Jamaican Allspice Berries

Add whole berries to mulling spices and pickling brines, where they release flavor slowly during a long simmer and get strained out before serving. This is where keeping them whole actually matters: ground allspice would cloud a liquid and can't be removed the same way.

They're also traditional in real Jamaican jerk cooking, where the berries get tossed directly into the coals alongside pimento wood, letting the smoke itself carry allspice flavor into the meat as it cooks. For everyday savory dishes like chili or curry, whole berries work too, simmered in and removed at the end, though if you want the flavor built directly into the dish, our ground allspice incorporates faster.

Novo Coffee sources their allspice from us for a spiced, housemade syrup also including cinnamon and clove.

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When Janet and I traveled to Jamaica in 2014, we visited a small restaurant tucked into the hill country east of Negril. It was a true farm-to-table spot, surrounded by the very fields that supplied its kitchen. There, we got to see and touch green allspice berries before they were picked and dried into the spice we know and love. Allspice has always been one of my personal favorites, so it was pretty cool to finally see it growing in person.

A year later, in the Ocho Rios area, we learned how locals use every part of the pimento tree to create the most authentic jerk chicken. The wood and leaves fuel the fire, and dried allspice berries are tossed in to perfume the smoke. The chicken was slow-cooked over pimento wood above cinder block pits, covered with a sheet of metal roofing to trap in the flavor, then finished over direct heat. The care that goes into jerk is incredible. The allspice tree truly gives everything it has, from berry to leaf to wood, to create that signature flavor.

We also learned that locals sometimes call allspice “clove pepper,” which makes perfect sense. Its flavor is often described as a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove, giving it warmth and depth that works in both sweet and savory dishes.

Using allspice at home: Add a dash of ground allspice to rice while fluffing, or make our coconut rice (link) with a hint of allspice for a subtle layer of warm that will complement jerk chicken beautifully.

Allspice originates in Jamaica, where it's long been central to Caribbean cooking and jerk seasoning specifically. It was originally called pimento, and later Jamaica pepper or Myrtle pepper, before "allspice" became the common name, a nod to its flavor reading like a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves all at once, even though it comes from a single tree, botanically known as Pimenta dioica.

In Jamaica, allspice wood, leaves, and berries all get used together, the wood and leaves fuel the fire for jerk cooking, while the dried berries get tossed in to perfume the smoke. It's one of the few spices where the whole plant, not just the part you cook with, plays a role in the flavor it's known for. Allspice remains a main ingredient in our Jamaican Jerk Seasoning today.

Jamaican Allspice Berries Q&A

What are allspice berries?

Jamaican allspice berries are the dried, unripe fruit of the Pimenta dioica tree, native to Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Allspice grown on the island of Jamaica specifically is widely considered the best quality available.

How many allspice berries in a teaspoon?

This varies depending on the size of the berries, but a teaspoon typically holds somewhere between 5 and 15 whole berries.

How much ground allspice is one berry?

One whole berry doesn't yield much on its own, roughly 1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice is equivalent to about 5 to 6 whole berries, depending on their size. If you're baking and want a precise, consistent measurement every time, our ground Jamaican allspice skips the conversion math entirely.

Should I use whole or ground allspice?

Whole berries are the better choice for anything simmered and strained, mulling spices, pickling brines, stocks, and traditional jerk cooking, since they can be removed before serving and hold their flavor longer in storage. Ground allspice is the better choice for baking and anything where the spice needs to blend directly into the dish rather than being removed.