* Ecuadoran Black: Known for excessive heat and pungency * Green Peppercorns: These are the tender, full-grown yet under ripe berries of the pepper plant. They’re mildly pungent but with a touch of heat. * Lampong Black (Sumatra, Indonesia): this is a popular black pepper with a rich aroma and moderate to strong heat. It…
DetailsCapers have been eaten for thousands of years. The plant is best known for the edible flower buds (capers) and used as a seasoning, and the fruit (caper berries) both of which are consumed pickled. Capers are dark green buds that are sun-dried and packed in vinegar brine. They are the unopened green flower buds…
DetailsIn Sweden and the surrounding countries, white pepper is often used for seasoning in place of black pepper. The berries, used to make white pepper are the same as those used to make black pepper, but they are harvested at a riper stage. The hulls are then removed and with them go some of the…
DetailsPronunciation AH-nees or a-NEES Background: A Mediterranean plant, pimpinella anisum, of the parsley family, having loose umbrels of small yellowish-white flowers that yield aniseed. It is native to the east Mediterranean, Egypt, and the Levant. Anise has been used since the fourteenth century for culinary and medicinal uses. The Romans used anise to help with…
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Although allspice sounds like it’s a variety of spices it is not. It comes from a single berry from the Jamaican bay berry tree. When allspice trees are in bloom with their clusters of tiny white flowers, the warm, clove-like perfume in the air is one of the beautiful aromas imaginable. Also named Jamaica pepper,…
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Background Nutmeg, one of the spices that bring Christmas and the Holidays to life, whether it’s in an eggnog, cookies, cakes to main dishes people the world over have loved this valued spice. The English word Nutmeg comes from the Latin nux meaning nut and muscat, meaning musky. To gaze on a humble nutmeg today,…
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Saffron (pronounced saf-ruh-n) Background The first reference to the cultivation of saffron dates back to around 2300 BCE, in a palace of Minoan Crete. Alexander the Great discovered it growing in Kashmir in 326 BCE even though it was not indigenous to the region. Saffron was valued as a spice and a dye and for…
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