Spices add color, distinct flavors to winter dishes

Tiny bits of shredded nutmeg float atop the frothy foam in your cappuccino. In your oatmeal cookie, the sweet spiciness of cinnamon is married with juicy, tender raisins. Brilliant traces of bright red mace drift over the top of your steaming sausage soup.

If lately you’ve spent a lot of time indoors cooking and baking foods for nourishment or comfort, perhaps you’ve recognized the variety of spices you use during the winter months. Although not staple foods in our diet, spices have the ability to enrich our lives with their variety. Commonly used ones find their way to our cupboards from far and exotic places. Unlike herbs – leafy plants such as parsley, oregano, basil and thyme – spices are all but impossible to grow in our northern clime.

In the interest of widening our appreciation of the variety of plants that grace our Earth, here’s a bit of a winter primer on some of the spices you’ve been using lately.

Nutmeg, whose distinct flavor is most notable in the taste and aroma of eggnog, is the common name applied to a number of evergreen shrubs and trees native to Indonesia. The fruit of the nutmeg plant is fleshy on the outside, with a hard nut at the core. The seed is dried and ground to form nutmeg. The red outer coating is dried to form the spice known as mace.

If you’ve ever ground fresh nutmeg, you’ve likely noticed the coloring inside the nut. Each nut mainly is light tan in color with a beautiful mottling of darker brown spots. Grating nutmeg yields very attractive specks of spice that in very small amount produce incredible flavor.

Nutmeg trees can grow to about 50 feet in height. Plants are cultivated commercially in Asia, the West Indies and Brazil for both seed and timber.

Cinnamon is another spice that is harvested from a tree, however, unlike nutmeg, it isn’t the fruit of the tree that yields the spice. Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and comes from dried bark of a number of related trees of the laurel family, the best-known of which is named Cinnamomum zeylanicum.

Under natural conditions, cinnamon trees typically grow to 40 feet in height. Under commercial production, however, they produce four or five main stems and are cultivated to reach a height of about 8 feet. As the bark of the cinnamon tree matures and turns brown, the stems are harvested and new ones emerge from the roots. Once harvested, the leaves and twigs are stripped from the main stem. The brown bark rolls back and is tied into bundles for shipment across the globe.

Cinnamon may be used for both culinary and medicinal preparations. Cinnamon oil, extracted by a distillation process from the bark is used to scent soaps and flavor candy.

Ginger is another delightful spice that is harvested from the underground stems, or rhizomes, of the ginger plant, the most common of which is known botanically as Zingiber officinale. As its specific name, “officinale,” indicates, the plant has medicinal uses. The hot, gripping flavor of ginger comes from the fresh, dried, ground, pickled, preserved or crystallized “root.” Ginger, which has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years, often is used to alleviate stomach ailments and as a digestive aid. It is said to be particularly effective in relieving motion sickness.

Some people are drawn to the hot flavor of ginger, and likewise enjoy the hot effect of pepper. Pepper is the world’s most commonly used spice, and is prepared from the fruits of the pepper plant, known as peppercorns.

The pepper plant is a climbing vine native to India and thrives in many hot, moist areas of tropical Asia. Black pepper is derived from peppercorns that have been harvested while green and immature. They are dried and ground, yielding a black powder. White pepper is produced by allowing the peppercorns to ripen.

Of all the spices in the spice chest, turmeric perhaps is the most colorful. Added to soups, the spice instantly adds body, color and character. Turmeric is a powder ground from rhizomes of a perennial herb in the ginger family. Native to India, the stems are dried and ground and the bright yellow spice that results is used as a dye or in seasoning food. Turmeric typically is a main ingredient in curry powders.

Speaking of curry, it’s worthwhile to note that curry is not one spice in particular, but rather is a variety of pungent, ground spices mixed together to flavor foods. Authentic curry is ground fresh every day and may be a blend of up to 20 different spices, seeds and herbs. Typically, lamb, fish, shrimp, eggs, soups and sauces are flavored by curry in cuisine from India and Southeastern Asia.

Some common ingredients in curry include: cardamom, chile peppers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel seed, fenugreek, ginger, mace, nutmeg, pimento, red pepper, black pepper, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, saffron and tamarind.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, 512 North Ridge Road, Montville 04941 or e-mail dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.