Quote Originally Posted by noproblem View Post
You could all be having a reaction to not quite ripe Akee. It happened to me when I first started going to JA. With me it doesn't matter if it's ripe or not. Makes me sick every time. After figuring that out I have not had a problem since. I love the taste but for me it's the forbidden fruit. See below..

The unripened or inedible portions of the fruit contain the toxins hypoglycin A and hypoglycin B. Hypoglycin A is found in both the seeds and the arils, while hypoglycin B is found only in the seeds.[4] Hypoglycin is converted in the body to methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid (MCPA). Hypoglycin and MCPA are both toxic. MCPA inhibits several enzymes involved in the breakdown of acyl CoA compounds. Hypoglycin binds irreversibly to coenzyme A, carnitine and carnitine acyltransferases I and II[10] reducing their bioavailability and consequently inhibiting beta oxidation of fatty acids. Beta oxidation normally provides the body with ATP, NADH, and acetyl CoA which is used to supplement the energy produced by glycolysis. Glucose stores are consequently depleted leading to hypoglycemia.[11] Clinically, this condition is called Jamaican vomiting sickness. These effects occur only when the unripe fruit is consumed
And this is why Jamaican children are taught before they can walk to never touch an uncooked ackee. Every parent and adult takes this very seriously and proper handling and cooking is taught to all Jamaicans at an early age. It is also re-taught again in school. This is also why importing fresh ackee is very difficult if not impossible in parts of the world.

Noproblem, since this hits you ripe or unripe, I would assume this is an allergic reaction of some kind and has nothing to do with Hypoglycin found only in the unripe ackee.

To all - If you buy ackee in any restaurant, you can rest assured that it is fully ripe. The cook would become sick if not. Ackee is not the Jamaican National Fruit for no reason and ackee and saltfish is the National Dish. As a matter of fact, ackee and codfish is ranked number 2 in the world by National Geographic survey of national dishes...