Loukoumades – Greece

What stands out about this Greek treat is its heft. Unlike other donut specimens, which are dense, the bonbon-size loukoumades are light and airy — so airy, in fact, that they usually deflate when you take a bite. Most Greek islanders serve the pastries with cinnamon or honey.

Malasadas – Hawaii

Plantation workers from the Madeira islands brought these sugar-covered fried dough balls to Hawaii in the 1800s. Today the donuts are a delicacy, and each island has its favorite shop — on Oahu, it’s Leonard’s; on Maui, it’s the T. Komoda Store and Bakery. Most places sell the goodies by the dozen.

Curry Bread – Japan

This savory spin on donuts is so popular in Japanese culture, a character in the Anpanman series was named Kare Pan Man, or Curry Bread Man. Think of the breads as fried Hot Pockets. Bakers simply wrap curry in dough, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top, and fry away.

Bonelos Aga – Guam

Bananas are plentiful on Guam, and these Chamorro donuts are basically banana fritters. Most bakers fry the goodies until they’re golden brown, then serve them on a platter or in a small bag. Some come with sugar or honey on top; others are filled with jam or yams.

Ensaimada – Spain

Reduced pork lard gives these round pastries their distinct flavor — a hint of bacon mixed with cakey dough and powdered sugar. Thought to have originated on Mallorca, they’ve become an art form on the Balearic Isles.

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Hotness scale: 1 (mild) to 4 (scorching)

Video shot and edited by: Stevan Llewellyn

Adoboloco Hawaiian Pineapple Hot Sauce – Maui, Hawaii

Verdict: This light sauce from Maui was more of a sweet hot. It’s not too heavy on the tongue, with a mild heat.

Rating: 1

Buy it here: Adoboloco Hawaiian Pineapple Hot Sauce

Eaton’s West Indian Hot Mustard Sauce – Jamaica

Verdict: This hot sauce tastes like a spicier version of mustard. It would add a nice kick when added to a sandwich or a pretzel.

Rating: 1

Buy it here: Eaton’s West Indian Hot Mustard Sauce

Aunt May’s Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce – Barbados

Verdict: At first, you won’t taste the heat so much. But Aunt May sneaks up on you, and the heat creeps into your throat. Wait for the kick at the end.

Rating: 2.5

Buy it here: Aunt May’s Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce

Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce – Belize

Verdict: This one is hot. As you taste the hot sauce, you feel the heat building… lingering… with a bite at the end. A few of our panelists likened the flavor to a spicier buffalo sauce (someone even described it as “buffalo sauce on steroids”).

Rating: 3

Buy it here: Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce

Pickapeppa Hot Mango Sauce – Jamaica

Verdict: The heat for this milder sauce is on the sweet side, tasting more like mango than peppers. This was the general favorite flavor for all of our taste testers, but not the hottest hot sauce.

Rating: 2

Buy it here: Pickapeppa Hot Mango Sauce

Real Guyana Original Hot Crushed Pepper – Guyana

Verdict: Don’t let the label (a peaceful scene of a waterfall and a humming bird) fool you. This hot sauce is a straight-up scorcher. Fire-engine red that looks like liquid pepper. The heat starts in our throat and keeps burning. A panelist described the taste as “lighter fluid on my tongue.”

Rating: 4

Matouk’s Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce – Trinidad

Verdict: This hot sauce was definitely the hottest. It mostly left our panel speechless and reaching for yogurt to quell the burn. It makes your “sweat glands start to churn” and even garnered a FIVE on a scale of four for heat level.

Rating: 5 (!)

Buy it here: Matouk’s Trinidad Scorpion Pepper Sauce

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Refined yet relaxing, hot or cold — tea is a great way to drink up the culture of a faraway island. Steep one of these best teas in the world to bring the taste home.

Pearl Milk Tea – Taiwan

Tea fans credit Chun Shui Tang teahouse, in Taichung, as the source of modern bubble tea — which makes Lin Hsiu Hui, the shop’s product development manager, the godmother. Rumor has it that back in 1988, Hsiu Hui was bored in a meeting when she poured sweetened tapioca-pudding balls into her creamy iced milk tea, and the rest is history. Today, what distinguishes Chun Shui Tang bubble teas apart from competitors is that the drinks are shaken, not blended. James Bond would be proud. Make your own version with Bossen milk tea powder and boba pearls.

1837 White Tea – Singapore

Pungent notes of berries and vanilla shine through in this white tea, a signature offering from local tea company, TWG. The year in the name is a nod to when Singapore became a trading post for teas. (Yes, this particular blend has been around that long.)

