The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Here’s how to spice up your holiday
Thanksgiving Day. Preparing the glaze for the baked ham we were asked to bring to the family feast.
“We don’t have any allspice,” Charlie said, staring into the cupboard where we keep the spices. “Is there anything else we can use?”
I flipped open my laptop. “Sure,” I said, figuring I’d find that we’d just need to combine some cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
And that’s how I discovered that I’ve been wrong all these years. Allspice is not a blend of other spices, though it does have notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and cloves. Despite its inclusive name, it’s a single, unique spice. Here’s what I learned:
Allspice (Pimenta dioica) is a broadleaf evergreen tree in the Myrtle family, native to Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies. The small, peppercornsized fruits are allowed to grow to mature size, but are harvested while they are still unripe; as the fruits mature, they lose their flavor. The immature fruits are dried, and then ground into what we recognize as the familiar seasoning.
From this experience, it occurred to me that I don’t know much about most of my favorite holiday spices. For instance, anise seeds are the sole flavoring in springerle, the German cookies that my mother-in-law taught me how to make. When it’s baking time, I just take down the jar of anise seed from the cupboard. But where do the seeds come from?
Anise (Pimpinella anisum) is in the parsley family (Apiaceae). Picture umbel-shaped seed heads like dill, which is in the same family. The plant is native to the eastern part of the Mediterranean area and southwest Asia. Hardy in USDA plant Zones 4 through 9, that means that we can grow it here in Zone 7. The plant doesn’t transplant well, so plan to grow it in a pot, or direct-seed into the garden. And unless you start it early enough, you may not get a harvest.
Anise seed has a similar flavor to star anise, but the two are entirely different. Star anise is the dried fruit of Illicium verum, a small evergreen tree in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae), native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China.
Nutmeg is one of my favorite spices, laden with sweet childhood memories. It comes from the fruit of a leafy evergreen tree (Myristica fragrans), native only to the Molucca Islands of Indonesia. There are some fascinating videos that describe the early spice trade, and how nutmeg was so highly prized, merchants dipped the seeds in lye to render them impotent, so that they couldn’t be grown anywhere else.
The similar, but softer flavored mace, is derived from the outer covering of the nutmeg fruit, while nutmeg comes from grinding up the interior, actual seed.
Cinnamon (Cinnamomom) is an evergreen tree native to Asia. The spice comes from the inner, young bark of the Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomun zeylanicum). The tree is hardy in Zones 8 to 10, so we’re a bit too cold for it to survive in our climate, unless well protected.
Going underground, we find ginger (Zingiber officinale), which also figures in many seasonal, holiday recipes, including the iconic gingerbread house. I learned that this plant is native to the humid, partly-shaded habitat of moist tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia. (Ginger family: Zingiberaceae). I also learned that this Zone 10 plant can be grown in pots, indoors, starting with ginger root you buy at the store. (This will be one of my winter projects.) You can find plenty of howto videos online, including this one: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2lQV53fD0SU