, although the most popular are jerk pork and jerk chicken. The resulting food yields a spicy-sweet flavor and a tender texture. Jerk is also used as a noun when describing the dry or wet seasoning mix used to jerk a particular food. Jerk shacks thrive on the side of the road in Jamaica as a local fast-food industry.

Be forewarned, if you cannot handle spicy-hot foods, jerk may not be for you. Deletion of the chile pepper vastly changes the end product, and it's just not jerk without the heat! Take a look at the three most important ingredients of jerk seasoning before trying an authentic Jamaican jerk recipe.

More About Jamaican Jerk Foods:

• Important Jerk Ingredients
• What is jerk?
• Jerk History
• Authentic Jamaican Jerk Sauce Recipe
• Jamaican Jerk Pork in the Oven Recipe
_{Jamaican Jerk Pork Photo © 2006 Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, licensed to About.com, Inc.}