Spice Racks Blog

Hi everybody! It’s been a while since we’ve had a spice of the week, and I figured the New Year was the perfect time to do it. While searching through my library of spice lore, I found out an interesting fact about Allspice. It’s often sprinkled into a candle flame for good luck. Isn’t that just the neatest? I’m definitely going to add that to my New Year’s Eve good luck seeking regimen.

Allspice is also known as the Jamaican Pepper. It started being called allspice by the British, because it reminded them of a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. That’s right. Allspice is an individual spice – not a mixture of spices. Crazy, right? It’s finding out things like that which make my degree in spice history worthwhile.

The fruit is picked when it is green and unripe and, traditionally, dried in the sun. When dry, the fruits are brown and resemble large brown peppercorns. The whole fruits have a longer shelf life than the powdered product and produce a more aromatic product when freshly ground before use.

The leaves of the allspice plant are also used in Island cooking. For cooking, fresh leaves are used where available: they are similar in texture to bay leaves and are thus infused during cooking and then removed before serving. Unlike bay leaves, they lose much flavour when dried and stored and so do not figure in commerce. The leaves and wood are often used for smoking meats where allspice is a local crop. Allspice can also be found in essential oil form.

Allspice is one of the most important ingredients of Caribbean cuisine. Could you imagine jerk chicken without allspice? Well, don’t even try to imagine it, because it would be totally bland and awful. So, say hello to 2010 with the hot new spice of the second decade of this century: Allspice!!

Looking to buy some of the finest allspice ever? Check out the selection at The Spice House.