<P> The word jerk is said to come from charqui, a Spanish term of Quechua origin for jerked or dried meat, which eventually became the word jerky in English . </P> <P> Jerk is also derived from the action of "jerking", which referred to poking meat with holes so that flavor could more easily be absorbed . </P> <P> The term jerk spice (also commonly known as Jamaican jerk spice) refers to a spice rub . The word jerk refers to the spice rub, wet marinade, and to the particular cooking technique . Jerk cooking has developed a following in the United States, Canadian and Western European cosmopolitan urban centres with Caribbean / West Indian communities . </P> <P> Jamaican jerk sauce developed as an adaptation by escaped enslaved Coromantee Africans in Jamaica . When the British invaded Jamaica in 1655 the Spanish colonists fled, leaving behind a large number of African slaves . Rather than be re-enslaved by the British, they escaped into Jamaica's mountainous regions where they mixed in with the local Taínos . </P>

Where did the name jerk chicken come from