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Taste the Flavors of the Islands

kitchen creole 2

There are so many interesting people on St. John who create amazing products right here on island. Today we’d like to tell you about a husband and wife team that creates some of the island’s most delicious flavors – Kitchen Creole.

Jim McManus arrived on island by way of Alaska with only a backpack and knife kit back in 2001. He started out as a sculptor with fine art degrees from School of the Art Institute of Chicago and The University of Chicago before a lifelong passion for food took him on a working tour of some of the finest kitchens in Chicago.

Inspired by ‘New American cooking,’ he traveled extensively throughout South America, the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as Nepal and Thailand before meeting and marrying his wife Christy on St. John. Together they worked to create Kitchen Creole, a natural culmination of Jim’s decade-long study of the region’s flavors.

Kitchen Creole handcrafts gourmet spices using only fresh, all-natural ingredients. It currently offers seven spices which can be used as rubs or marinades, or as seasoning agents in recipes. A few of their flavors are:

  • Bordeaux Mountain: Porcini mushrooms, fennel, Hickory smoked salt, rosemary and touch of Aleppo Pepper flake (From the Syrian Highlands) are carefully crafted together creating smoky flavors of earth and pine wood.
  • Condado Adobo: Based on the classic adobos of the Spanish Caribbean it is a unique blend of roasted garlic, cumin and coriander as well as Mediterranean and New World oreganos.
  • Jamaican Ire: This is a balance mild blend of Pimiento (Jamaican Allspice berries) smoked Adlerwood Salt and black peppercorns, granulated molasses and orange zest.

(Click here to see all of Kitchen Creole’s flavors.)

Chances are you’ve sampled some of these delicious flavors before, as Jim serves as the chef at Shipwreck Landing in Coral Bay.
Ready to try some of these spices at home? You can taste and/or purchase them at Shipwreck Landing, Full Moon Café, Keep Me Posted and Pickles in Paradise in Coral Bay. You can also find them at Pink Papaya and Sugarbirds Gift Shop in Cruz Bay.

Not visiting the island anytime soon? You can purchase Kitchen Creole’s spices online at www.KitchenCreole.com

Enjoy!


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