Spice Mixes and Rubs from Around the World: Easy Combos to Create Delicious Healing Dishes

Spice mixes are the best way to enjoy the healing spices—and get the most out of their health and healing potential. There is no better way to develop diverse flavor, intense aroma, and the perception of freshness than by grinding or roasting a batch of spices expertly balanced to accent the taste of food and satisfy the appetite.

The cuisines of the nations renowned for spicy foods get their outstanding and unique taste characteristics as a result of combining complementary spices (usually a minimum of four, but often many more) into a flavor unlike any individual spice or food. The world’s most famous spice mixes come from India, Southeast Asia, North Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, where they have been savored for thousands of years. Spicing is ubiquitous to those parts of the world, and a mix is commonly found on the table, just as Americans always have salt and pepper shakers at hand.

Spice mixtures can be mild or hot, bland or sharp, dry or mixed with wet ingredients to form a paste. They can consist of ground spices or whole spices. Some are pre-roasted, while others are ground and premixed as a convenience to be at the ready when it’s time to cook. They can be used as part of a dish, as a condiment to sprinkle on food, or as a marinade to tenderize meat or poultry. They are used to accent flavor, but more often they are used to develop an intensely unique (and delightful) taste.

Generally speaking, no one spice dominates in a well-made spice blend. Spice mixes are balanced to harmonize flavors. (Those with an acute sense of smell may be able to detect the nuances of individual spices.) Even mixes that turn up the fire with additional chile can deliver that hot sensation without the distinct taste of chile. Jamaican jerk, for example, doesn’t taste like chile—but it’s spicy hot!

Spice blends also save preparation time. Aromatic dishes such as those that come from the spice nations often call for spices that require roasting and grinding. This can be an arduous task—but only if you do it each time you cook. That’s not necessary! Cooks who know their spices make up batches of different spice mixes that store well for months. Such advance planning can turn a recipe with a laundry list of ingredients into a meal you can make in minutes.

There are hundreds of traditional spice mixes, and they can be found all over the world (even in some regions of the United States). However, aside from a few exceptions, you’d be hard pressed to find the exact same recipe for any of these classics from one cookbook to the next, as every chef tends toward personal innovation. But there are specific spices in each mix that make them classic, and this doesn’t change. The spices that complement them, and the amount of spice, can be adjusted to suit individual tastes.

The mixes in this post are inspired from my well-worn collection of Indian recipes, and from the recipe collections of my co-author, who is trained in French cuisine. We also used creative license, developing these mixes for simplicity, availability of ingredients, and (most importantly) to maximize the use of healing spices. They are also designed to complement a wide range of foods and cooking styles. Feel free to improvise—if there is a spice you don’t particularly like, use a substitute. You’ll find a table of spice substitutes. Or refer to the “Great Groupings” chart. Just as long as you stay true to the essential spices in a mix, you should capture the classic flavor.

A Tip on Toasting and Storing

Spice mixes are a convenience for advance preparation, but don’t make a blend that you plan to store for a while before its first use. The different components of a blend can have different limitations in freshness, with some turning stale before others, upsetting the balance of the blend. A spice mix is best used within a month (although most last from three to six months, or longer). If you’re experimenting, or know you won’t be using the blend too frequently, consider cutting the recipe in half. Store these mixes in small, airtight glass containers, kept in a cool, dark place. Be sure to recap them right after use.

Some of the blends call for using whole spices that must be dry roasted and ground. This is easy to do and each recipe instruction indicates how to do it. But it’s best to refer to The Healing Spice Cabinetfor more information on the nuances of roasting, grinding, and storing spices.

Many of these blends are also commercially available. You can find them in Indian or Asian markets and via the Internet. However, commercial blends can contain salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), or other ingredients not found in the traditional blend. When you make your own, you know exactly what you’re getting.

And because the blends in this post emphasize the healing spices, you’re guaranteed to get an extra helping of health with every shake of the canister.

Enjoy—or as they say in India, Bahut bhokh laggi he!

Masala: Indian Spice

Masala means spice mix in India—and the masala is the essence of Indian cooking, with many types and combinations used in a variety of dishes, and with each region renowned for its own blend.

Indian cooks are famous for improvising, adding their own “secret” spice or spices to a classic masala blend and thereby personalizing their recipe repertoire. The range of possible spice combinations is almost endless. But no matter the combination, virtually all combinations of masala include spices with health and healing benefits.

