We eat. To provide our bodies with energy and nutrients.
We eat. Every day.
We eat. Often the same foods. Because we like the way they taste.
But to make sure that our favourite foods don't always taste the same, we combine them with other foods or flavour them with different spices. Because spices mean variety.
But what exactly are spices?
The German Food Act defines spices as "plant parts that are used as flavouring and/or aromatic ingredients in foodstuffs due to their natural content." The term "spices" also includes herbs and mushrooms, which are also used for these properties.1)
Spice plants enrich our food with their diverse aromatic, pungent and bitter substances. The parts of the plants used are
- leaves (e.g. bay leaves, marjoram, basil),
- flowers (e.g. lavender, mugwort, mace),
- fruits (e.g. juniper berries, paprika, chilli, caraway, pepper),
- buds (e.g. cloves, capers),
- seeds (e.g. vanilla, cardamom, black cumin),
- sprouts (e.g. mustard),
- barks (e.g. cinnamon, yellow cinchona bark),
- rhizomes or roots (e.g. wasabi, ginger, galangal, turmeric),
- bulbs (e.g. shallot, garlic) or
- parts of these (e.g. saffron, which consists only of the stigmas of the Crocus sativus flower).2)
These different parts of the plant are, however, hardly recognisable in commercially available spices, as the typically dried goods are usually already ground when they reach the shops. If the leaves, flowers or shoots are offered fresh, they are classed as herbs. Herbs are also available as dried goods, but many lose their typical aroma when dried (e.g. chives, dill or parsley). Herbs that are slightly woody, such as thyme, oregano or marjoram, are better suited to storage. They release their flavour when the food is heated, so it is best to add them at the beginning of the preparation process.3)
By the way:
Sugar and salt are not considered spices!
Spices have a variety of functions. They complement, enhance and improve the flavour of less aromatic foods, for example by means of essential oils. Some spices alleviate and prevent digestive complaints by promoting the production of saliva, gastric and intestinal juices, while others stimulate the appetite through bitter substances or preserve food through, for example, pungent alkaloids or sulphurous ingredients.2)4)
Many of these functions are caused by secondary plant compounds that are produced by the plant to protect it from being eaten, i.e. to defend against predators. One example of this is the alkaloid capsaicin, which is produced in the chilli fruits of the cayenne pepper, a plant species of the genus Capsicum (e.g. Capsicum annuum, Capsicum frutescens). While normal chilli powder has a relatively mild heat level – between 500 and 1,000 Scoville units, depending on the plant variety – the heat level of ground pods from the Cayenne chilli variety is between 30,000 and 60,000 Scoville units! And although the ingredient capsaicin is colourless, tasteless and odourless, it provides a fiery spiciness in food that appeals to our warmth and pain receptors.5)6)
And that too!
Capsaicin is only hot for mammals, not for birds, because their nerve cells are structured differently. Birds eat the fruit without grinding the seeds, and spread the seeds of the plants over greater distances and thus much more effectively than mammals.6)
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Our next article is about meat and poultry.
References:
1) BMEL, 2024: Leitsätze für Gewürze und andere würzende Zutaten (New version) from 27. 5. 1998 (BAnz. Nr. 183a vom 30. 9. 1998, GMBl. Nr. 30 S. 577 vom 30. 9. 1998), taken from the internet on 05.08.2024, https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/_Ernaehrung/Lebensmittel-Kennzeichnung/LeitsaetzeGewuerze.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2
2) Lieberei, R., Reisdorff, C., 2012: Nutzpflanzen, 8. revised edition, page 312-345, Georg Thieme Verlag KG, Stuttgart, ISBN: 978-3-13-530408-3
3) Cf. Bundeszentrum für Ernährung, 2022: Gewürze und Kräuter, taken from the internet on 05.08.2024, https://www.bzfe.de/lebensmittel/vom-acker-bis-zum-teller/kaffee/kaffee-erzeugung/
4) Rimbach, G., Nagursky, J., Erbersdobler H. F., 2015: Lebensmittel-Warenkunde für Einsteiger, 2. edition, page 264, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, ISBN: 978-3-662-46280-5
5) Cf. Justspices.de, 2021: Gewürzlexikon - Cayennepfeffer, taken from the internet on 06.08.2024, https://www.justspices.de/blog/1x1-der-gewuerze/know-how/gewuerzlexikon-cayennepfeffer
6) Cf. Wikipedia, 2024: Capsaicin, taken from the internet on 06.08.2024, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin