Meaning
A small open Jamaican tart — a crimped little pastry shell filled with sweet, spiced, grated coconut cooked down with sugar and nutmeg. Its pinched, fluted edge earns it the affectionate nickname 'pinch-me-round', and a good gizzada balances a crisp shell against a rich, chewy, faintly caramelised coconut filling. A beloved treat of the bakery, the school shop, and the roadside vendor, it is one of the classic old-time Jamaican sweets, eaten as a snack or a small indulgence.
Examples
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Buy two gizzada from di bakery.
Buy two gizzadas from the bakery.
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Di gizzada coconut filling sweet.
The gizzada's coconut filling is sweet.
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Granny mek di best gizzada.
Grandma makes the best gizzadas.
Origin
Believed to trace to Portuguese-Jewish baking traditions that reached Jamaica; the pinched crust gives the nickname 'pinch-me-round'.
How it’s used
A classic Jamaican pastry, always coconut-filled. Found in bakeries and at roadside stalls island-wide.