Garam Masala        Heat: Mild
Also called Moghul garam masala, this blend is India’s most popular spice mix. It is used in just about everything, in much the same way as Americans use salt and pepper. It is generally used as a final flavoring toward the end of cooking, or sprinkled on top of cooked food just before serving. It is popular for adding a finishing touch to curries. Because the spices are sweet rather than bitter, the mix does not require cooking to mellow the flavor. It can also be sprinkled in stews and soups just before serving, and over rice and vegetables. The spices responsible for the primary flavors are cumin, coriander, black pepper, and brown cardamom. Garam masala originated in the north, birthplace of Moghul cuisine, the haute cuisine of India. Use it as they do in India—in anything you desire.

4 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

2 teaspoons brown cardamom seeds

1 three-inch cinnamon stick

1 whole nutmeg

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet, over medium heat, separately pan roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, peppercorns, and cardamom until they become lightly browned and slightly fragrant. Turn the seeds frequently as they cook so they don’t burn. Set aside on a plate to cool.

2. Break the cinnamon stick into small pieces. Put the cinnamon and nutmeg in a spice grinder or mini food processor and process. Add the roasted seeds and the cloves and process the mixture to a fine powder. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for up to six months or longer. Makes about ½ cup.

Sambaar Masala        Heat: Hot
This mix, popular in South India, is a contrast from the mild masala indigenous to the north.

The distinct taste, however, comes from dried legumes, called dals in India. The masala is primarily used in vegetable and lentil dishes, soups, and curries. This makes a small amount, as only a pinch needs to be used. Adjust the chile to turn the heat up or down.

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

½ teaspoon fenugreek seeds

½ cinnamon stick, broken in pieces

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon ground asafoetida

6 dried red chiles, stemmed and seeded

1½ tablespoon urad dal (split white lentils)

1 tablespoon chana dal (split yellow peas)

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet, over medium heat, roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, and fenugreek seeds, until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn.

2. Lower the heat and add the cinnamon, turmeric, and asafoetida and continue to cook, stirring constantly for one minute. Remove to a glass dish and cool.

3. To the same skillet, add the chiles and roast, stirring frequently until brown, about two to three minutes. Remove to a separate plate and cool.

4. Add the split lentils and peas to the skillet and roast, stirring frequently, for three to four minutes, so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate and let cool.

5. Put all the ingredients in a spice grinder or mini food processor and process until the mixture becomes a fine powder. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for up to six months or longer. Makes about  cup.

Chaat Masala        Heat: Hot
This mix gets its unique flavor from two exotic spices: amchur, the sharp, lemony seasoning that comes from unripe mangoes; and black salt, a pungent condiment popular in India that gives the blend its saltiness. It is frequently used to flavor Indian snacks (many Indians are enthusiastic snackers) and appetizers called chaats, but can be used in soups, stews, or anything that calls for a sharp, hot, and tart flavor.

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 teaspoon ajowan seeds

1 teaspoon aniseed

½ teaspoon dried mint

2 tablespoons black salt

1 tablespoon amchur

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon cayenne

Pinch asafoetida

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet over medium heat, separately roast the cumin seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, ajowan seeds, and aniseed until they become lightly browned and slightly fragrant. Turn the seeds frequently as they cook, so they don’t burn.

2. Put the seeds and the mint into a spice grinder or mini food processor and process to a fine powder. Mix the powder with the black salt, amchur, ginger, cayenne, and asafoetida. The mix will keep in an airtight container for two months. Makes about ½ cup.

Panch Phoron        Heat: Mild
Panch (meaning five) and phora (meaning seeds) is a combination of five different aromatic seeds. The key ingredient is black cumin seeds, called kalonji in India. The blend, which comes from Bengal, is used whole, and added to cooking oil at the start of a dish. It is traditionally used in Indian lentil dishes and to flavor vegetables and potatoes, but it can be used to flavor almost any kind of dish. When using, ready a sauté pan with oil as you would for browning or sautéing vegetables. Add about ¼ teaspoon of the mix to the oil, moving the seeds around until they release their fragrance. Add the other ingredients right away.

2 tablespoons mustard seeds

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

2 tablespoons black cumin seeds

1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1. Put all the seeds into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well to distribute. The mix will keep in an airtight container for a year. Makes about ½ cup.

North Africa: Land of the Exotic

Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Ethiopia are well known for their exotic spice mixes, but Moroccan cuisine is the best known to Western palates, possibly because it is the least spicy among them. Tunisian blends tend to be spicy and hot with chiles. There are many famous North African blends. These are some of the best.

La Kama        Heat: Mild
If you’ve ever visited the northern coastal town of Tangiers you’ve likely sampled this mix. It is Morocco’s most common seasoning and it is used to flavor soups, stews, and the popular slow-cooked dish known as tagine (named after the clay pot in which it is cooked). It is also used as a rub on poultry and lamb. You can make it using ground spices, but do so in small quantity, as it doesn’t have a long shelf life.

