herbsandspices.food The reference guide to herbs and spices
Chilli Compare Spice Finder

🫚 Spices

Seeds, barks, roots, berries and flowers — pepper to saffron.

48 pages in this section

Ajwain
Carom seed: a tiny seed that tastes loudly of thyme
The small, ridged seed of an Indian annual in the carrot family, packed with thymol, so it tastes like a fierce, peppery thyme. Used in parathas, pakora batters, dals and…
🌶️ Heat Mild
Allspice
One berry, and a whole spice cupboard's worth of warmth
The dried unripe berry of a Caribbean tree, named in English for tasting like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves at once. The backbone of Jamaican jerk and a quiet force in Chri…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Amchur
Dried green mango powder, India's tangy souring spice
Amchur is powder made from unripe mango that has been sliced and sun-dried. It adds fruity sourness without liquid, and is essential to chaat masala, chana masala and man…
🫑 Heat No heat
Anardana
Dried sour pomegranate seeds, fruity and tart
Anardana is dried pomegranate seeds, usually from wild sour pomegranates of the Himalayan foothills. Used whole or ground, it gives a fruity, tangy sourness to Punjabi ch…
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Aniseed
The original anise, and the flavour behind ouzo and raki
The small ridged seed of a Mediterranean annual in the carrot family, sweet and liquorice-scented from anethole. Used in bread, biscuits and a whole family of anise-flavo…
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Annatto
Brick-red seeds that colour Red Leicester, cochinita pibil and Filipino stews
Annatto is the red-coated seed of the achiote tree of tropical America. It gives a mild earthy, peppery flavour and a strong orange-red colour to achiote paste, rice dish…
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Asafoetida
Hing: the foul-smelling resin that becomes onion and garlic in hot oil
The dried resin of a giant fennel from Iran and Afghanistan, pungently sulphurous raw but mellow, oniony and savoury when fried. Used in pinches in Indian dals, sambars a…
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Black cardamom
The smoky, camphorous big brother of green cardamom
The large, wrinkled pods of Himalayan and Chinese ginger-family plants, dried over fire. Black cardamom tastes smoky, resinous and cool, and suits slow-cooked meat, dal a…
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Black pepper
The king of spices, and the most traded spice in the world
The dried, unripe berry of a tropical vine from south-west India. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice, prized for the clean heat of piperine and a resinous, cit…
🌶️ Heat Medium
Caraway
The seed in rye bread, seed cake and sauerkraut
The curved, ridged seed of a biennial in the carrot family, with a warm, sharp, slightly minty flavour from carvone. Central to northern and central European rye bread, c…
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Cassia
The hot, sweet bark most of the world knows as cinnamon
The thick, dried bark of several Asian cinnamon trees. Cassia is stronger, hotter and sweeter than true cinnamon, is sold as cinnamon in much of the world, and is rich in…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Celery seed
Tiny, bitter, intensely celery-scented seeds for pickles, slaws and celery salt
Celery seed is the small dried fruit of the celery plant, with a concentrated, grassy, slightly bitter taste of celery. It seasons pickles, coleslaw, dressings and celery…
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Cinnamon
True cinnamon: the delicate, papery bark of a Sri Lankan tree
The dried inner bark of a Sri Lankan laurel tree, rolled into fragile, many-layered quills. True cinnamon is sweet, warm and delicate, with far less coumarin than its tou…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Cloves
The nail-shaped flower buds of the original Spice Islands
The dried flower buds of a tropical tree from the Moluccas. Cloves are intensely aromatic, sweet and numbing, thanks to eugenol, and a few go a long way in both sweet and…
🌶️ Heat Mild
Coriander seed
The mild, citrusy seed of the coriander plant, and nothing like its leaves
The dried fruit of the coriander plant. Coriander seed is mild, warm and orangey, the quiet backbone of curry powders, sausages, pickles and gin, and tastes nothing like …
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Cubeb
The tailed pepper of Java: piney, bitter and nearly forgotten
The dried berry of a Javanese pepper vine, recognisable by its little stalk. Cubeb tastes of pine, allspice and camphor, and was a fixture of medieval European and North …
🌶️ Heat Mild
Cumin
The warm, earthy seed behind curry, chilli and couscous
The seed of a small annual in the carrot family. Cumin is warm, earthy and slightly bitter, and is essential in Indian, Middle Eastern, North African and Mexican cooking.
