What Are Spices and How Can I Use Them?

Ground cinnamon bark is widely used as a spice. It is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavoring material.** It is used in the preparation of chocolate, especially in Mexico, which is the main importer of true cinnamon. 

It is also used in the preparation of some kinds of desserts, such as apple pie, donuts, and cinnamon buns as well as spicy candies, tea, hot cocoa, and liqueurs. True cinnamon, rather than cassia, is more suitable for use in sweet dishes.

In the Middle East, it is often used in savory dishes of chicken and lamb. In the United States, cinnamon and sugar are often used to flavor cereals, bread-based dishes, and fruits, especially apples; a cinnamon-sugar mixture is even sold separately for such purposes. Cinnamon can also be used in pickling. Cinnamon bark is one of the few spices that can be consumed directly. 

Cumin is the dried seed of the herb Cuminum cyminum, a member of the parsley family. The cumin plant grows to 30–50 cm (0.98–1.6 ft) tall and is harvested by hand.

Cumin is the second most popular spice in the world after black pepper.

Although cumin seeds contain a relatively large percentage amount of iron, extremely large quantities of cumin would need to be consumed for it to serve as a significant dietary source.

Cloves can be used in cooking either whole or in a ground form, but as they are extremely strong, they are used sparingly.

Dried cloves are also a key ingredient in Indian masala chai, spiced tea, a special variation of tea popular in some regions, notably Gujarat. In the US, it is often sold under the name of "chai" or "chai tea", as a way of differentiating it from other types of teas sold in the US.

Due to the Indonesian influence, the use of cloves is widespread in the Netherlands. Cloves are used in cheeses, often in combination with cumin. Cloves are an essential ingredient for making Dutch speculaas. Furthermore, cloves are used in traditional Dutch stews like hachee.

Allspice is a small scrubby tree, very similar to the Bay Laurel in size and form. It can be grown outdoors in the tropics and subtropics with normal garden soil and watering. Smaller plants can be destroyed by frost, although larger plants are more tolerant.

It adapts well to container culture and can be kept as a houseplant or in a greenhouse. The plant is dioecious, meaning plants are either male or female and hence male and female plants must be kept in proximity in order to allow fruits to develop.

Pumpkin pie spice is a blend of spices designed to be used in pumpkin pie, although the spice blend can also be used for various fruit pies and other dishes as well. Many stores sell pumpkin pie spice, especially in the fall and winter, when pumpkin pie is a popular treat, and it is also very easy to make this spice mixture at home.

An advantage to home production is that homemade pumpkin pie spice is fresher, and it tends to have much more flavor as a result. Homemade spice blends also allow cooks greater control.

The precise mixture of spices in pumpkin pie spice is up to the cook. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger, mace, and nutmeg are common inclusions, although they need not all be used, and the proportions vary. Cloves, for example, are very strong, so they are typically used in small amounts, while cinnamon can be used much more abundantly.

Five spice powder is used extensively in chinese cooking.

This pungent mixture of five ground spices usually consists of equal parts of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise, and szechuan peppercorns.

Prepackaged five-spice powder is available in Asian markets and most supermarkets.

You can easily make your own from whole spices which results in a much fresher and significantly more flavourful spice mixture.

See this: Homemade Five Spice Powder recipe for details on making your own five spice blend.

Pickling spice is a blend of whole and broken spices made to flavor a pickling brine. There is no single fixed recipe, but most jars share a common backbone: mustard seed and allspice, bay leaf and black peppercorn, plus coriander and a few cloves.

Beyond that base, blends often add dill seed and ginger, along with mace and a stick of cinnamon, sometimes crushed chili or a little cardamom. The spices are left whole on purpose, so they steep their flavor into the liquid without clouding it or turning it muddy.

The result is warm and peppery, slightly sweet, with a little heat. It is the flavor you taste in a good jar of bread-and-butter pickles or a pot of corned beef.

Mixed spice is the warm, sweet spice blend at the heart of British baking. If you have made hot cross buns or a Christmas pudding, this is the jar doing most of the work.

Brits also call it pudding spice, and it smells like the holidays the moment you open it.

The blend leans hard on cinnamon, backed by nutmeg, allspice, and clove. Many versions add a little coriander or mace as well, and since there is no fixed recipe each brand tweaks the balance, but cinnamon-forward and sweetly warming is the constant.

It is a sweet-baking blend, not a savory curry-style mix, so think cakes and buns rather than stews.

Allspice berries are the dried, unripe fruit of a Caribbean evergreen tree called Pimenta dioica. One small berry tastes like clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg at once, which is exactly where the English name comes from.

The berries are about the size of a peppercorn, reddish brown and hard as a pebble. You'll also see them sold as "Jamaica pepper" or "pimento," since Jamaica grows most of the world's crop and its warm climate gives the berries their deepest flavor.

Apple pie spice is a ready-mixed blend of warm baking spices built to season apple desserts. Cinnamon dominates, joined by nutmeg and allspice, with some blends adding a little ginger or cardamom.

It is a convenience mix, not a single spice. The idea is to spoon one teaspoon into a pie or batter instead of measuring out three or four jars, and get a balanced, predictable flavor every time.

Despite the name, nothing about it is limited to apples. The blend is really just a sweet, cozy spice base that suits most fall baking.

Creole spice is a Louisiana seasoning blend, the all-purpose mix that gives so much New Orleans and Cajun cooking its color and warmth. It is built on paprika and is more savory and herbal than blistering hot, though most blends carry a clear backbeat of cayenne.

A typical jar leans on paprika for color, garlic and onion powder for depth, oregano and thyme for the herbal note, black and white pepper, cayenne for heat, plus salt. Brands like Tony Chachere's and Zatarain's made it a pantry fixture, but cooks have mixed their own for generations.

People use "Creole" and "Cajun" seasoning almost interchangeably. The rough distinction is that Creole blends lean a little more herbal and tomato-friendly, while Cajun blends often push more heat, but the overlap is large.