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons turmeric

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Combine all the spices. It will keep stored in an airtight container for about a month. Makes about ¼ cup.

Ras-el-hanout        Heat: Mild-to-Medium
This is considered the king of spice blends. Its hallmark is its lengthy list of ingredients—sometimes as many as 30 or more—that merge to form a balanced, full-bodied blend. Ras-el-hanout originated as a spice merchant’s personal blend of the finest ingredients, and often includes the truly exotic, such as rose petals. It is considered the epitome of combining a diverse collection of spices to form a singular ingredient that is better than any one of its parts. Even though it is mild, ras-el-hanout is considered a full-bodied blend that can substitute for the spices used in everyday dishes. Use it in stews, and add it to the sauté pan when making fish, chicken, or stir-fries. Sprinkled on chicken, it gives nice color and flavor to a roast. In Morocco, it is a popular blend for lamb dishes and couscous. Use about half as much ras-el-hanout as you would other spices in a dish. Though the ingredients vary greatly, the blend almost always includes cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, ginger, paprika, and turmeric.

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon green cardamom seeds

1 teaspoon brown cardamom seeds (optional)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

¼ cup mild Hungarian paprika

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground coriander

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground galangal (Laos powder)

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground red chile

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet over medium heat, roast the cumin seeds, green and brown cardamom seeds, fennel seeds, and caraway seeds, until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate to cool.

2. Combine all cooled seeds and the rest of the spices in a small bowl and mix well. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for four to six months. Makes about 1 cup.

Tabil        Heat: Hot
Tabil means coriander, which is the principal spice in this popular Tunisian blend. It is commonly used in curry dishes, stews, and in stuffings. Or lightly sprinkle it on meat or poultry before grilling.

½ cup coriander seeds

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Place the coriander and caraway seeds in a spice grinder and grind until smooth. Blend with the chili powder and garlic powder. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for about six months. Makes about ½ cup.

Berbere        Heat: Hot
This is a complex and wet blend from Ethiopia. As in ras-el-hanout, its ingredients can vary, but they revolve around chiles, cloves, and ginger. This blend is excellent for meat, such as steak, chops, lamb roasts, and pork tenderloin. Mix the rub and smother it on the meat two to eight hours before grilling.

3 tablespoons mild paprika

2 tablespoons hot paprika

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground fenugreek

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

¾ cup olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1. Combine the first 11 ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Put the onions, garlic, ginger, salt, and sugar in a food processor or blender, and process. Add half the spice mixture. With the processor running slowly, add the olive oil, alternating with the rest of the spices and the lemon juice, until the blend reaches the consistency of a paste. Refrigerated, it keeps for about one week. Makes about 1½ cups.

China: Star Spice Master

The cooks of China and the Southeast Asian nations of Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are considered masters at mixing spices, with an emphasis on designing spicy sauces as seasonings, rather than dry mixes. Hoisin, oyster, plum, and fish sauces are just the beginning of a long roster of enticing sauces that make these cuisines some of the most varied in the world. Though there is a clear distinction in the types of sauces and individual spices that set these cuisines apart, they all depend and make liberal use of China’s famed “five-spice powder,” starring the exotic spice, star anise.

Chinese Five-Spice Powder       Heat: Mild
If you’ve tried to make Chinese food at home but have not been able to quite duplicate the taste, it could be due to the absence of Chinese five-spice powder. It is what gives Chinese barbequed ribs, dipping sauces, and other specialties their distinctive taste. Many Asian recipes call for five-spice powder, but it is often hard to find (and there is no adequate substitute for the flavor). Star anise and Szechuan peppercorns can be found in Asian or Indian markets, and are starting to become regulars on the spice shelves in many supermarkets. (Black peppercorns bear no resemblance to Szechuan peppercorns and are not a good substitute in this recipe.) If you can’t find Szechuan peppercorns, an adequate substitute is equal parts of aniseed and allspice.

3 star anise

2 tablespoons Szechuan peppercorns (or 1 tablespoon
ground aniseed and 1 tablespoon allspice)

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 three-inch cinnamon stick

1. Place all the ingredients in a spice grinder and process to a fine powder. The mix will keep in an airtight container for up to six months. Makes about ¼ cup.

Middle East:
Land of Many Spices

The cuisines of the Middle East have been influenced by Iran, India, and Europe. As a result, spice mixes vary widely within the many nations of the area. Here are two of the most renowned.

Baharat       Heat: Medium
Bahar is Arabic for pepper, the principal ingredient in this popular Middle Eastern spice mix. Also known as advieh, this mix is an interesting combination of sweet and hot that produces a mellow fragrance. This mix is used extensively in the Gulf States for spicing barbecue, meat stuffings, rice dishes, soups, and stews. It is also used in marinades. Try it as a rub for lamb chops. It is popular in tomato-based dishes, as it helps cut the acidity.

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

1 tablespoon cloves

1 teaspoon black cumin seeds

10 cardamom pods, seeded

1 whole nutmeg

1 four-inch cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

½ tablespoon sweet paprika

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet, over medium heat, roast the peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, black cumin seeds, and cardamom seeds separately, until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate to cool.

2. Put the nutmeg and cinnamon in a spice grinder or mini food processor and process until coarse. Add the seeds and grind until finely ground. Add the paprika. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for about two months. Makes about ½ cup.

Dukkah       Heat: Mild
All nuts have healing qualities, which makes this tasty Egyptian spice mix a very healthy condiment. A great way to enjoy it: sprinkle it into olive oil and serve as a dip for bread. Or put the dukkah in a small shallow dish next to the olive oil; first dip the bread in the olive oil and then the dukkah. You can also use dukkah as a coating for baked chicken and fish, the same way you’d use bread crumbs.

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

3 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

½ cup hazelnuts

1 teaspoon dried mint leaves

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet, over medium heat, individually roast the sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, and fennel seeds, until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate to cool.

2. Put hazelnuts, seeds, mint and thyme in a spice grinder or mini food processor and process until mixture reaches a coarse texture. Do not over-process or the mix will turn into a paste. This mix keeps in an airtight glass jar for about 3 months. Makes about 1 cup.

Latin America and the
Caribbean: Where It’s
Hot, Hot, Hot

Say chile—and the countries that probably come to mind are south of the American border. However, not all Latin and Caribbean cuisines are fiery—some are mild, revealing a European influence. But if you like your food hot, you’ll like Latin and Caribbean cuisines.

Jamaican Jerk Marinade       Heat: Fire
In Jamaica, jerk is a dish, a cooking style, and a way of life. A jerk marinade is a fiery hot wet rub, customarily made with Scotch bonnet chiles, one of the hottest chiles on the planet. Allspice is the defining flavor. A true jerk is slow-cooked over a low fire, often an hour or longer, depending on the food. For a jerk with less fire, substitute jalapeño or a milder chile for the Scotch bonnet, and use the smallest amount. Jerk is traditionally made with chicken or pork. This mix doesn’t keep, so you’ll want to make it one recipe at a time.

4 to 8 Scotch bonnet or jalapeño chiles

5 whole scallions, coarsely chopped

1 small onion, peeled and quartered

1 one-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled

4 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1. Add the chiles, scallions, onion, ginger, and garlic to a food processor and process until smooth. With the motor running, add the vinegar, soy sauce, and canola oil, and process until well combined, about 30 seconds.

2. Put the contents into a small mixing bowl and add the brown sugar, allspice, thyme, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and stir until well combined.

3. Wash and dry the chicken or pork and place in a plastic bag with a zip-lock seal. Pour the marinade into the bag, seal it as airtight as possible, and roll your hands around the outside to make sure all the pieces are covered. Refrigerate for a minimum of four hours. Remove and grill over low heat, until it reaches desired doneness.

Note: To make jerk truly authentic, you need to grill it over a fire spiked with pimento wood and leaves. Refer to the “Buyer’s Guide” to find out where you can purchase them.

Makes enough for two pork tenderloins or one cut up chicken.

Adobo       Heat: Mild
Adobo is a popular all-purpose dry seasoning with a garlicky flavor. It is indispensable in the kitchens of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, where it replaces regular table salt and is used on everything. To make it fiery hot, as they do in Mexico, add an extra tablespoon or two of ground red chile.

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons cumin seeds

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

½ teaspoon chili powder

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet over medium heat, roast the peppercorns and cumin seeds separately until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate to cool.

2. Put the seeds and oregano in a spice mill and process until it becomes the consistency of a fine powder. Combine with the salt, garlic powder, and chili powder and mix well. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for six months. Makes about 1 cup.

Colombo Powder       Heat: Medium
Named after the capital of Sri Lanka, this seasoning is popular in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The nutty flavor comes from the addition of rice. It is popular in dishes featuring fish, plantains, and sweet potatoes.

¼ cup white rice

¼ cup cumin seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon black or brown mustard seeds

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon whole cloves

¼ cup turmeric

1. Place the rice in a skillet and dry roast it as you would the spices. Separately dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, and cloves, and set aside to cool. When cool, combine the rice and other spices in a spice grinder along with the turmeric and grind to the consistency of a fine powder. The mix will keep in an airtight container for up to six months. Makes about 1 cup.

Cocoa Rub       Heat: Medium
Cocoa is popular in Mexico, especially as a spicy beverage and as a spice in savory sauces. Cocoa is bitter in the raw but mellows and melds with other spices when it hits the heat. Rub this into pork or the skin of chicken an hour before grilling or add a tablespoon to bread stuffings.

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup ground cumin

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons coarsely ground black peppercorns

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1. Combine all the ingredients and keep in an airtight container out of heat and light. Makes about 1 cup.

France: A Mellow Fare

The French aren’t big on spice mixes, believing instead that the natural flavor of the principal food should stand out in a dish. (This is why you don’t find French dishes spicy or hot.) There are a few exceptions, however, using herbs and spices to add mellow flavors. These blends originated in the Mediterranean region of southern France.

Quatre Épices       Heat: Mild
Three of the spices in this mix—peppercorns, cloves, and nutmeg—are a constant, but the fourth can be either cinnamon or ground ginger or a combination of both. The peppercorn varies also—either black or white, or a combination of both. I prefer using black because it contains more healthy oils. Use 1 tablespoon of ground ginger in place of the cinnamon. The French use this mix to flavor pates and terrines. It’s also used in stuffings, long-simmering stews, and can be added to a glaze for ham or grilled poultry or pork. It will keep well for up to six months.

cup black peppercorns

1½ tablespoons whole cloves

1 whole nutmeg

1 one-inch cinnamon stick

1. Place all the ingredients in a spice grinder or mini food processor and blend until the spices are the consistency of a fine power. The mix will keep in an airtight container for about 6 months. Makes ½ cup.

Spice de Provence       Heat: Mild
For this mix, we’ve taken a bit of creative license on the French classic Herbs de Provence. The only thing missing is lavender and tarragon. If you’d like to add them, use a teaspoon of each. This blend will taste fresher and is much cheaper than purchasing a commercial blend. Use it as you would garam masala—in anything you desire.

4 tablespoons dried thyme

2 tablespoons dried marjoram

2 tablespoons dried parsley

2 teaspoons celery seeds

3 ground bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crumbled

1. Combine all the ingredients and store in an airtight glass container. The mix will keep in an airtight container for 6 months. Makes about 1 cup.

Bouquet Garni       Heat: Mild
The purpose of a bouquet garni is to infuse a soup or stew with the mellow aroma of fresh or dried spices. The spices can vary, but there is always one constant: bay leaf, almost always crumbled rather than ground. This is why bouquet garni is customarily tied up in a square of cheesecloth, for easy removal at the end of cooking. Use about a tablespoon of the blend for dishes calling for four servings.

4 large bay leaves, crushed into small pieces

3½ tablespoons dried thyme

2 tablespoons dried marjoram

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1. Combine all the ingredients. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for about six months. Makes about ½ cup.

Other Classic Blends

Spice is synonymous with apple pie, pizza, and barbecue, so we don’t want to leave them out.

Apple Pie Spice       Heat: Mild
This sweet mix is called for in all forms of pies and pastries. It is a common commercial blend, but making your own guarantees freshness and is less expensive.

1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 tablespoon whole allspice

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon cardamom seeds

1 whole nutmeg

1. In a small, dry heavy skillet over medium heat, roast the cinnamon stick, cloves, allspice, coriander, and cardamom seeds until the seeds darken and become slightly fragrant. Stir frequently so they don’t burn. Transfer to a plate to cool.

2. Put the nutmeg in a spice grinder and break up with a few quick turns. Add the cooled cinnamon and seeds and process to a fine powder. The mix will keep in an airtight container for six months. Makes about ½ cup.

Pizza Spice Blend       Heat: Mild
You don’t need to stop at pizza when using this blend. Put it in anything Italian—tomato sauces, meatballs, lasagna, or as a flavoring on top of spaghetti. Use it as an all-in-one blend for meatloaf. Use about 1 tablespoon of the mix per pound of meat or quart of sauce.

3 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried thyme

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 tablespoon dried marjoram

2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon rubbed sage

1. Combine all the ingredients. The mix will keep in an airtight glass container for up to a year. Makes about ½ cup.

Basic Barbecue Rub       Heat: Mild
The sugar and salt in this rub will tenderize any cut of meat. It helps seal in the juices, so grilled food stays moist. The rub should be sprinkled on (not rubbed into) red meat steaks, chops, or poultry about two hours before grilling. If temperature permits—that is, if the day isn’t too hot and you have air conditioning—let the food soak in the rub at room temperature. If not, refrigerate, taking it out about a half hour before grilling.

1 cup sugar

½ cup mild Hungarian paprika

¼ cup garlic salt

¼ cup celery salt

¼ cup onion salt

3 tablespoons chili powder

3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon ground white pepper

2 teaspoons ground sage

1 teaspoon ground rosemary

1 teaspoon dry mustard

½ teaspoon ground thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large glass jar with an airtight lid. The mix will keep for a year. Makes about 3 cups.

Rosemary Barbecue Rub       Heat: Mild
Rosemary is a powerful antioxidant—so powerful, it can help stop the formation of carcinogenic substances that build up on meat, poultry, and fish when they are grilled or fired at a temperature higher than 352°F. Sprinkle the rub on the food, about two hours before grilling.

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons sea salt

2 tablespoons sweet paprika

1. Mix all the ingredients together. The mix will keep in an airtight glass jar for about six months. Makes about ½ cup.

Pickling Spice       Heat: Medium
Anyone into home canning will find that a homemade spice mix will give pickled vegetables an added dimension in taste. It is best to use whole spices, as the spices will add flavor without leaving a powdery residue. The spice can be tied in a square of cheesecloth and removed at the end of cooking, though some cooks prefer to let the spice roam freely, as it will continue to infuse flavor in the vegetables once they are canned. Use 1 tablespoon of pickling spice per pound of vegetables.

¼ cup yellow mustard seeds

3 tablespoons whole allspice

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

2 tablespoons fennel seeds

2 teaspoons whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick, coarsely ground

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Combine all the ingredients and store in an airtight glass container. The mix will keep for four to six months. Makes about 1 cup.

Mulling Spice       Heat: Mild
Mulled wine or cider and a seat by the fire—it’s a combination that’s hard to beat on a cold winter’s night.

2 cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces

6 whole nutmegs, coarsely chopped

cup dried orange peel

cup dried lemon peel

¼ cup whole allspice

¼ cup whole cloves

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped crystallized ginger

1. Combine all the ingredients. When making mulled cider or wine, take about 1 tablespoon per person and wrap in a piece of cheesecloth. Secure the bag tightly. Put in a saucepan with the liquid and bring to a simmer. Let the liquid rest for 10 minutes for the spices. Remove the spice bag and serve. Makes about 1½ cups.

Chesapeake Bay
Seafood Seasoning       Heat: Medium
Old Bay is a popular spicy seasoning for crab boil in the Chesapeake Bay area. The recipe, developed by a German immigrant by the name of Gustav Brunn about 50 years ago, is supposed to be a deeply guarded secret. But many people have tried to duplicate it, including me. The secret to using this seasoning in a crab or shrimp boil is to use a lot of it. Put ½ cup or more in a pot of a dozen crabs or a pound of shrimp. Sprinkle the shells generously again when you take them out of the water. It makes for messy eating, but people who’ve tried it never seem to mind.

¼ cup Hungarian paprika

2 tablespoons celery salt

1 tablespoon ground cardamom

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground bay leaf

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Combine all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container away in a dry, dark place. Will keep for a year or more. Makes about 1 cup.

Great Groupings:
Making Culinary Music

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Just like the notes from an old melody, certain spices make beautiful culinary music together. There are some old classics (such as basil and tomato, or cinnamon and nutmeg), and some new hits (such as lemongrass and wasabi, or ginger and saffron). And there are many popular imports (such as black cumin and sesame seed, or ajowan and turmeric).

If you are looking for suitable companions for your favorite spices, let this chart help you. Combinations are endless, so consider this a starting point. Experiment with different combinations until you find ones that suit your personal taste—and your favorite foods!

