Callaloo crop brings Jamaican farm workers a taste of home

In a greenhouse at Foster's Family Farm in North Gower, about 45 kilometres south of Parliament Hill, juvenile tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, romaine and other traditional seedlings wait to be transplanted in nearby fields.

Among the shoots are also plug trays full of delicate callaloo (pronounced kah-lah-loo) plants. 

Callaloo is a leafy green vegetable common in Caribbean dishes. It's especially popular in Jamaica, where it's often steamed with salted cod and spices, sometimes with garlic, onions and tomatoes added. 

Despite its reputation as a flavourful and nutritious superfood, fresh callaloo isn't easy to find in Canada, though major grocery chains and specialty stores do carry the canned variety.

The seasonal agricultural workers who return to Mel Foster's farm each year were missing this familiar taste of home, so a few years ago they suggested he try growing it. Foster agreed.

"With new Canadians coming, it's always a topic of what new vegetables we can grow from their home country that they're familiar with," he said.

This spring, Foster's farm is raising some 14,000 callaloo plants from seeds harvested from last year's crop.

Donovan Carridice is the worker who planted the callaloo seeds this spring.

"It compares to spinach, but it's more juicy and [has] more texture to it," said Carridice, who also extolled the vegetable's health benefits. "When I was a kid … this would make you run and climb the trees."

Foster hadn't even heard of callalloo until the Jamaican workers started singing its praises. At first he was doubtful because of its similarity to redroot pigweed, another member of the amaranth family.

But when he attended the annual Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Niagara Falls, he realized many Ontario growers were experimenting with non-traditional crops, and decided to give callaloo a try.

"Because it gets … an early start in the greenhouse, it takes off well," he said. "Sometimes we wait until the first of June just to be careful."

Foster said he's also relying on the knowledge of his employees.

"We've got the Jamaicans here to tend to it and care for it, and they have the expertise to to grow it," he said.

Carridice also had his doubts that callaloo would grow in eastern Ontario's relatively harsh climate.

"We tried it one year and see that it come," he said, eyeing this year's crop, which will be harvested around Canada Day. "Can't wait to have some."

Carridice has even shared pictures of the callaloo crop with his family back home, and said they were also amazed it could grow here.

Howard Ricketts has been coming from Jamaica for seasonal agricultural work for 16 years. He used to help his father grow callaloo back home, and said he missed it when he first arrived in Canada. 

Now it's like a taste of home, he said. "I don't miss Jamaica … because I'm eating the callaloo."

"It's a very healthy vegetable to eat," enthused Carlington Graham, also from Jamaica. "It's rich in iron and vitamin A."

It also happens to be delicious, he said. "It has a rich taste. To me, it has a better taste than spinach."

Graham remembers his mother preparing callaloo and salted cod for a Sunday meal, and said the crop grown at Foster's farm measures up. 

"It still has the taste that I remember back in the day," he said. "I still remember that delicious taste."

Like Carridice, Graham likes to send pictures of the Canadian callaloo to his family in Jamaica.

"They say, 'Wow, that's surprising, I didn't know you grow callaloo in Canada.' And I say, 'Yes, and it's just like our callaloo back home."

Back when the crop was just getting started, Foster approached the Caribbean diplomatic community to help spread the word.

"They talked to some of their people, and then we started getting people calling … and we're selling more and more," he said.

Now some stores in the Ottawa area are buying his harvest, and the farm sells callaloo at its roadside stands and market stalls.

While he's pleased for his employees, Foster said he hasn't yet developed the same appreciation for callaloo. 

"To be honest, if it didn't have the onions, the garlic and the tomatoes, I probably wouldn't eat it again," he said.