A 300-year-old Caribbean style of cooking which is gaining popularity across the country is going to heat up UK barbecues as we move into warmer weather, according to the company that has been supplying the world with Caribbean food for a century.

The Brits love a bit of barbecue action and garden entertaining has soared in popularity over the past couple of years, but the original Jamaican style of cooking is set to give the English barbecue season a boost this year, as UK consumers become more adventurous with their outside entertaining.

‘Jerk’ cooking is rooted in ingredients from Jamaica’s fertile green landscape, and consists of an exotic blend of scallions, onions, scotch bonnet peppers, salt, thyme, allspice, black pepper and many other spices.

“The Jerk flavour is savoury, fragrant, and spicy” says Vandu Patel, Marketing Manager for Grace Foods UK, owned by Grace Kennedy, the largest supplier of Caribbean food and drink worldwide, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

“2022 is a special year for us, but also for Jamaica, which celebrates 60 years of independence, and this has filtered down culturally to countries with the largest Jamaican diasporas, like the UK, with high-profile Jamaican-musicals, art exhibitions, films and plays all proving big hits right now. This love for all things Jamaican is also extending to food choices, so we think 2022 is going to be the year that Brits add some jerk for that burst of flavour and a touch of heat in their barbecue food.”

“People might have heard of jerk chicken before, but the kerk flavour can be added to all kinds of food, and is especially effective with barbecue food” says Patel.

Patel also points to research which shows that UK consumers are keen to try Caribbean food. “A recent survey* found that Caribbean food is creeping up towards mainstream status” he says. ” And almost half of the people polled (46%) picked Caribbean food as the world food they wanted to try.”

To mark its 100th birthday Grace is bringing out a Gold 100th anniversary limited-edition bottles for its popular Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce and Jamaican Jerk Seasoning.

The company is also sharing a range of barbecue recipes to make it super simple for those new to jerk to achieve the Caribbean magic in their cooking, using its bottled jerk sauces and dried spices.

Grace Foods’ market-leading jerk products are available at UK supermarkets and all good World Foods convenience stores nationwide -including:

· Grace Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, 375g

· Grace Jamaican Scotch Bonnet Jerk Seasoning, 300g

· Dunn’s River Jerk Seasoning, 300g

· Dunn’s River Dried Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, 100g

· Dunn’s River Dried Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, 650g

· Encona Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, 142ml

· Encona Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, 220ml

· Encona Jamaican-style Jerk BBQ Sauce, 285ml Squeezy pack