• Celery seed & ketchup
• Garlic, ginger & turmeric
• Mint, ginger & pomegranate• Almond & cocoa
• Cinnamon & nutmeg
• Clove, mustard seed & vinegar
• Cumin & mint• Cinnamon, saffron & raisins
• Cinnamon & vanilla
• Cocoa & mint• Ajowan, mint & pomegranate
• Cardamom & kokum
• Coriander, onion & fermented fish paste
• Ginger & kaffir leaf• Clove & coriander
• Cocoa & coconut
• Nutmeg & pomegranate
• Star anise & savory• Ajowan & turmeric
• Black pepper, chili powder & fennel seed• Cumin, oregano & cilantro
• Curry leaf, garlic & Asian fish sauce
• Garlic, oregano & capers
• Oregano, olive oil & pine nuts
• Scallions & peanuts• Basil, oregano & tomato
• Rosemary, garlic & thyme• Cinnamon & fenugreek
• Poppy seed & sesame• Cardamom & coconut milk
• Cinnamon, cloves & star anise• Juniper berry & paprika
• Nutmeg & marjoram• Amchur & kokum
• Cinnamon, clove & cumin
• Clove & nutmeg
• Coriander & cumin• Ginger & soy sauce
• Horseradish & tomato
• Sage & turmeric• Cilantro, peppercorns & rum
• Garlic & ginger
• Garlic, lemongrass & shallots• Allspice, clove & nutmeg
• Black cumin seed & fenugreek seed
• Black pepper & hot mustard
• Clove & cardamom
• Clove, star anise & rice vinegar• Cardamom, cumin & cinnamon
• Cardamom & nutmeg
• Cinnamon, nutmeg & star anise• Allspice & red chile
• Almond, mint & vanilla
• Amchur, coriander & orange zest• Asafoetida, cumin & ginger
• Cinnamon, cocoa & vanilla
• Curry leaf, galangal & lemongrass• Cardamon & cumin
• Chile, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, galangal & kaffir leaf
• Lemongrass, shallots, turmeric & peanuts• Basil, oregano & cilantro
• Cardamom, cinnamon & clove
• Cardamom & coriander
• Cinnamon & saffron
• Garlic & ginger
• Ginger, sesame seed & cilantro• Fenugreek seed & turmeric
• Galangal & lemongrass
• Ginger, lemongrass & kokum
• Mustard seed & buttermilk• Basil & tomato
• Black cumin seed & sun-dried tomato
• Cocoa & vanilla
• Rosemary & kalamata• Black cumin seed & black mustard seed
• Clove & onion
• Curry leaf & turmeric
• Lemongrass, star anise & wasabi• Chile & Asian fish sauce
• Chile, garlic, ginger, lemongrass & kaffir leaf
• Coconut milk, lemongrass & cilantro• Basil & oregano
• Chile, lemongrass & shallots
• Cumin, ginger & tomato paste
• Ginger, saffron & yogurt
• Red chile, oregano & lemon• Capers, oranges & Worcestershire sauce
• Chinese mustard & soy sauce
• Garlic, lemongrass & shallots or scallion
• Garlic, saffron & yogurt
• Saffron & vanilla• Black pepper, ketchup & Worcestershire sauce
• Celery seed, lemon & tomato
• Garlic, scallions & soy sauce• Caraway & paprika
• Onion & oregano
• Sage & apple• Amchur & cardamom
• Ginger, lemongrass & curry leaf• Chile, garlic, ginger, galangal & kaffir leaf
• Chile, garlic & shallots
• Coriander, turmeric & peanuts
• Curry, ginger & kokum
• Curry leaf & galangal
• Fenugreek seed, star anise & wasabi• Basil, oregano & pine nuts
• Caraway & nutmeg
• Garlic, onion & wine• Basil & oregano
• Fennel seed & tomato
• Garlic, cilantro & Asian chili sauce
• Mint, cilantro & chives• Black cumin seed, cardamom & tamarind
• Caraway, clove & horseradish• Allspice & cinnamon
• Caraway & marjoram
• Cardamom & clove
• Garlic, cilantro & orange zest• Ajowan & coriander
• Basil & tomato
• Kokum, ginger & turmeric
• Marjoram, oregano, rosemary, parsley & sage• Basil, cumin & cilantro
• Capers & black olives
• Garlic, red chile & lemon• Capers & lemon zest
• Chives & tomato• Amchur & mustard seed
• Black cumin seed & turmeric
• Chile, cilantro, garlic & onion
• Cocoa & mint• Chile & cocoa
• Coriander & cumin
• Oregano, mint & sun-dried tomato• Ajowan & turmeric
• Black pepper & paprika
• Oregano & sun-dried tomato
• Parsley, sage & thyme• Almond, cinnamon & rosewater
• Cinnamon & cumin
• Coriander, nutmeg & rosewater
• Ginger, garlic & yogurt
• Ginger & vanilla• Garlic & onion
• Ginger & parsley
• Mustard seed & cranberries
• Tomato, mint & pine nuts• Black cumin seed & poppy seed
• Coriander, Asian chili sauce, white wine & honey
• Ginger & vanilla• Black pepper, cinnamon & clove
• Cinnamon & orange zest
• Onion & soy sauce• Black mustard seed & turmeric
• Coconut & ginger
• Red chile & tomatoes• Ginger & saffron
• Sage & onion• Basil, black olives & feta cheese
• Basil, chives, corn & grated cheddar cheese
• Basil & onion
• Basil, oregano & fennel seed
• Garlic, red pepper flakes & olive oil• Coriander, lemongrass, shallots & peanuts
• Curry leaf & fenugreek seed• Almond, ginger & orange
• Aniseed, cinnamon & cocoa
• Ginger & saffron
• Star anise, ginger & sesame seed• Black mustard seed & Dijon mustard
• Lemongrass & star aniseThe Spice Exchange:
Compatible Substitutes

As you’ll realize when you start cooking with the healing spices, combining a variety of different flavors imparts its own unique flavor. This makes spice cooking very forgiving. If you don’t have on hand one of the spices in a recipe, you can skip it or substitute something else. You may get a different flavor—but it will still taste good!

