Nine Spice Facts You Never Knew

Spices, herbs and seasoning blends are some of the best flavor conductors we have in the kitchen. With a sprinkle or dash, spices allow us to elevate inexpensive dishes to maharaja standards. Do you know your spices like you do your meats and vegetables?  

1. Peppercorns have been used to spice up foods for more than 4,000 years. As early as the 4th century BC, texts describe pepper being used as a seasoning for Indian feasts.

2. In Taoist mythology, black garlic, a fermented Korean product, was associated with immortality. While we’re not sure it will endow you with supernatural powers, we can assure you that it will add richness and memorable flavor to eggs, dips and meats. Unlike white garlic, the black variation isn’t at all harsh—it tastes almost like a savory version of a fig.

3. Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world—the bowl of Spanish saffron pictured above rings in at $371. This is because the vibrant thread-like spice has to be harvested by hand. Saffron comes from the stigma of the crocus sativus, and each crocus contains only 3-5 stigma. This means one hundred flowers are needed to produce only one gram of saffron. Thankfully, only a few strands are needed to infuse a dish with intense flavor and a faint tangerine hue.

4. While Columbus originally named the dried fruit of a certain Jamaican plant pimento, once it arrived in Europe, it became known as allspice. This name is attributed to the fact that it tastes like a blend of many spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Its unique flavor makes this small, dried berry a perfect addition to savory dishes (it’s a key ingredient is Jamaican Jerk Seasoning) as well as in baked desserts.

5. People sometimes mention masala as a seasoning. In fact, masala translates to spice—so a masala blend can contain just about anything. Chat Masala is a tart spice blend while Garam Masala is a warm, earthy blend.

6. The primary difference between a butcher’s rub and a seasoning is the particle size. Butcher’s rubs are more coarse, which helps prevent the seasonings from burning during the cooking process. Seasonings are better for dishes with shorter cooking times and less intense heat.

7. Chinese Five Spice is a traditional blend, named not after the number of ingredients but after the five flavors (sour, bitter, salty, sweet, pungent). The combination of these flavors is thought to create balance.

8. Scoville units are the most widely used measurement of a chile’s heat. This scale, created by Wilbur Scoville, relied on a panel of tasters to determine how much sugar water solution was required to neutralize a chile’s heat. The hottest chile for sale? The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Chile (pictured) rings in at 1.2 million Scoville heat units—the equivalent of eating a ghost pepper and habanero at the same time. But here’s some hot news: In December 2013, the Carolina Reaper stole the crown with 2.2 million Scoville heat units—making it akin to pepper spray.

9. It is suspected that the origins of chili powder date to frontier chuck wagons. The first commercial chili powder was sold in the late 1800s. Chili powder is a blend that usually contains chiles, onion, garlic, cumin and other spices.

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