Mugicha – Japan

Most teas promote health benefits, but the benefits of this tea, made from roasted barley, helps to cleanse the body and promote stronger teeth. In Japan, the dark-brown, caffeine-free beverage is usually served cold, and often with sugar. (In other Asian countries, it’s served hot.) Without sweetener, the tea tastes like hay or flat and hoppy beer. Straight up, it’s most definitely an acquired taste.

Pineapple Tea – Hawaii

Don’t let the name or aroma fool you — though this black tea smells like ripe pineapple, the citrus is used only as flavoring. Instead, the tea is made from camellia sinensis leaves that are high in caffeine and antioxidants. Hawaiian Islands Tea Company makes more than a dozen other flavors, too, including mango, lychee, hibiscus and guava.

Nokcha – Korea

Nokcha means “green tea” in Korean, and that’s precisely what it is. Moderately caffeinated leaves hail from the Jirisan mountain range on the southern coast. To make the tea, the leaves are steamed, then pan-fried to complete the drying process. The result is a savory, almost salty flavor that pairs well with honey.

Bissy Tea – Jamaica

Made from cola nuts, this brown, caffeinated tea has a variety of medicinal properties. Locals have used it for decades to cure food poisoning and recent studies have suggested it could be an anti-cancer agent. If the name of the nut is familiar, it should be — bissy was once used to flavor Coca-Cola.

Soursop Graviola – Thailand

The spiky fruit behind this tea has many names: soursop, guanabana, graviola and more. Whatever you call it, the resulting tea is tangy and naturally sweet, a mix of strawberry and pineapple flavors with a touch of coconut or banana. In Thailand the tea is served hot, and is administered as a remedy for insomnia and other ailments.

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1. Nidar Laban Seigmenn, Norway

Gummy bears in Norway aren’t bears at all — instead, they’re shaped like tiny men rolled in sugar. The iconic candies come in fruity flavors, and variations include sour and licorice. There are even gummy women.

2. Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Biscuits, Scotland

This delicacy is the ultimate vertical treat: four layers of caramel between five layers of biscuits, all enrobed with milk or dark chocolate. Fittingly, St. Andrews University has a Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Appreciation Society, founded in 1982.

3. Virgin Coco Coconut Crispy Rolls, Thailand

The Thai phrase for these crumbly cookies is thong (gold) muan, and giving the treat as a gift conveys a wish for wealth. The goodies are sweet but not too sweet, and they’re also gluten-free.

4. Shigekix, Japan

These round sour gummies will make you pucker up like the mascot on the package. If you can handle the outer layer, the center rewards with a lemon, grape or soda flavor.

5. Charles Chocolates Rum & Raisin, Trinidad and Tobago

Fans of Raisinets will love this candy bar, which blends rum, raisins and milk chocolate. Though developed in T&T, the candy is now available all over the Caribbean.

6. Gofio, Dominican Republic

Think of Gofio like the granular innards of Pixy Stix: It’s actually sweet powder made of roasted and dried cornmeal. In the DR, the origin of the treat, it’s served in paper cones, and some stores add tiny toys or coins as an added surprise. Even Lin-Manuel Miranda is a fan.

7. Chimes Mango Ginger Chews, Indonesia

The recipe for plain ginger chews is simple: ginger, tapioca starch and cane sugar, resulting in a spicy, chewy treat. The addition of mango punches it up — or opt for orange, peppermint or peanut butter.

Read more about food from around the world:

5 Best Food Trucks in Maui | Best Street Food in San Juan | Readers’ Poll: Best Caribbean Food

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Dominica – Secret Bay

Each of Secret Bay’s eight villas and bungalows comes not only with breathtaking views, but also an envy-inducing kitchen — an espresso machine, a convection oven and that home-away-from-home rarity: sharp knives. So one of the cooks comes to your place for a private, personalized class. “Class here is a relaxed chill session,” says Secret Bay’s head chef, Eric Subin. “There’s nothing tutorial about it. It’s about getting to know the locals as much as it’s about local dishes.”

With no set lesson plan, go ahead and request your favorites from the Secret Bay kitchen. Popular choices? Beer-battered lionfish (made with Kubuli, the local brew), callaloo soup, shrimp with creole sauce, pumpkin rice, breadfruit salad and savory yam pie, all served with a big helping of local knowledge: Caribbean yams — white, starchy and not at all sweet — are nothing like the yams back home; the bay leaves used for seasoning grow wild right outside the villa door; and the delicious buttery lionfish is venomous — but not after it’s been cleaned and its spines removed. “People are amazed they’re eating something that was once poisonous,” Subin says.

