Learning about Spices
What is a spice?
Why were spices important?
Sources of spices
Perfumes and Incenses 
Use of spices as aphrodisiacs
Use of spices as medicines
Culinary herbs
A spice timeline

Table of Spices
Allspice (Pimento)
Anise
Black Pepper
Cardamom
Cassia
Chile Pepper
Chocolate
Cinnamon
Clove
Coriander (Cilantro)
Cumin
Dill
Fennel
Fenugreek
Frankincense and Myrrh
Galangal
Garlic
Ginger
Horseradish
Licorice
Mustard
Nutmeg and Mace
Onion
Saffron
Sugar
Sumac
Tamarind
Turmeric
Vanilla

Contacts and Acknowledgments

MAJOR PEPPER SPICES

Botanical

Characteristics

Heat*

Examples
Capsicums
C. annuum very variable 0-9 ancho, bird (chiltepin), bell (paprika), cayenne, New Mexican, jalapeño, pasilla, serrano, etc.
C. frutescens pepper for sauce 8 tabasco
C. baccatum rarely used 5 South American varieties, aji, puca-uchu
C. pubescens rarely used 10 rocoto
C. chinense painfully hot 10 habanero, scot’s bonnet
    
Peppercorns (Piper nigrum)
Black pepper aromatic 2-5 dried, partially fermented
Yellow pepper for cooking 1-3 berry husks removed
Green pepper gourmet 2-3 unripe pepper berries
Mixed peppers gourmet 2-5 may be pink, red, green, black
    
Others
Xanthoxylum piperitum aromatic 2-5 Szechwan pepper or fagara
Aframomum melegueta bitter 2-4 melegueta, Guinea pepper, grains of Paradise
Piper cubeba bitter 2-4 cubeb
Piper longum sweet 2-4 long pepper
Schinus terepinthifolius subtle 0-2 Brazilian peppertree
    
    
* Heat is measured on a 0-10 scale

Spice Exhibit URL: http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm

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