Difference Between Herbs and Spices

For centuries, herbs and spices have been used to make food more exciting and tasty. Everyone interested in becoming a gourmet cook is very familiar with what these long-treasured ingredients can do to the flavor and scent of each dish.

This photo shows a typical spice market in Morocco, one like David and I visited several years ago. I still have some of the exotic spices I purchased on that trip. According to the Wikipedia article about spices, the spices I bought are way too old to hold much flavor or color. However, I use them often and enjoy the Mediterranean flavors they still impart.

This is a typical bunch of herbs, shown fresh and green. I’m sure you already know the difference between herbs and spices, it’s very evident here. Herbs are the green, leafy part of the plant and spices come from any other part, the seeds, bark, flowers, roots, stigmas or buds.

However, there are at least two plants that are both an herb and a spice. Can you name them?

While roaming the shelves at The Bookmark Bookshop in Dolega recently, I couldn’t resist picking up Jacqueline Bellefontaine’s book, “Microwave Herbs & Spices”, written over 20 years ago in Surrey, England. The book suggests that herbs can easily be dried in your microwave, on HIGH for 2-4 minutes.

Lay the herbs in small quantities, about 1/2 ounce at a time, on paper towels. Turn them every minute and they are dry when they become crisp. They can be stored whole or crumbled. I was served whole dried basil leaves in Costa Rica recently. It was a big surprise to see the chef using this technique.

Jacqueline bunches her list of herbs and spices together, rather than separating the leafy herbs from the spices that come from other parts of the plants, like the seeds, berries, roots or bark. She points out that both herbs and spices should be kept in airtight containers, not in the cans in which they are packaged.

It’s your turn to use your spices and herbs any way you would like. No recipe is needed. Look at this sweet potato dish and use your imagination. Just clean and slice your potatoes, brush them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with spices, herbs or both. I used ginger, nutmeg and 5-spice, but use whatever you have on your shelf that may taste good.

Grill slowly on your barbecue grill turning every couple minutes until they are soft. Then, enjoy the finest, most memorable dish you’ve have so far this year!

OK, which two plants are both herbs and spices? Coriander and dill are each an herb and a spice; coriander leaves and seeds, dill weed and seeds.

Have fun with your spices and herbs this year.
Use them liberally to “spice up your life”!
Cora

Spice Up Your Dishes with “Bella”

The best way I’ve found to spice up my salads, soups, meats and vegetables, is to add a big pinch of my homemade blend of “Especia Bella”, or “Beautiful Spice”.  I feel like Emeril Lagasse when I toss in a dash of my “Bella”, it may not be “Bam”, but it’s just exactly right for my taste.

In Emeril’s book, “Every Day’s a Party”, he gives his recipe for Creole Seasoning, which contain salt, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne, dried oregano and thyme.  He lists the exact proportions he likes, just right for his taste.  Emeril mixes them together and stores them in an air-tight container, which can be kept up to 3 months.

I actually saw Emeril in person a few years ago. Our eyes met as he swept his hand across mine, I was standing in a crowd of admirers waiting to buy his book.  I was impressed at how widely he smiled and how everyone there was so thrilled to see him.  I’ve tried to emulate his energy, passion and flare for cooking.  Maybe the word isn’t “emulate”.  It’s that lately I’m paying more attention to my passion and love of cooking, and I’m enjoying fine, well-prepared and presented foods more than ever before.

Remembering back on that instant when Emeril touched me, I think I’ve found a way to become a little more like him by making my own blend of herbs and spices to use when I want to “kick it up a notch”.

I thought of my favorite herbs and spices and how I could blend them to create a special spice just for me, my own signature flavor to add to any dish when the time is right.

Dried rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil started my blend, and then cumin, recently brought back from Egypt, and ground red-hot cayenne pepper from Chimayo, New Mexico completed my mix.  My marble mortar and pestle worked to crush them all together.  The aroma was amazing!  The portions were strictly what seemed right to me, a blend that comes from my heart, my “Especia Bella”.

If you’d like to spice up your dishes and give them your own signature flavors, make a special blend of your favorite herbs and spices, keep them in a lovely air-tight jar, invent your own name for it (my middle name is Bella), and use it with flare!