Spices

Spices (Lat. species, 'kinds;' in later Latin, kinds of goods, or produce in general; and then the most highly prized kind of goods, the aromatic productions of the East), aromatic and pungent vegetable substances used as condiments and for flavouring food. They are almost exclusively the productions of tropical countries. In ancient times and throughout the middle ages all the spices known in Europe were brought from the East; and Arabia was regarded as the land of spices, but rather because they came through it or were brought by its merchants than because they were produced in it, for they were really derived from the farther east. They owe their aroma and pungency chiefly to essential oils which they contain. They are yielded by different parts of plants; some, as pepper, cayenne pepper, pimento, nutmeg, mace, and vanilla, being the fruit or particular parts of the fruit; whilst some, as ginger, are the root-stock; and others, as cinnamon and cassia, are the bark. Tropical America produces some of the spices, being the native region of cayenne pepper, pimento, and vanilla; but the greater number are from the East.