{"id":4434,"date":"2018-03-23T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=4434"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:46","slug":"jamaican-easter-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/23\/jamaican-easter-bread\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 23, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Google and Wikipedia and Bing have all let me down!<\/p>\n

Often when I\u2019m writing a blog, I\u2019ll do a search or two to shore up some facts.<\/p>\n

In this instance, I was trying to find a picture of a product and to confirm my understanding of exactly what it is.\u00a0 That product is New Sugar.<\/p>\n

My searches turned up nothing.<\/p>\n

Back in college, I would buy new sugar on trips to the West Indies.\u00a0 The stuff I bought was sold in cans.\u00a0 It was dark brown, partially crystalized and partially a thick liquid.\u00a0 It was not as dark or as thick as molasses.\u00a0 My recollection is that new sugar is basically sugar cane juice boiled down until it thickens and some of the sugar crystallizes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what my recipe for Jamaican Easter Bread (aka \u201cBun\u201d) calls for.<\/p>\n

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Long ago, when my meager supplies of new sugar were exhausted and I was no longer going to the West Indies on a regular basis, I created a substitute for new sugar that fooled even my Jamaican friends.\u00a0 (Hint, it\u2019s in the recipe below.)<\/p>\n

If my recipes contain a substitute for a difficult-to-find ingredient, I like to make the substitution clear and to provide directions on how to use the original ingredient if available.<\/p>\n

In my blog entries, I try to provide some sort of personal or cultural or social context for each recipe.\u00a0 In this instance, I wanted to highlight new sugar.<\/p>\n

I was about to give up when I tried different search terms.\u00a0 I had only known it as New Sugar, but, finally, searching on \u201cWet Sugar\u201d got me one website<\/a> that had what I was looking for.<\/p>\n

The website confirmed my understanding of what new sugar, aka wet sugar, is:\u00a0 boiled sugar cane juice.\u00a0 It also confirmed that it is much more difficult to find than it was 30-50 years ago.\u00a0 I hate to admit it, but I was buying new sugar more than 40 years ago!<\/p>\n

My recipe for Bun (that\u2019s really what it\u2019s called in Jamaica\u2026just Bun) came from Valrie Tracey a Jamaican friend from college.\u00a0 Valrie and I and my roommate, Ray Hugh from Guyana, were close friends in college.\u00a0 Though I\u2019ve lost touch with Valrie, Ray and I are still in touch via Facebook.\u00a0 And, yes, her name is spelled Valrie, apparently due to an error on her birth certificate as her parents intended for her name to be Valerie!<\/p>\n

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In addition to new sugar, Valrie\u2019s recipe called for \u201cMixed Spice,\u201d a commonly used mixture in the cooking of Britain and many former British colonies.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like using spice combinations that I haven\u2019t made myself, like pumpkin pie spice or curry powder.\u00a0 If the brand goes out of existence or changes its formula one can\u2019t recreate the dish exactly the same way again.\u00a0 For that reason, starting in college, I worked out my own formulas for spice mixtures that I used on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

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Valrie Tracey in 1975<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rather than have you make a batch of Mixed Spice before making a batch of Bun, I added the individual spices, in the correct amounts, to the recipe.<\/p>\n

After resurrecting this recipe from one of my two 5 x 7 metal index card boxes of recipes that I started back in college and sharing the Bun with a number of friends, I began to seriously wonder why I hadn\u2019t made it in over 40 years!<\/p>\n

I can assure you, I won\u2019t wait long to make it again.<\/p>\n

I like to toast the Bun and add some butter and jam but in Jamaica it would often be served with a wedge of cheese.\u00a0 However you serve it, I\u2019m certain you\u2019ll enjoy it.<\/p>\n

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If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com<\/a> and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven\u2019t seen Bertha\u2019s Flan<\/a> or Melinda\u2019s Drunken Prunes<\/a>, take a look.\u00a0 They will give you an idea of what I\u2019m looking for.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)<\/h2>\n
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If you can find new sugar (also known as wet sugar) you can use 2 \u00bd cups of new sugar in place of the brown sugar and molasses. The dough for this version of Bun is quite wet, more like cake batter than bread dough. When I was making this back in college days and had to mix it by hand, I added enough flour to make a dough that could be kneaded. With a stand mixer, I allow the mixture to be wet. You might want to try both variations and see which you prefer.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span> 30 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>4 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>4<\/span> loaves<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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