Common name: allspice, pimento
Scientific name: Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.
Family: Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico
Native to: West Indies and tropical America
Use: Allspice is used as a spice in baking, fruit desserts, and pies. In Scandinavia and Jamaica allspice is often used in meat and fish dishes. Allspice is also used in medicine as an antiseptic.

Allspice is not a mixture of spices, but a single spice that contains the flavors of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. In the 17th Century it was used to preserve meat on long sea voyages. Today it is used extensively in pickling, especially in Norway, Finland, and Sweden.

The Maya used allspice to embalm the bodies of their leaders.

Common name: black pepper, white pepper
Scientific name: Piper nigrum L.
Family: Piperaceae (Pepper family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: Indonesia, India, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Madagascar
Native to: India and Cambodia
Use: Dried black and fresh green pepper are used as spice in many dishes, including some desserts.

Black pepper comes from harvesting the green fruits (berries) of the pepper vine before they are ripe and then drying them. White pepper is obtained after the fruits have ripened. The outer covering, which is red, is removed, leaving the inner, straw-colored “kernel.”

From its origins in India, pepper spread to the Mediterranean in ancient times and then around the world. At one time, peppercorns were so costly they were used in trade as a substitute for money. Called the “master spice,” the history of pepper is, above all, the history of the spice trade.

Common name: cacao, cocoa
Scientific name: Theobroma cacao L.
Family: Sterculiaceae (Sterculia family)
Plant part used: seed
Where grown: West Africa (Ghana), Tropical America
Native to: eastern Andes
Use: Cacao seeds are used to make a hot or cold beverage and chocolate. Cacao refers to the plant, while cocoa is the name for the beverage.

Cocoa was a stimulating drink for native inhabitants of the New World long before Europeans arrived. The Mayans thought that it had a divine origin. The Aztecs added red pepper and spices to their cocoa and then dissolved tablets of it in hot water. The generic name Theobroma means “food of the gods.”

Cocoa became popular in Europe after the discovery of adding sugar. When the addition of milk became common, its popularity soared. It was all the rage by the mid-17th Century.

Common name: cardamom
Scientific name: Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton, E. major Sm., and Amomum subulatum Roxb.
Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)
Plant part used: seed
Where grown: India, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Native to: Indo-Malaysia
Use: Cardamom is used as a spice.

Dried fruit of cardamom, known as “the queen of spices,” is used in curries and to season pastries. Several similar species provide the cardamon of trade. In India the seeds are chewed as a breath freshener. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice; only saffron and vanilla are more costly. It adds a distinctive flavor to Arabian coffee. Oil extracted from the seeds is widely used in perfumes, confections, and liqueurs.

Common name: cinnamon
Scientific name: Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume
Family: Lauraceae (Laurel family)
Plant part used: bark
Where grown: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Seychelles, and Brazil
Native to: South India, Sri Lanka
Use: Cinnamon is used as a spice in curries, candies, and hot beverages.

Cinnamon is one of the few spices made from bark and is one of the oldest spices used by humans. The bark is peeled off young shoots and dried. The dried, curled bark forms the familiar stick cinnamon. The dried bark is ground to make powdered cinnamon. Most of what Americans eat that is labeled cinnamon is probably cassia (C. cassia). Cassia has a stronger, sharper flavor that is preferred by most Americans. True cinnamon has a milder, more delicate flavor. Cinnamon was among the first commodities regularly traded from the East to the Mediterranean.

Common name: cloves
Scientific name: Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. et L. M. Perry
Family: Myrtaceae (Myrtle family)
Plant part used: flower bud
Where grown: Tanzania, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Zanzibar, West Indies, Indonesia
Native to: Moluccas (Spice Islands)
Use: Cloves is used to flavor hot beverages, in medicines, and as a spice. It is commonly added to desserts or added to curries and pork dishes.

Cloves are the unopened flower buds of a rain forest tree. The buds are collected just as they begin to turn pink, and then they are dried. Buds that have opened are considered inferior.

Records show that as early as 266 B.C. Chinese officers chewed cloves so that their breath would be pleasant when they spoke to the head of government. Clove oil is used for toothaches and was recommended for indigestion in early records.

Common name: coffee
Scientific name: Coffea arabica L., C. robusta Linden, and others
Family: Rubiaceae (Madder family)
Plant part used: seed
Where grown: Central and South America, Africa, India, Indonesia
Native to: Ethiopia and Sudan
Use: Coffee seeds (often called “beans”) are dried, roasted and ground. Coffee is also often used as a flavoring, especially in desserts.

Coffee trees produce bright red fruits that usually contain two seeds. The seeds are extracted from the fruits, dried, and later roasted and ground. Coffee is consumed more than any other beverage except tea, and occupies one percent of total world trade: over $2 billion a year. The Dutch deserve recognition for fully appreciating the aromatic and stimulant qualities of coffee. They cultivate it extensively in their former colonies. Coffee is generally grown on hillsides in tropical and subtropical areas.

Common name: ginger
Scientific name: Zingiber officinale Rosc.
Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)
Plant part used: rhizome
Where grown: India, Malaysia, and Nigeria
Native to: Southern Asia
Use: Ginger is widely used in cooking, candies, beverages (ginger beer), preserves, and oriental cooking. In Great Britain it has been used to make a hot tea to relieve night time cold symptoms. Dried ground ginger tastes quite different from fresh ginger “root.”

