Allspice
The dried unripe berries of a small Caribbean tree, also known as allspice; Jamaica pepper; pimento; myrtle pepper; newspice.
English: allspice · Hungarian: szegfűbors · Arabic: فلفل إفرنجي · Hindi: गंधद्रव्य · Chinese: 多香果 ·
Overview
item | allspice |
---|---|
taxon | Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr. |
family | Myrtaceae |
regions | Mexico, Central America, Caribbean |
continents | Northern America, Southern America |
part | unripe fruit; leaf; wood |
cultivation | Jamaica; Mexico; Honduras |
botanical_database | POWO; GBIF; TROP; EOL |
ALLSPICE is a culinary, medicinal, perfumery, and distillery spice, cultivated for its unripe fruit, leaf, and wood. It is yielded from the plant Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr., a tree in the Myrtaceae family, growing in seasonally dry tropical biome, with a native range of S. Mexico to C. America, Caribbean.1
It is used primarily in pickles, wines, desserts, liquors; spice for jerking meat; leaf oil for flavouring rum; wood to smoke and grill meat. Its aroma is described as pungent, mixed, spicy, with a heat index of 4.2
See more in ( Citation: POWO, 2024 POWO (2024). Plants of the world online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved from http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ ; Citation: Petruzzello, 2021 Petruzzello, M. (2021). List of herbs and spices. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-herbs-and-spices-2024392 ; Citation: Wyk, 2014 Wyk, B. (2014). Culinary herbs and spices of the world. University of Chicago Press, joint publication with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ; Citation: Dalby, 2000 Dalby, A. (2000). Dangerous tastes: the story of spices. University of California Press. ; Citation: Hill, 2004 Hill, T. (2004). The contemporary encyclopedia of herbs and spices: Seasonings for the global kitchen. J. Wiley. ; Citation: Anderson, 2023 Anderson, I. (2023). The history and natural history of spices: the 5000-year search for flavour. The History Press. )
Illustration of Pimenta dioica from Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen ( Citation: 1887 Köhler, H. (1887). Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Texte: Atlas zur Pharmacopoea germanica, austriaca, belgica, danica, helvetica, hungarica, rossica, suecica, Neerlandica, British pharmacopoeia, zum Codex medicamentarius, sowie zur Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. Franz Eugen Köhler. Retrieved from https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/623 ) II 174.
Distribution
Native and introduced habitats of Pimenta dioica3
Native areas: Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica
Introduced areas: Society Is., Caroline Is., Hawaii, Florida, El Salvador, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Colombia
Gallery
Allspice, also known as pimento and Jamaica pepper, refers to the dried unripe fruits of a tropical evergreen tree growing in the Caribbean: the Pimenta dioica. The dried berries are dark brown, hard to the touch, and 4–6 mm in diameter (thus larger than black pepper). Their signature crown is by a small ring of the calyx ( Citation: Wyk, 2014 Wyk, B. (2014). Culinary herbs and spices of the world. University of Chicago Press, joint publication with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ) .
Bibliography
- Anderson (2023)
- Anderson, I. (2023). The history and natural history of spices: the 5000-year search for flavour. The History Press.
- Dalby (2000)
- Dalby, A. (2000). Dangerous tastes: the story of spices. University of California Press.
- Hill (2004)
- Hill, T. (2004). The contemporary encyclopedia of herbs and spices: Seasonings for the global kitchen. J. Wiley.
- Köhler (1887)
- Köhler, H. (1887). Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Texte: Atlas zur Pharmacopoea germanica, austriaca, belgica, danica, helvetica, hungarica, rossica, suecica, Neerlandica, British pharmacopoeia, zum Codex medicamentarius, sowie zur Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America. Franz Eugen Köhler. Retrieved from https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/623
- Petruzzello (2021)
- Petruzzello, M. (2021). List of herbs and spices. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-herbs-and-spices-2024392
- POWO (2024)
- POWO (2024). Plants of the world online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved from http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/
- Wyk (2014)
- Wyk, B. (2014). Culinary herbs and spices of the world. University of Chicago Press, joint publication with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Medicinal Spices Exhibit. (2002). UCLA Biomedical Library: History & Special Collections. https://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm?spicefilename=taste.txt&itemsuppress=yes&displayswitch=0 ↩︎