
Middle Quarters Pepper Shrimp
Whole shrimp cooked hard with scotch bonnet and salt until stained red and addictive.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 30 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Course
- Snack
Ingredients
- Whole shrimp700 g
- Garlic5 cloves
- Thyme4 sprigs
- Salt2 tbsp
Preparation
- 1
Boil the shrimp briefly in heavily salted water with the peppers and thyme.
- 2
Drain, then return to the pan with garlic and a little oil.
- 3
Cook hard for 5 minutes until the shells colour deeply.
Nutrition
Nutrition per serving · Calculated
- calories
- 198 kcal
- protein
- 32 g
- carbs
- 3 g
- fat
- 6 g
- fiber
- 0.6 g
- sugars
- 1 g
- sodium
- 1480 mg

Scotch Bonnet
Caribbean PantryThe soul of Caribbean heat: a lantern-shaped pepper whose perfume matters as much as its fire.
- Origin
- Amazon basin, carried through the Antilles by Arawak and Taíno peoples
- Flavour
- Fruity, apricot-like sweetness followed by a slow, blooming heat
- Calories / 100g
- 40 kcal
- Seasonality
- Year-round, peak July to November
The story behind this ingredient
Named for its resemblance to a Tam o' Shanter bonnet, the Scotch bonnet travelled from the Amazon basin through the Antilles long before Columbus. It became the signature of Jamaican jerk pits, Haitian pikliz jars and Trinidadian pepper sauces — a pepper used less for punishment than for perfume, always paired with allspice, thyme and citrus.
This ingredient means something to them

André Clarke
Jamaica · Pimento-wood fire cooking
“My grandmother judged a pepper by its smell, never its heat.”
Meet the chef
Marie-Lourdes Jean
Haiti · Epis and Haitian slow cooking
“Pikliz taught me that heat is patience, not violence.”
Meet the chef
Devon Alleyne
Bahamas · Conch and coastal cooking
“You hear a good conch salad before you taste it.”
Meet the chefWant to go further?
You discovered the ingredient. Now learn how to master it.

Scotch Bonnet Masterclass
Three hours inside the pepper: fresh, roasted, fermented and infused. Build a jerk marinade, a pepper sauce and a pikliz from scratch.
- Sat, 12 Sept 2026, 18:00 · 180 min
- Kingston, Jamaica · In person · JMD 9 500

Pikliz & Epis: the Haitian base
Build the two preparations every Haitian kitchen keeps ready, and learn how to store them.
- Sun, 27 Sept 2026, 17:30 · 120 min
- Online · Online · $35

Conch & Coastal Cooking
Cleaning, tenderising and serving conch, with a focus on sustainable sourcing.
- Sat, 14 Nov 2026, 15:00 · 180 min
- Nassau, Bahamas · In person · $80