Ginger is a rhizome or stem that grows along the surface of the ground, much like the familiar German bearded iris. Fresh rhizomes can be potted and grown indoors as a novelty indoor plant.

Common name: kola-nut, cola
Scientific name: Cola nitida (Vert.) Schott et Endl., C. acuminata (P. Beauv.) Schott et Endl.
Family: Sterculiaceae (Chocolate family)
Plant part used: seeds
Where grown: West Africa, Brazil, West Indies
Native to: West Africa
Use: Cola is a relative of cacao (the plant from which chocolate is made) and is best known for its use in cola soft drinks. The seeds are used after they are fermented, dried, and powdered.

Cola seeds, often called nuts, are rich in caffeine, and are chewed as a stimulant in Africa, much as coca leaves are chewed in Peru and Bolivia. In the original Coca-Cola, cola and coca (Erythroxylum coca, from which cocaine is extracted) were used.

Common name: nutmeg, mace
Scientific name: Myristica fragrans Houtt.
Family: Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)
Plant part used: nutmeg—seed; mace—arillus (fleshy seed covering)
Where grown: West Indies (Grenada), Southeast Asia (Indonesia), Sri Lanka
Native to: Moluccas (Spice Islands), New Guinea
Use: Nutmeg and mace are used as spices in sweet puddings, custards, and cakes, as well as in medicines. The flavor of mace is similar to that of nutmeg.

Nutmeg and mace come from different parts of the same fruit. Mace is the fine, red, net-like fibers (arillus) that surround the nutmeg, which is a seed. Nutmeg was used in Indonesia for thousands of years before it was brought to the Mediterranean in the 12th Century by Arab traders. Later, nutmeg and cloves became lucrative monopolies for the Portuguese and then the Dutch. The Dutch, particularly ruthless in their efforts to eliminate the competition, massacred the inhabitants of one island and destroyed three-quarters of the clove and nutmeg trees to limit production.

Common name: sugar cane
Scientific name: Saccharum officinarum L.
Family: Poaceae (Grass family)
Plant part used: stem
Where grown: throughout the Tropics and Subtropics
Native to: Far East, probably New Guinea
Use: The cane can be peeled and chewed raw, but most of the harvested crop is processed to produce sugar.

Sugar cane played a central role in the North American slave trade. In the 18th Century, raw sugar or molasses produced in the West Indies was shipped to Connecticut to make rum. The rum was then sent to Africa to buy slaves to work the West Indies cane fields.

In 1764 Britain placed a tax on sugar. This led to sugar smuggling and the sinking of a British customs ship, the initial act of violence (predating the Boston Tea Party) that culminated in the American Revolution.

Common name: tamarind, magyi, imli
Scientific name: Tamarindus indica L.
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Plant part used: seed pod
Where grown: India, Indonesia, Africa
Native to: Africa
Use: Both unripe and ripe pods are used in various Asiatic and African dishes. The dark brown pulp of the ripe pods is mixed with water, squeezed, and strained to produce a sour liquid. The liquid is used as a flavoring agent in curries, soups, chutneys, and drinks. The pods are also consumed fresh, and young pods and leaves are used as a vegetable. The seeds are eaten and can be chewed like gum.

Tamarind provides the distinctive flavor in Worcestershire sauce. Tamarind was used by sailors instead of limes as a source of vitamin C.

Common name: turmeric
Scientific name: Curcuma domestica Loir. = C. longa L.
Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)
Plant part used: rhizome
Where grown: India, Jamaica, Peru, Java, Sri Lanka, China, Africa, West Indies, Australia
Native to: possibly Southeast Asia or India
Use: Washed, peeled, and powdered rhizomes are used as a condiment in curried dishes, as an adultarant for mustard and ginger, and as a source of dye.

Throughout Asia turmeric has served as a dye, medicine, ceremonial color, and oriental charm to protect the wearer against evil. The dye for making the saffron colored (red-orange) robes of Buddhist monks is traditionally obtained from turmeric. Turmeric gives the characteristic yellow color to Indian and North African cuisine. In India the juice from the rhizome is used medicinally for treating stomach complaints and bruises; fumes from the burning rhizome are used to relieve colds, and a paste of the rhizome accelerates scab formation caused by smallpox and chicken pox.

Common name: vanilla
Scientific name: Vanilla planifolia Andr.
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Plant part used: fruit
Where grown: throughout the Tropics, but principally in Madagascar, the Comoros, Reunion, Tahiti, and Mexico
Native to: Mexico, Central America
Use: Vanilla is used as a flavoring in confections, chocolate, and perfumes.

Vanilla was introduced into Europe in the mid-16th Century by the Spanish after the conquest of Mexico. The name vanilla comes from the Spanish word “vainilla,” meaning “little sheath,” which refers to the elongated fruit. The fruit is often called a “bean” because of its appearance, but vanilla is not related to legumes, the true beans. Outside its native Mexico, where pollination occurs naturally by bees and hummingbirds, vanilla flowers are pollinated by hand, and the processing of the harvested “beans” is labor-intensive, adding to its high cost. Real vanilla flavoring is extracted with alcohol from the fermented fruits. Imitation vanilla is produced synthetically and lacks the rich and subtle flavor of real vanilla extract.

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