Herb & Spice Companion

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AN INTRODUCTION

JUST A COUPLE OF DECADES AGO, THE WORLD OF HERBS AND SPICES WAS ONLY

as varied as the typical supermarket shelf. How times and meals have changed!

Thanks to a booming agriculture industry and wide-reaching international trade, it’s

now possible for tasty, exciting flavors from the other side of the globe to wind up

on your dinner plate.

Specialty food stores and well-stocked supermarkets today offer herbs and spices

from Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, while farmers markets sell

top-notch produce, sourced from around the world but grown on local farms. If your

town doesn’t have a fancy specialty store or farmers market, don’t worry. Online gar-

den centers, nurseries, and spice merchants have made it easier than ever to purchase

exotic herbs and seeds grown anywhere from Argentina to Zanzibar.

Whether you’re a newbie in the kitchen or an herb-growing pro, the sheer variety

of flavors available can be exciting and a bit overwhelming. For culinary beginners,

Western classics are a great place to start: basil, dill, garlic, oregano, parsley, rose-

mary, sage, and thyme. They are easy to find, and their complementary ingredients

will be, too. They’re also some of the easiest herbs to grow at home. Once you’ve

gotten the swing of these staples, feel free to experiment with your cooking and add

new flavors to the mix.

But before you run out and buy up all the seasonings in your grocery store, read

through these introductory chapters for a primer on herbs and spices.

Herbs & Spices 101

Although it’s easy to use the words “herb” and “spice” interchangeably, there’s actu-

ally a major difference between the two.

Herbs are generally the leafy green foliage and tender stems of a plant, used

either fresh or dried in cooking. Most herbs grow wild in temperate climates, where

their growing cycles sync with the changing seasons. Spices, on the other hand, are

almost exclusively native to the tropics and subtropics, and they come from various

other plant parts, including the bark, berries, fruits, seeds, roots, and rhizomes. For

example, allspice and peppercorns are technically berries, while cloves and capers are

flower buds. Nutmeg is a seed; ginger is a rhizome; and cinnamon is made from tree

bark. All spices are typically dried after they’re harvested, and some require further

processing in order to develop their signature flavors. There are also several plants

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