Pantry · Spices

Allspice

One berry that borrowed cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg: jerk, kibbeh, and a European braise.

Pimenta dioica — the dried berry that tastes like several spices at once · Also called pimento, Jamaica pepper, baharat when it is the warm note · From The Caribbean, especially Jamaica, then the Levant and a German pot roast

Whole brown allspice berries in a small bowl on linen.

The journey

The English named it allspice because they could not decide which pantry it belonged to. It is a myrtle berry from the Caribbean. Jamaican kitchens made it the soul of jerk. Levantine blends borrowed it. German and Greek pots dropped a few berries into a braise and called it enough.

Ten recipes in the series still name it. That is a small count for a large geography — the berry travels well and a little goes a long way.

Public-domain botanical plate of clove, the note allspice is often compared to, Syzygium aromaticum from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, 1887. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Use whole berries in a pickle or stew, then fish them out. Grind for a rub. Too much tastes like a candle shop.

If a jerk seasoning tastes only of chile and thyme, it is missing this. If a meatball tastes like Christmas, you were generous.

Healers and the table

Caribbean home kitchens treated allspice tea as a warming cup. The comfort is the spice and the habit.

Allspice in a stew is cooking. It is not medical advice.

Traditional uses are part of the story of this spice. They are not medical advice.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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