Spices and Sauces
We hand-blend our own artisanal spices and pepper sauces.
You can have them!
HISTORY
Jerk originated in Portland, Jamaica when the eastern mountain free Maroons and escaped African slaves would hunt wild boar. Copying preservation techniques from native Arawak Indians they would season, wrap, bury and cook the meat long and slow in shallow coal holes to avoid detection by British and Spanish soldiers. The complex seasoning process used available spices and herbs, such as allspice berries, bird peppers, and wild thyme, wrapped with leaves to keep the meat moist and succulent. By the end of slavery, Maroons had perfected the cooking method to include scotch bonnet peppers on open fire pits with pimento or sweet-wood sticks for additional flavor. This is the method followed to this day in Jamaica.
By the 1960s, Jerk cuisine evolved to include Pan chicken cooked over salvaged steel drums. Innovative street chefs cut the drums in half and used this new technique to mass appeal on the sidewalks of Kingston.
Here in the U.S., Union Jerk brings the centuries-old traditional Jerk experience from the islands to your doorsteps.
The Union Jerk name was inspired by founder Cham Williams' dual Jamaican and British heritage. Cham spent many summers as a child with his grandparents in Portland where they exposed him to jerk seasonings and the uses of the green and dried pimento (allspice) berries. He and business partner Dusty Huellemeier, who spent his childhood in the U.S. Virgin Islands, bonded over their shared passion for cooking, Ska and 2 Tone music and a mutual respect for hot peppers. Union Jerk is their way to share the flavor of the islands!