Blood sausage made with pig's blood, sweet potato, spices (cinnamon, cloves, Scotch bonnet), and herbs stuffed into intestine casing — a Saturday morning fixture with souse throughout the Eastern Caribbean.
The black pudding and souse combo is Barbados's Saturday morning cultural ritual — both sold together at roadside stalls from dawn. The pairing is nutritionally brilliant: the collagen from souse and the iron from black pudding represent complementary therapeutic profiles. In UK Caribbean communities particularly, black pudding remains a cultural anchor.
Heme iron in blood sausage has 25-35% absorption rate versus 5-12% for plant iron. For Black women with fibroids and heavy menstrual bleeding — a population with 70%+ higher prevalence of uterine fibroids than white women — blood-based foods represent the most efficient iron restoration available without pharmaceutical supplementation. A 2019 review in the British Journal of Nutrition found heme iron consumption was the most significant dietary predictor of ferritin levels in menstruating women. B12 from blood sausage addresses a common deficiency in plant-forward diets.
Blood pudding is typically purchased from Caribbean butchers or specialty shops — making at home requires fresh pig's blood (must be used same day), sweet potato, aromatic herbs (thyme, Scotch bonnet, chives), spices, and cleaned intestine casings. Commercial versions from Caribbean bakeries are widely available in diaspora communities. Grill or pan-fry until warmed through and casings are slightly crispy.
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