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Dill seed
The caraway-like seed of dill, essential to dill pickles and rye bread
Dill seed is the dried fruit of the dill plant: warmer, sharper and more caraway-like than the feathery leaf, and the defining flavour of dill pickles, Scandinavian bread…
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Dried lime
Loomi: brined, sun-dried limes with a sour, musky, fermented depth
Dried limes, called loomi or limoo omani, are small limes brined and dried until hard and dark. Pierced or ground, they add a sour, musky, faintly smoky depth to Gulf, Ir…
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Fennel seed
Sweet, green anise, and the flavour of Italian sausage
The dried seed of the fennel plant, sweet and gently anise-scented. It flavours Italian sausage and finocchiona, Indian panch phoron and after-meal mukhwas, and Chinese f…
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Fenugreek
Bitter seed, maple-syrup aroma, and a key note in curry
The hard, golden seed of a Mediterranean legume, bitter raw but nutty and maple-scented when toasted. Central to Indian spice mixes, Ethiopian berbere and Yemeni hilbeh.
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Galangal
Ginger's sharper, piney cousin, and the soul of tom kha
The hard, pale rhizome of a Southeast Asian ginger relative, with a sharp, piney, citrus and peppery flavour. Essential in Thai soups and curry pastes, and once a staple …
🌶️ Heat Mild
Garlic
The bulb that most of the world's savoury cooking begins with
Garlic is the pungent bulb of an allium grown worldwide. Raw it is fierce, fried it is nutty, roasted it is sweet and soft, and it underpins savoury cooking from China to…
🌶️ Heat Mild
Ginger
Fresh, dried, pickled or candied: the world's most versatile rhizome
The pungent rhizome of a tropical plant, used fresh in Asian cooking and dried in Western baking. Gingerols give fresh ginger its bite; drying turns them into the fiercer…
🌶️ Heat Medium
Grains of paradise
The West African pepper of medieval Europe: floral, citrusy and gently hot
Small seeds of a West African plant in the ginger family. Grains of paradise taste of pepper, citrus and cardamom, and were a luxury spice in medieval Europe before black…
🌶️ Heat Mild
Green cardamom
The queen of spices: resinous, floral and one of the most expensive
The pods of a tall ginger-family plant from south-west India. Green cardamom is sweetly floral, resinous and eucalyptus-cool, and flavours everything from biryani to Nord…
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Horseradish
A tear-inducing root for roast beef, smoked fish and the Bloody Mary
Horseradish is the thick white root of a hardy perennial in the cabbage family. Grated, it releases a sharp, sinus-clearing heat for sauces with roast beef, smoked fish, …
🌶️ Heat Hot
Juniper
The resinous blue-black cone that flavours gin, sauerkraut and venison
Juniper berries are the fleshy seed cones of a hardy evergreen conifer: piney, resinous and faintly citrus, best known in gin and in the game and cabbage dishes of northe…
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Long pepper
The pepper that Rome prized above black, and that chillies all but erased
The dried catkins of two tropical pepper vines. Long pepper is hotter and sweeter than black, with notes of nutmeg and ginger, and was once Europe's most expensive pepper…
🌶️ Heat Medium
Mace
The lacy red jacket of the nutmeg, subtler and more refined
The dried aril that wraps the nutmeg seed. Mace tastes like a lighter, more delicate nutmeg with citrus and pepper notes, and is a classic in potted shrimps, pale sauces,…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Mahleb
The bitter-almond kernel of a wild cherry, for festive breads and pastries
Mahleb is the small kernel from the stone of the St Lucie cherry. Ground, it gives a bitter-almond, cherry and marzipan aroma to Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Arab breads …
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Mastic
The piney, crystalline resin of Chios
Mastic is a resin tapped from a variety of lentisk tree grown on the Greek island of Chios. Ground, it gives a piney, cedar-like aroma and a stretchy texture to breads, i…
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Mustard seed
Three species, one sharp heat, and the popping start to countless curries
The seeds of yellow, brown and black mustard, mild until crushed with water, when an enzyme releases their nose-tingling heat. Fried whole in Indian cooking and ground fo…
