Callaloo

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Name variations

 * Caribbean spinach

About Callaloo
Wikipedia Article About Callaloo on Wikipedia

Spelled half a dozen different ways, this colorful word turns up in Jamaican records as early as 1696. This leafy, spinach-like vegetable is typically prepared as one would prepare turnip or collard greens. This variety of callaloo Amaranthus viridis, better known as Chinese spinach or Indian kale, should not be confused with the callaloo found in the eastern Caribbean, which refers to the leaves of the dasheen plant.

Callaloo (sometimes calaloo) (Trinidad and Tobago) or pepperpot (Jamaica and Guyana) is a Caribbean dish, the main ingredient of which is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth (known by many local names including callaloo or bhaji), or taro or Xanthosoma species (both known by many local names including callaloo, coco, tannia, or dasheen bush). Because the leaf vegetable used in some regions may be locally called "callaloo" or "callaloo bush", some confusion can arise among the different vegetables and with the dish itself. Outside of the Caribbean, spinach is occasionally used.