What Is Long Pepper?

Dried long pepper or "Piper longam" spice

Long pepper is one of two peppers in the Piperaceae family, relatives of Piper nigrum or black pepper, Indian Long Pepper (Piper longam) and Indonesian Long Pepper (Piper retrofractum). Both of these are quite similar to one another in culinary use.  The fruits of these pepper plants are not small round berries, like those of … Read more

What Is the Difference Between Coriander and Cilantro?

cilantro herb on cutting board

The terms coriander and cilantro produce confusion for novice cooks. Are they the same? Are they different? Is coriander an herb or a spice? Is it a plant or a seed? It is all of these. The confusion, however, comes from how we use both terms from a culinary standpoint versus a botanical one. Coriander … Read more

What Is Amchur?

Amchur Mango Powder

Amchur (amchoor, aamchur) is dried unripe mango flesh, used either as slices or as a powder. It is an important spice in India, especially in the Northern states, where most of it is produced. Usually, unripened mangos which have fallen prematurely from the tree are used to make amchur. Mango is a climacteric fruit, which will continue to ripen … Read more

What Is Mexican Cinnamon?

Mexican cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, or canela

Mexican cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), actually the bark of a tree, is a type of cinnamon from Sri Lanka called Ceylon but known as Canela in Mexico. It is often considered “true” cinnamon, whereas the relative cassia, a much more widely marketed cinnamon common in the United States, is a native of Indonesia and has a … Read more

What Are Grains Of Paradise?

Grains of Paradise, or melegueta pepper (aframomum melegueta), are the small brown to black seeds of a perennial reedlike plant in the Ginger family, or zingiberaceae. The plant is also related to cardamom. Indigenous to the West Coast of Africa and growing in swampy terrain, the seeds look like small black peppercorns with a white interior … Read more