For more culinary intel, guests hang out at the Souce Shack — where chef and team prepare all of Secret Bay’s food. “It’s the place to have drinks, talk while we’re cooking, ask questions and get more connected to the food,” Subin says. The place to taste too. “I always give samples.”

Grenada – True Blue Bay

Esther Benoit wears a chicken breast on one hand like an oven mitt. That’s what it should look like, she explains, when you’ve cut it properly. For today’s class at True Blue Bay, a boutique resort on Grenada’s south coast, she and fellow cook Omega Thomas are preparing their signature dish: callaloo-stuffed chicken with nutmeg sauce. We’ve lucked in. “Feel your way in with the knife to make a pouch for the stuffing,” Benoit instructs two volunteers from our group of a dozen. Sure enough, under her watchful eye, they’re soon showing off their own chicken mitts.

Meanwhile, Thomas waves a long-stalked, platter-size callaloo leaf, the raw ingredient that will be stewed with onion, garlic, sive (like chives), thyme and brown sugar to make the stuffing. “If you don’t have callaloo, you can do it with spinach,” says Benoit.

The two Grenadian cooks have been showing guests how to make creole fish, curry-chicken roti and other island dishes at True Blue Bay for more than six years. Their barbed repartee helps the class go down easy. “Come look at me,” Benoit says, urging us to get closer to the demo. “She loves to be looked at,” Thomas quips from the sidelines.

With the chicken sizzling in one pan, Benoit starts the sauce in another, pouring in coconut milk, cream, coconut cream and nutmeg, Grenada’s premier spice. Grated nutmeg, yes, but also local nutmeg syrup. “Bring it to a boil, but not a boil where it falls over,” she says. Thomas tastes Benoit’s work, island style. She dribbles bubbling sauce from the big stirring spoon into her palm (yow!) — “you gotta be a pro to do tasting like this” — and laps it up from there.

We’re all salivating for a taste. But first, Benoit has to show us how to present the dish. She slices the breast on the diagonal — “take your time, do it with love” — fans the slices on a plate so the stuffing shows, then spoons on the sauce.

Finally. “Seconds always available,” says Thomas as generous tasting plates are handed around. Most of us take her up on the offer.

Nevis – Four Seasons Resort Nevis

Executive sous chef Kai Autenrieth happily dishes kitchen secrets while showing how to make his charcoal-grilled lobster with mango salsa. But there’s a catch, literally: You have to snare the main ingredient.

Autenrieth and a Nevisian divemaster take you on a two-tank, lobster-hunting dive. Equipped with a local-style lasso — “It’s basically a stick with a sling on the end,” Autenrieth explains — you spot your lunch, get the loop around its tail, work it up toward the middle of the body, and pull it closed. Easy-peasy. Except you need to be quick. “The lobsters are very strong and can flip themselves out of the sling. One guy had his lobster escape at least six times.” Sounds tricky enough that I fear I’ll be stuck eating a burger. Autenrieth merely laughs; no one gets skunked. “On good days, we come back with so many lobsters I barely know what to do with them.”

Next, the hunt moves to those poison-spined lionfish, which are also overrunning Nevis’ reefs. “They’re a terrible invasive species, so we have to kill them anyway.” Good news: Spearing a lionfish is a lot easier than lassoing a lobster. “They don’t really move — they just hang out in one place and look pretty.”

Back on land, Autenrieth demos lunch, starting with lionfish ceviche and “something cold, fresh and light with lobster.” (Cross your fingers it’s the melon gazpacho with lobster salsa on top.) Two mains too: grilled lobster with three sauces (mango salsa, clarified butter and chimichurri made with herbs from the resort’s garden); and lionfish grilled in foil with garlic, onion, white wine, butter and olive oil. Class keeners go hands-on at the grill, flipping the lobster and fish, while Autenrieth works on the sides, including fried plantains glazed with rum, butter and brown sugar and topped with finely chopped bacon.

Spoiler alert: Autenrieth is also an avid underwater photographer, so you’re likely to find a framed photo of yourself and your catch delivered to your room.