🌶️ Heat Medium
Nigella
Kalonji: the little black seed on naan, too often called onion seed
The small, jet-black, angular seeds of an annual in the buttercup family, with a toasty, oniony, slightly bitter flavour. Known as kalonji, and essential on naan and in p…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Nutmeg
The seed that the Dutch fought, and traded Manhattan, to control
The seed of a tropical evergreen tree from Indonesia's Banda Islands. Nutmeg is warm, sweet and woody, best grated fresh, and a small amount transforms custards, white sa…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Pink peppercorns
Not a pepper at all: the sweet, resinous berry of a South American tree
Dried berries of the Peruvian and Brazilian pepper trees, relatives of the cashew rather than of true pepper. Pink peppercorns are mild, sweet and piney, and prettiest cr…
🌶️ Heat Faint
Poppy seed
Nutty blue-grey and creamy white seeds of the opium poppy
Poppy seeds are the tiny, oil-rich seeds of the opium poppy. Blue-grey seeds fill central European cakes and top breads; white seeds thicken Indian curries. Traces can af…
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Saffron
The world's most expensive spice, picked by hand, three threads at a time
The dried red stigmas of the saffron crocus, hand-harvested from autumn flowers. Its colour, honeyed aroma and bitter edge define paella, risotto alla milanese, biryani a…
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Sesame
One of the oldest oilseeds, nutty raw and deeply savoury when toasted
Sesame seeds are the small, oil-rich seeds of a tropical annual, eaten raw, toasted, pressed for oil or ground into tahini across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Sesame…
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Sichuan pepper
The citrus-family husk that makes your lips buzz
The dried husks of prickly ash trees in the citrus family. Sichuan pepper tastes of lemon and pine and produces a tingling numbness, the 'ma' of Sichuan's famous numbing-…
🌶️ Heat Mild
Star anise
The eight-pointed star of Chinese red-cooking and Vietnamese pho
The star-shaped dried fruit of a Chinese evergreen, with a sweet liquorice flavour from anethole. Essential to five-spice and pho, but beware its toxic lookalike, Japanes…
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Sumac
The tart, crimson berry that seasons the Middle East
The dried, ground berries of a Mediterranean shrub, deep red and sharply tart with a fruity, lemony flavour. Sprinkled on kebabs, salads and onions, and a key ingredient …
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Tamarind
Sticky sweet-sour pod pulp behind pad thai, sambar and Worcestershire sauce
Tamarind is the sticky, sweet-sour pulp inside the pods of a tropical tree. Soaked and strained, it sours curries, soups, chutneys, drinks and sauces from India and Thail…
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Tonka bean
A wrinkled black seed smelling of vanilla, almond and fresh hay — used by the pinch
Tonka beans are the seeds of a South American tree, rich in coumarin, with an aroma of vanilla, almond, cherry and hay. Pastry chefs grate them into cream and chocolate; …
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Turmeric
The golden rhizome that colours curries, mustards and wedding rituals
The rhizome of a ginger relative from South Asia, used fresh or dried and ground for its earthy, bitter warmth and brilliant yellow colour. India grows the great majority…
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Vanilla
The cured pod of a climbing orchid, and the flavour everybody knows
The cured seed pod of a Mexican climbing orchid, slowly fermented and dried until fragrant with vanillin. Hand-pollinated and labour-intensive, it is the second most expe…
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Wasabi
Japan's sweet, green, fleeting heat — and the horseradish that usually impersonates it
Wasabi is a Japanese plant whose thick stem is grated to a green paste with a sweet, fresh, nose-tingling heat. Most wasabi served abroad is actually horseradish, mustard…
🌶️ Heat Hot
White pepper
Black pepper without its jacket: hotter, earthier and invisible in pale food
The ripe seed of the black pepper vine with its outer skin removed. White pepper is hotter and earthier than black, with a faintly fermented note that Chinese, Thai and F…
🌶️ Heat Medium