Study spices for very long and you become immersed in the ancient trade routes, the quests that queens commissioned that wound up opening the world. Spend a little time thinking about modern spices and you see the attraction. Spices open worlds of flavor. Imagine how they enlivened monotonous medieval cuisine. Spices are the dried aromatic roots, bark, buds, seeds, berries and other fruits of tropical plants.
Herbs are spices' green, leafy counterparts.
The Asian tropics yielded the first-used and still most important spice plants, including cinnamon, pepper, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Allspice, vanilla and chiles come from the West Indies and Central America, according to Jill Norman, author of The Complete Book of Spices . The aromatic seeds coriander, fenugreek, fennel, poppy and mustard come from the Mediterranean basin. Caraway, dill and juniper are associated with colder regions. The latest cycle of interest in spices has to do with the savor they add to low-fat cooking.