herbsandspices.food The reference guide to herbs and spices
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herbsandspices.food

The reference guide to herbs and spices: 296 pages on every leaf, seed, bark, root and chilli worth cooking with — from a handful of basil to a Carolina Reaper, and the blends, pastes and traditions built on them.

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✨ Featured article Read

Chilli pepper

The fruit of the genus Capsicum, from sweet bell pepper to Carolina Reaper

Chilli peppers are the fruits of Capsicum plants, domesticated in the Americas and carried worldwide after 1492. Five species are grown, spanning every heat level from none to extreme.

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🌿
Herbs
Basil, coriander, thyme, curry leaves and every leaf worth cooking with.
46 pages
🌶️
Chillies
From mild poblano to the Carolina Reaper: every chilli, fresh and dried.
50 pages
🫚
Spices
Seeds, barks, roots, berries and flowers — pepper to saffron.
48 pages
🥣
Blends & rubs
Garam masala, ras el hanout, za'atar, jerk, five-spice and the rest.
28 pages
🫙
Pastes & sauces
Pesto, harissa, chimichurri, sambal, curry pastes and hot sauce.
22 pages
🔥
Techniques
Toasting, tempering, grinding, drying and taming a dish that is too hot.
18 pages
🌍
Around the world
How India, Mexico, Thailand, Ethiopia and others season their food.
23 pages
📜
History
Pepper as currency, the Spice Islands and how chillies conquered the world.
14 pages
🔬
Science
Capsaicin, the Scoville scale, aroma compounds and the coriander gene.
12 pages
🌱
Growing at home
Herb gardens, windowsills, chilli plants and what grows wild.
9 pages
🧺
Buying & storing
Freshness, shelf life, pestles, grinders and pepper mills.
9 pages
⚠️
Safety & allergens
Adulteration, contamination, allergens and the dose that makes the poison.
8 pages
🏆
Records & extremes
The hottest chillies, the dearest spices and the biggest growers.
4 pages
ℹ️
About
Who writes this, how pages are sourced and how to reach the editors.
5 pages

💡 Did you know…

  • Japanese cooking uses spice sparingly and precisely: dashi and soy form the base, with wasabi, shichimi, sansho, yuzu, ginger and shiso adding pointed accents. (Japanese cuisine)
  • The ghost pepper, or bhut jolokia, is a superhot Capsicum chinense chilli from northeast India, officially recognised in 2007 as the world's hottest at around one million Scoville Heat Units. (Ghost pepper)
  • Coriander leaf, called cilantro in the Americas, is the fresh green of the plant that gives coriander seed. Bright, citrusy and loved across Asia and Latin America, it tastes of soap to a minority of people. (Coriander (cilantro))
  • Oregano is a hardy Mediterranean perennial whose leaves taste warm, peppery and slightly bitter. Unusually, it is often better dried. Greek oregano is the strongest; Mexican oregano is a different plant. (Oregano)

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🌡️ The Heat Ladder Scoville scale

The bars are on a log scale: every fifth of the way along is ten times hotter, from a bell pepper's zero to pure capsaicin at 16 million. Pick a chilli, or use the arrow keys. See capsaicin for why it burns.