SPICES

Spices can enhance the flavour and aroma of both sweet and savoury dishes. Used with care, a mere pinch can make a difference to the taste of a recipe.

Black & White Pepper

Sold as peppercorns or ready ground. Ground pepper loses its flavour quickly, so it is best to use a pepper mill (grinder). White pepper has less flavour and is usually only used when black would spoil the appearance of a dish, in a white sauce, for example.

Green & Pink Pepper

Green peppercorns come from the same vine as black and white pepper, but have a milder flavour. They are often used whole and can be bought preserved in brine. Pink peppercorns are milder, very aromatic and attractive when used as a garnish.

Cayenne Pepper

Made from the flesh and seeds of the 'Bird Chilli'. The ripe chillies are dried and ground to a fine powder which is sweet, pungent and very hot. Use sparingly to flavour curries, chilli con carne, or barbecue sauces. It also goes well with cheese dishes.

Saffron

The most expensive of spices, saffron comes from the stigmas of crocus flowers, dried to give thin, orange-red threads about 2.5cm (1in) long. Extremely aromatic, it has a slightly bitter flavour and gives a distinctive yellow colour to food such as soups, paella, and curries.

Curry Powder

A European blend of the spices used in Indian curries. The powder comes in many different strengths and varieties but usually includes some or all of the following spices:

Cumin

Ginger

Chilli

Coriander

Turmeric

Cardamom

Paprika

Like cayenne pepper, paprika is a fine powder made from chilli. Mild paprika has a mild flavour and is made from the flesh only, whilst the hotter types include the seeds. Traditionally used in goulash, it goes well with most fish, meat and egg dishes.

Cinnamon & Cardamom

Cinnamon is the dried bark of the laurel tree, available as sticks or ground. The sticks are often used to infuse milk or sugar. Cardamom is the fruit of the ginger plant. Used mainly in curries, it has a distinctive sweet taste.

Ginger

Ginger is a type of root. Fresh or dried Ginger is best in savoury dishes, peeled and then grated or chopped, while the powder is usually used in baking. Pieces of Ginger can also be preserved in syrup, and are delicious chopped and added to desserts.

Vanilla

Vanilla is the pod of a South American orchid. In its whole form it is used to flavour sauces, milk and sugar. Liquid vanilla essence is more commonly used, added to sauces or cakes. Store some pods in a jar of sugar for a ready supply of vanilla sugar.

Nutmeg & Mace

Nutmeg is the dried kernel of the fruit of the myrtle bush. It is available whole or ground. Grated nutmeg adds a nutty flavour to sweet and savoury dishes. Mace is the dried covering of nutmeg and is available whole or ground. It is used in savoury dishes.

Cloves

Cloves are the dried flower buds from the same bush as the nutmeg. Dried cloves are available whole or ground. If used whole it best to discard them after cooking as they taste bitter if bitten into. A traditional use of cloves is to flavour a joint of roast ham.

Cumin & Fennel

These two spices look very similar and are often confused. Cumin is related to parsley and tastes pungent, hot and slightly bitter. Fennel seeds, from the fennel plant, have a slight taste of aniseed. Both types are used extensively in curries, both whole or ground.

Spices have been used to flavour and perfume food for hundreds of years. They have always been highly prized as seasonings, especially in the Middle Ages and Elizabethan times, when meat was often rancid and large quantities of spices were added to dishes to disguise the flavour.

Today we use much smaller quantities of spices, and we add them to food to enhance rather than hide the flavour of other ingredients. In many countries, a blend of several specific spices may be used in one dish.

Aromatic Plants

Spices come from many different parts of a plant. Ginger comes from the root of a plant; Cinnamon comes from the bark; Nutmeg is the kernel of a fruit; Clove and Saffron are parts of flowers; and Cumin comes from plants seeds.

Buying Spices

Spices can be bought in various forms. Although most spices are grown in the hot climates of the Far East, with modern transport systems it is now possible to buy many spices in their fresh state. It is particularly easy to find fresh root Ginger and fresh garlic. Other more exotic or rare spices are most often found dried, either whole or ground.

Whether fresh or dried, the flavour of a spice is much stronger if it is bought in its whole form and ground just before being added to the dish. The flavour of freshly grated nutmeg, for example, has a far greater pungency than nutmeg that has been bought ready ground, and so smaller amounts can be used.

Storing Spices

It is important to remember that spices quickly lose their flavour if stored incorrectly. Although transparent jars full of spices will look pretty on your kitchen worktop, for the best culinary effects they should be kept in air-tight containers and stored in a cool, dark, dry place.

It is always best to but small quantities of spices that you are sure to use up, rate than buying large quantities that can go stale.