Barbados – Turtle Beach

In the Oistins fish market, you can snap a selfie holding a giant lobster. The renowned market is just one of the stops on the morning culinary tour led by sous chef Mark Linton. Pro tips fly fast and furious. “The eyes tell us a lot,” says the native Bajan. “When a fish is fresh, the eyes are bright and bulging. If they’re discolored or sink into the head, the fish has been out of the water a while. Doesn’t mean it’s bad, but you want to use it soon.” And how do you choose a perfect pineapple? “Look for pinholes that might suggest insect damage,” he explains at the Bridgetown farmers market. Then it’s back to the resort for a cooking demo “that incorporates everything we learned,” featuring a market fish such as mahimahi, kingfish or flying fish, which — served with cou-cou (similar to polenta) — is the island’s national dish. “Guests usually see only the finished dish. I show them what happens behind the scenes.”

Linton has learned, however, that some things about island fish need to be explained before browsing the market. “One time a local customer called out, ‘Give me 8 pounds of dolphin.’ Guests were shocked. Now I tell them, no, we don’t eat Flipper. On Barbados, and in most of the Caribbean, we call mahimahi ‘dolphin.’”

Turtle Beach’s executive pastry chef Ezra Beckles starts his weekly class — another of the resort’s culinary offerings — with an apple tart. But when they’re in season, he uses tropical golden apples, a sweet-sour fruit that’s completely unrelated to the apples we know. And he makes oddball flours from scratch, with local root vegetables and uncommon fruit. If you’re lucky, he might also demo a short crust made with cassava and sweet-potato flours. Your job? To line the pans with dough. For extra brownie points, ask Beckles how he serves his crazy ice-cream flavors, which include curry and hot-pepper sauce, or about his “dog dumpling frozen parfait.” The main ingredient isn’t what it sounds like.

Bahamas – Graycliff Hotel and Restaurant

Executive chef Elijah Bowe sets the bar high: “I’ll show you how to take your cooking from level one to level 10,” he says. A Graycliff Culinary Academy class starts with practicing basic knife skills. Bowe’s thing is Bahamian home cooking with a gourmet twist and layers of flavor, “so you get a party in your palate and a party in your brain,” he explains. When he gets the class making conch chowder, “the most popular appetizer,” he turns to Graycliff’s 250,000-bottle wine cellar (a tour is included) to lift flavor. “Sherry pairs well with the local goat pepper in the chowder.” For those of us without access to conch at home, “use shrimp or calamari, but add it at the end since it needs less time to cook.”

The main course is hog snapper, which is traditionally steamed in Bahamian kitchens. But Bowe’s twist is to do it papillote style, wrapped in clear cooking foil. “Each person in the class makes their own, and then you’re served your dish for lunch afterward.” No hiding from one’s mistakes.

Side dishes might include Bahamian staples like mac and cheese (not even a distant relative to Kraft here) and “embellished” coleslaw. “I like to add tropical fruits such as mango and pineapple. I don’t use sugar — it comes from the fruit — or mayonnaise.” (He substitutes sour cream.)

When the cooking is done, take off your Culinary Academy apron (yes, you get to keep it) and head to the dining room for a taste. And, as with all these classes, the recipes are available to take home. “But don’t make a carbon copy,” Bowe advises. “Use what I do as a guideline, not a blueprint. Make the recipe your own.”

No room key required: You don’t need to be a hotel guest to hit these classes.

St. Kitts – Caribbean Cooks Cooking Class West Indian home cooking, Kittitian style: creole fish, rice and peas, and coconut bread-and-butter pudding with rum and brown-sugar glaze. All washed down with “bush” iced tea and stories that tell the origins of the recipes. Class is held on the grounds of 18th-century Fairview Great House and includes a full lunch.

Trinidad – Wendy Rahamut School of Cooking With four cookbooks, a TV show and an annual calendar, Wendy Rahamut headlines the Trini cooking scene. In the “party food” class, we made cassava puffs, fried cou-cou strips, and coconut shrimp with a spicy orange dipping sauce I’ve been wowing friends with ever since.

Antigua – Nicole’s Table Nicole Atherton’s intimate hands-on classes in her hilltop home (with a killer ocean view) range from curries to jerk to cooking with rum (Key-lime rum cake, barbecue steak with a rum glaze). Before she started us slicing and dicing, she poured glasses of rum punch to break the ice, then served up a heap of Caribbean kitchen tips while we worked. How to make your own vanilla extract? Just steep vanilla beans in good dark rum.

Read More About Caribbean Food:

Editors’ Picks: Best Caribbean Food | 4 Caribbean Resorts for Foodies | 10 Surprising Caribbean Rums

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Alcapurrias

These addictive fritters may look like stick-less corn dogs, but they’re less sweet and, if done right, spicier. A pimiento-tinged ground-beef filling is enveloped in a taro and green-plantain batter, then fried to a golden brown. The best place to sample Puerto Rico’s prized beach food? Across the street from San Juan’s see-and-be-seen Condado Beach, at Café del Angel.

