Spice It Up!

Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of a type of tree native to Southeast Asia and India. It contains a compound that activates a nerve that allows you to feel sensations in your face, nose, and mouth. Chili peppers cause a similar reaction. But instead of fiery heat, “cinnamon gives you a nice warm feeling for a long time,” says Terry Miesle, a flavorist based in Illinois.

Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of a type of tree. It’s native to Southeast Asia and India. The bark contains a substance that makes your face, nose, and mouth feel tingly. Chili peppers cause a similar reaction. But instead of burning heat, “cinnamon gives you a nice warm feeling,” says Terry Miesle, a flavor scientist in Illinois.

You can’t have gingerbread without ginger! It’s the knobby root of an herb grown in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. Traders introduced the spice to Europe. Historians credit England’s Queen Elizabeth I of England for coming up with the idea for the first gingerbread man in the 16th century. Ginger’s spicy flavor comes from a compound similar to that in cinnamon.

You can’t have gingerbread without ginger! This spice has grown in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s actually the root of an herb plant. It contains a spicy substance similar to the one in cinnamon. Traders introduced ginger to Europe centuries ago. Historians think that in the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I of England came up with the idea for the first gingerbread man!

These seeds of trees from Indonesia look like the pit of a peach. Once the shell is removed, the kernel inside is ground into spice. The citrusy compounds in nutmeg provide a contrasting flavor to the other warm spices. “The citrus flavors provide a little extra character,” says Miesle.

This spice is the seed of a tree from Indonesia. Whole nutmeg looks like the pit of a peach. Spice producers remove the shell, then grind the kernel inside into powder. The substances in nutmeg taste similar to lemons or oranges. “The citrus flavors provide a little extra character” when you mix them with warm spices, says Miesle.

Valuable spices like cloves used to only be grown on the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. They were nicknamed the Spice Islands because of it! Cloves are the dried flower buds of the Syzygium aromaticum tree. They have an intense sweet, bitter, and spicy flavor.

Cloves used to grow only on the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. Many other rare and valuable spices did too. The islands were nicknamed the Spice Islands because of it! Cloves are the dried flower buds of a tree in the myrtle family. They have a strong flavor that is sweet, bitter, and spicy.

Don’t let the name fool you: Allspice is a single spice made from the dried berries of a tree that grows in the Caribbean and Central America. Christopher Columbus brought allspice to Europe thinking it was black pepper, since the two look similar. Allspice contains some of the same compounds present in cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. “It’s got a little bit of everything,” says Miesle.

The name makes it sound like a mixture of spices. But allspice is actually a single spice made from the dried berries of a tree. It grows in the Caribbean and Central America. Christopher Columbus brought allspice to Europe. But he thought it was black pepper, since the two look similar. Allspice contains some of the same substances as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. “It’s got a little bit of everything,” says Miesle.