Allspice :: Herb of the Month

Pimenta dioica

I love the scents and flavors of the holidays. Fresh pine from a Christmas trees and burning wood from a fireplace are warm, cozy, and welcoming scents, and allspice is one of the seasonings that we use to flavor holiday recipes.

Allspice is a spice native to the West Indies and Central American regions. You may have heard allspice referred to as Jamaican allspice. It’s used to flavor Jamaican and West Indies cuisine, it’s like their pepper. You’ll also find that allspice is used to season Eastern Mediterranean, Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and North American cuisine. This spice is at home in the kitchen as is salt and pepper. It can be considered an all-purpose spice. In fact, it resembles a large peppercorn.

I’ve seen those gorgeous allspice berries up close right on the tree when I visited Jamaica. In the summer these tropical Pimenta dioica trees are covered with clusters of small white blossoms and the air is filled with its spicy perfume. All parts of the tree is scented – the bark, leaves, flowers, and berries.

As for taste, allspice mimics an combination of other spices. Some say it reminds them of a mix of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg; others claim it has a touch of black pepper, and others say it has a hint of ginger. I’ve taken a handful of allspice berries and my nose tells me it has a multi-scent mixture of clove, nutmeg, and black pepper. Maybe a very subtle hint of ginger but I don’t get the cinnamon scent at all. With all the various notes, it’s no wonder how allspice gets its name, and because it smells like a combination of spices, allspice has been misunderstood to be a combination of spices. I’ll be honest, at one point in time I believed allspice was a combination of a mixture spices. I know better know.

I’m definitely giving allspice more play time in recipes. It goes well with apples, apple sauce, beets, cabbage, nuts, onions, pineapple, spinach, salsa, sauces, tomatoes, root vegetables, and winter squash. It’s compatible with herbs and spices like cinnamon, cloves, coriander, curry powder, garlic, ginger, mace, mustard, nutmeg, peppercorn [esp. black], rosemary, and thyme. If you need a substitute for cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and nutmeg, allspice is a good replacement.

Allspice is used like pepper in some cases and one of its flavor notes is like pepper, so I’ve made my own special blend of peppery allspice mixing equal amounts of allspice, black, white, and green peppercorns. I put my peppery allspice mixture in a grinder called The Everything Mill by Kyocera. This works out great and I’m able to incorporate more allspice flavor easy and effortlessly.

How often do you use allspice in recipes?


Allspice Giveaway

At the end of this month a name will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and our wonderful sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of Allspice to the winning participant.

Thank you, good luck, and have fun spicing things up with allspice.

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14 Comments so far

  1. Raw.la - Raw Food in The News and Around The Web on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 12:15 am

    [...] Allspice :: Herb of the Month [...]

  2. Elaine on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 4:48 am

    Thank you so much for posting info on allspice! I am currently in love with it! I have been using it on everything, I blame it on the time of year! To me it is a “comfort food thing”. I have been sprinkling it on my tofu, raw apples and yesterday I made a cranberry sauce with it!

  3. Blair on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 8:36 am

    Can’t say I use a lot of allspice when cooking, but would love to incorporate it more!

  4. Rebecca Smith on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 8:46 am

    Wow, that is awesome info! Thank you. Can’t wait to play with Allspice now! Sounds so yummy in a Pineapple Salsa!

  5. LV on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 2:53 pm

    Allspice is so very useful and imparts a marvelous flavor.

  6. Cellabella on December 27, 2009 Sunday, 7:48 pm

    I only recently discovered allspice in cooking savory dishes, not just in desserts. Love it!!

  7. Mindy McAuley on December 28, 2009 Monday, 2:00 pm

    I’m intoxicated just at the thought of the summertime scent of all those blossoms. Thanks for sharing such a lovely, evocative description!

  8. didan on December 29, 2009 Tuesday, 7:20 am

    Nice description of allspice! Lovely picture, too. I have allspice, but I can’t remember the last time I’ve used it, but I will keep this tip in mind that I can use it as a replacement spice! I’d love to find new recipes to incorporate it more.

  9. Ashlei on December 29, 2009 Tuesday, 10:57 am

    Please enter me in the allspice drawing :)

  10. chris on December 29, 2009 Tuesday, 8:37 pm

    when do we find out who won the vitamix?

  11. Nicole on December 29, 2009 Tuesday, 10:36 pm

    Great info about allspice! I think I need to incorporate it more : ) I am finding I’m becoming more creative with my spices. It’s amazing how a little spice can so change the flavor of a simple food. Thanks for the chance to win Ingrid!

  12. Ingrid on January 2, 2010 Saturday, 1:43 am


    ANNOUNCEMENT

    Congratulations to Cellabella who’s name was drawn from the comments! Cellabella will soon receive allspice direct from Mountain Rose Herbs. I hope you enjoy your gift.

    Thank you to everyone who participated in the drawing.

    Our next featured herb which also happens to be 2010 herb of the year is Dill.

  13. Hannah on January 3, 2010 Sunday, 6:56 am

    Very interesting stuff! I actually almost never use allspice… We have a little jar of it in the cupboard that’s probably as old as me, since it rarely sees the light of day. I’ll have to think about including it more in recipes, for sure.

  14. Kyocera Ceramic Knife + Peeler Giveaway : Raw Epicurean on June 21, 2010 Monday, 2:33 pm

    [...] Kyocera brand is a part of my cutlery collection. I also own their ceramic peeler, mandoline, and the everything mill. When house guest or people from raw food classes I’ve taught try my Kyocera knife, they love [...]

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Herb of the Month

Red Clover our featured spice for April. We'll highlight its benefits, showcase it in raw vegan recipes, and at the end of the month a reader's name will be drawn from the comments, and our sponsor

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