The market · Spices · The Americas, Northern and Central Europe, The Middle East

Allspice

Dried unripe berries of a Caribbean tree, smelling of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg at once.

warm · sweet-spiced · peppery

What to do with it

Classics built on it
TurkishDolmaVegetables hollowed and filled, or vine leaves rolled, round rice with herbs and spices and sometimes meat.No one here has made it yetGreekMoussakaLayers of fried aubergine and minced lamb or beef in a cinnamon-scented tomato sauce, under a thick crust of béchamel, baked.No one here has made it yet

Goes with

bay leafpickled herringonionscotch bonnet

Knowing it

Where to buy
Caribbean and Polish grocers — it's ziele angielskie in Polish, pimento in Jamaica.
A little history
The heart of Jamaican jerk, and of Nordic and Polish pickling brines.
Worth knowing
Use whole berries in brines and stocks; grind for spice rubs.

Kitchens that keep it in

The Western Cape — Cape Town and the country around it, at the south-western tip of AfricaCape MalaySweet, sour and gently hot: curries and bredies, fruit in the pot, pickled fish at Easter and koesisters on a Sunday morning — the cooking of the Cape's Muslim community.8 classicsJamaica — the Greater Antilles, in the western Caribbean south of CubaJamaicanScotch bonnet heat and allspice warmth, meat smoked slowly over pimento wood, and coconut, thyme and spring onion in nearly everything.10 classics

More spices

SpicesAchiote pasteearthy, peppery2 classicsSpicesAjwainthyme-like, sharp, bitter8 classicsSpicesAsafoetidapungent, sulphurous, garlicky when cooked12 classicsSpicesBaharatwarm, peppery, sweet-spicedNot cooked here yet