At the botanical garden's last meeting, the Akee fruit attracted a lot of attention.

The fruit is a leathery pear-shaped, three lobed capsule, 2-3/4 to 4 inches long.
 
Bright scarlet when mature, it splits open to reveal three cream coloured fleshy arils attached to a large, black, nearly round seed. There are generally three but one or two may be aborted. The base of each aril is attached to the inside of the stem end of the 'Jacket' by pink or orange red membranes.
 
The akee must be allowed to naturally open fully before being picked from the tree. Both underripe and overripe akees are highly poisonous. Never use fruit that has fallen to the ground. (Also never use fruit that looks old, from aborted seeds, is discoloured or that is in any way questionable. Ed) Akee seeds are poisonous all the time and must never be eaten. The pink membranes attaching the aril to the jacket must be discarded as they are said to be also poisonous.
 
Julia Morton in her book Fruits of Warm Climates, says that intensive clinical and chemical studies of the akee shows "that the unripe arils contain hypoglycin, a amino B (2- methylenecyc1opropyl) propionic acid, formerly called hypoglycin A" This toxic property is diffused by light as the jacket opens. Even when fully ripe, the arils still possess 1112 of the amount of toxin as in the unripe fruit.

Adult poisoning is characterized by acute vomiting followed by drowsiness, convulsions, coma and too often, death. Sugar solution have been proven to be helpful to counteract the hypoglycemic effects. Apparently most deaths occur in the winter in Jamaica as the arils develop small underdeveloped seeds which cannot be seen externally.

This makes eating these arils extremely risky.

If you still want to eat the arils you may eat them raw, discarding the seeds and the pink membrane. They are best parboiled in water or milk and then lightly fried in butter. The arils resemble eggs in both texture and appearance, and to some people, taste. There is however, a slightly nutty taste as well. They can be curried by boiling up in water until tender. Discard water. Into saucepan rub 1 tablespoon butter, salt to taste and 1 tablespoon curry powder together. Add 11/3 cup milk and mix well. Warm. drop akees into hot sauce, warm arils and serve.
Akee may be parboiled and used in a stew of beef, pork, or in soup. The cookbook Tropical Fruit Recipes by the Rare Fruit Council International has an interesting recipe for akee on toast.

Akee trees fruit twice a year. In Africa, green fruit produces a lather in water and so are used in washing. Crushed fruits are used as a fish poison. The seeds are high in oil and the jacket high in potash. Together these are burned and the ashes used in making soap.

In Cuba the flowers are used to make a cologne extract. The bark is pulverized and mixed with ground hot peppers and is then rubbed on the body as a stimulant in the Gold Coast of Africa.

Crushed new foliage can be applied to the forehead as it relieves severe headaches. The leaves, crushed with salt are poulticed on ulcers.

The timber is immune to termites; the heartwood is reddish brown, hard and coarse-grained. It is used for construction and piling, oars and paddles. In the trade the timber is called Achin.