Gizzada
“Pinch-Me-Round”
The Story
Gizzada is Jamaica's love letter to the Portuguese influence that most people have forgotten. When Sephardic Jews and Portuguese settlers came to Jamaica in the 1500s and 1600s, they brought their pastry traditions — the tarts, the flaky dough shells, the idea of a sweetened filling cradled in crimped pastry. But what happened next was pure Jamaica: the European custard or fruit filling gave way to grated coconut cooked down with sugar, nutmeg, and ginger. The pastry shell got pinched around the edges with thumb and forefinger, creating the distinctive scalloped rim that earned it the name Pinch-Me-Round. Every schoolchild in Jamaica knows Gizzada. You find them at the school gate, at the market, on the counter of every bakery from Morant Bay to Negril. The pastry women of St. Elizabeth and Manchester parishes are particularly famous for theirs — they guard their dough recipes like state secrets. Miss Vie makes her pastry with cold butter worked in by hand, never a food processor, because she says the warmth of your hands tells the dough what shape to take. The coconut filling must be cooked until it is sticky but not dry, still glistening with syrup, and spiced with enough ginger to make it tingle on the tongue. When you bite through that short, crumbly pastry into the sweet, spicy coconut, you are tasting five hundred years of Jamaican cultural fusion in a single mouthful. They cost almost nothing to buy on the street, but the skill to make them properly takes years to learn.
Where & when
Era: Portuguese-Jamaican colonial era (1500s onward)
Region: St. Elizabeth, Manchester, Kingston markets, island-wide
The word 'gizzada' likely derives from the Portuguese 'gizado', meaning 'prepared' or 'cooked'. Jamaica is one of the only places in the Caribbean where this particular pastry form survived — a direct link to Sephardic Jewish-Portuguese culinary traditions.
What’s Inside
- Grated coconut (fresh)
- Brown sugar
- Fresh ginger
- Nutmeg
- Water
- All-purpose flour
- Butter (cold)
- Ice water
- Salt
Exact quantities and substitutions are in the full recipe inside the cookbook.
What You’ll Do
- 1.Make the pastry: combine flour and salt in a bowl. Add cold…(40 min (including chill))
- 2.Make the filling: combine grated coconut, brown sugar, ginge…(12 min)
- 3.Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough t…
- 4.Place each dough circle into a small tart tin or onto a baki…
- 5.Spoon the coconut filling generously into each pastry shell,…
- 6.Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden and the co…(20-25 min)
Detailed step-by-step instructions, timings, and chef tips are in the cookbook.
Serving It Right
Arrange on a wooden board or rustic plate. Gizzada is finger food — serve at room temperature as a snack, dessert, or with afternoon tea. They should be slightly sticky to the touch.
Goes well with: Jamaican coffee, Fruit punch, Ginger beer
Garnish: A light dusting of ground cinnamon across the tops
Want the full recipe?
Open Yard Kitchen for exact quantities, full step-by-step method, chef tips, cook-along mode with timers, and unlimited AI guidance from Granny Miss Vie and Chef Marcus.
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