Spices are used to flavour food. Some spices come from the roots of plants (ginger); some from the leaves (oregano, coriander); some from the fruit (chilli); and others from the seeds (chilli, coriander). Before refrigeration, spices were often used to disguise the flavour of meat that was not-so-fresh.  Spices that originally came to the Caribbean with people from Africa, China and India have been added to the local Caribbean spices. Foods are seasoned with many different spice mixes. One Jamaican specialty is ‘Jerk’, which is a blend of spices added to meat before grilling. 

Hurricanes are severe tropical storms that begin at sea. Other names for hurricanes include tropical cyclones and typhoons. The winds in a hurricane rotate anti-clockwise and range between 118 and 250 km/h. Hurricanes are rated 1 to 5, with a category 5 hurricane being the fiercest. Sometimes there can be more than one hurricane blowing at the same time, so to avoid confusion they are given names. Until 1979, only girls’ names were used, but now naming alternates between boys’ and girls’ names. Some names used for hurricanes include Bill, Erika and Juan.