Pinchos

You’ll find these kabobs (typically chicken marinated in adobo seasoning) sold from makeshift stands all over the island, but for the quintessential San Juan pincho, you must head to La Placita de Santurce. This square is a quiet market during the day that turns into a huge party after the sun goes down. The late-night food of choice is a hot-off-the-grill pincho from whatever cart has set up shop.

Mofongo

Not exactly grab-and-go street food, but we can’t talk about can’t-miss eats in Puerto Rico without mentioning this national staple. Mini mountains of mashed, fried plantains are stuffed with meat and spices. These mini mountains of mashed, fried plantains are stuffed with meat and spices. Fillings can include chicharrones (fried pork rinds), octopus, or chicken, but we’re partial to the shrimp version at Old San Juan’s Café Puerto Rico.

Read More About Puerto Rico:

3-Day Itinerary for San Juan | The Ultimate Surf Weekend in Rincon | 7 Great Cruises to Puerto Rico

The post The Best Street Food in San Juan, Puerto Rico appeared first on Islands.

Maui Fresh Streatery

Chef Kyle Kawakami creates a rotating menu of couture comfort food using local fare. If available, try the braised-beef poutine — a carton of fries heaped with pulled beef, mozzarella and homemade gravy.
Where to find them: @mauistreatery

Wayne’s Sushi Fresh Off The Boat

In this boat-turned-kitchen, chef Wayne Miyahira hand-rolls daily catches into signature sushi. Order the tempura mahi sandwich — a sweet, flaky fillet, deep-fried and served on a bun. Ask for the secret menu.
Where to find them: facebook.com/waynessushi

Donut Dynamite!

With her bright green hair, Desiree Parada (Madame Donut) is like Maui’s Willy Wonka. Her brioche-style sweets are made from scratch with island-grown ingredients. Go for the bacon maple, the doughnut she says “put us on the map.”
Where to find them: @donutdynamite

Geste Shrimp

Bring a bib and a stack of napkins for a finger-licking feast of spicy garlic shrimp, a favorite of the 50th state. Opt for a dozen Hawaiian scampi, described by locals as “boss,” thanks to a garlic hot sauce that could repel vampires. Closed on Mondays.
Where to find them: Kahului Beach Road

808 Plates Maui

Brothers Rycin and Kainoa Pavao make batches of fried chicken, poke bowls, baby back ribs and other Hawaiian dishes with an Asian twist. Try the ahi katsu, a tuna fillet rolled in panko, deep-fried and drizzled with creamy aioli.
Where to find them: Kahului Beach Road

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Angel Eyes Drink Recipe

Serves 1

• 1.5 oz. white rum
• 1.5 oz. apricot brandy
• .5 oz. lime juice
• .5 oz. triple sec
• .5 oz. grenadine

Shake well with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a lemon.

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Pineapple Caipirinha Drink Recipe

Serves 1

• 1/2 lime, cut into wedges
• a few chunks of fresh pineapple
• 1/4 tsp. white sugar
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 oz. frozen pineapple concentrate
• 2 oz. white rum
• splash of club soda

Put lime, pineapple and sugar into shaker and muddle. Add lime juice, pineapple concentrate and rum, shake with ice. Pour into a collins glass and top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with a pineapple wedge.

The post Drink Recipes: How to Make a Pineapple Caipirinha appeared first on Islands.

Your brain says a Dark ‘n’ Stormy is just rum and a splash of ginger beer. Your heart knows it’s the very soul of Bermuda. Even the law agrees. The nation’s favorite drink, invented by Bermudan naval officers more than 100 years ago, is trademarked in the States. A true Dark ‘n’ Stormy features only one type of rum: Black Seal produced by Gosling’s, the distillery that owns the trademarked recipe and Bermuda’s oldest business. When it comes to ginger beer, choose among homegrown concoctions. The most popular is Barritt’s, which has been around since 1874. Or try Gosling’s version of the soda, unveiled last year to complement the husky rum with a blend of sweetness and spice. Whichever way you mix it, the result is a shot of sunshine. Get more island drink recipes.

Gosling’s Dark ‘n’ Stormy Drink Recipe

Serves 1

• 1.5 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal rum
• Ginger beer (Bermudians use Barritts’)
• Wedge of lime

Put ice in a highball glass, add rum and fill with ginger beer to taste. Garnish with lime wedge.

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