For many of the healing spices, there are substitutes that will deliver the intended flavor, or at least a close imitation. You’ll miss out on the healing qualities of the missing spice, but you’ll still benefit from the nutrients in the substitute.

This list includes all the healing spices that have adequate substitutes. If you don’t find a spice in the list, it doesn’t have a substitute. If you don’t have the spice or can’t find it, just eliminate it from the recipe.

Use equal parts of the substitute, unless otherwise noted.

1 part nutmeg and 2 parts
each clove and cinnamon1 tablespoon lime juice for 1
teaspoon amchurOnion powder or 1
tablespoon diced white
onion3–5 black peppercorns or
juniper berries per leafBlack mustard seeds or
cumin seedsEqual parts ground
cinnamon and cloves½ teaspoon ground
cardamom = 10 pods cup diced celery per 1
teaspoon celery seedAny chile can fill in for
another1 square dark chocolate for 3–4 tablespoons4 or 5 dried curry leaves, or
1 dried bay leafHalf the amount of
powdered galangal or 1
tablespoon fresh diced
ginger per two-inch piece
of galangal1 teaspoon powder for 2
fresh clovesDry ginger, cut by two-
thirdsWasabi, or true wasabi by
half1 teaspoon gin for every 2
berries1 teaspoon tamarind paste
per rindLemon zest (one 2” x 2”
piece) and a few slices of
gingerThyme; basil; or Spice de
Provence cut by halfHalf the amount of ground
allspice or clove1 tablespoon of minced
dried onion per ½ cup of
diced fresh onion½ teaspoon dried sage per
4 leavesRosemary or poultry
seasoningCoarsely ground pumpkin
seeds1½ cups drained canned
tomatoes per ½ cup sun-
dried1 tablespoon of molasses
diluted with 3 tablespoons
of fresh lime juice to
an equal amount of
tamarindAjowan; or half marjoram
and half parsley1 teaspoon ground yellow
mustard and a pinch of
saffron2 teaspoons extract to 1
whole beanChinese hot mustard or
English hot mustard

Vanilla: Health in Your Dessert – The Orchid Spice

New York cheesecake, Boston cream pie, crème brûlée. Sit down to enjoy any sweet dessert, and you’ll most likely find vanilla in it.

Vanilla is among the most used—and most enticing—flavors in the world. Some 10,000 tons a year are produced of this expensive spice, with demand far exceeding supply. (That’s why there’s so much imitation vanilla extract on store shelves.)

The Orchid Spice

Perhaps it’s not surprising that vanilla is so alluring when you consider its botanical pedigree. It’s the only edible member of the Orchid family, considered by many to be the loveliest of flowers. And perhaps vanilla’s association with the sensuous orchid is why this spice also has an aphrodisiacal reputation for enhancing romance. An ancient reputation.

Vanilla is native to Mexico, and its first domesticators—the Totonac culture of Mesoamerica, rivals of the Aztecs—told this lusty legend of its origin: the tropical vanilla orchid sprouted from the blood of the goddess Princess Xanat, beheaded by her father after she disobeyed him and ran away with her mortal lover. In the 18th century, husbands in Europe were told to drink a vanilla-rich tonic to increase their virility and fertility. And beginning with its introduction into Europe, vanilla has been an inspiring ingredient in perfumes.

But the traditional use of vanilla as a tonic went beyond the bedroom, according to Jenna Deanne Bythrow of Georgetown University, in an article on the spice in Seminars in Integrative Medicine. The Aztecs wore it as a “medicinal charm.” Spanish friars used it to treat patients who were “coughing and spitting up blood.” In the New World and the Old, it was an oft-used remedy for “woman’s troubles,” such as hysteria and depression. In European herbals of the 18th and 19th centuries, it was touted as a “nerve stimulant.” And a 19th-century American medical text praises its powers to “exhilarate the brain, prevent sleep, increase muscular energy, and stimulate the sexual energies.” Let’s all have another serving of Boston cream pie!

Investigating Vanillin

More than 200 phytonutrients—bioactive plant compounds—have been discovered in vanilla, and in the last two decades scientists have begun to investigate their healing potential. The compound receiving the most scrutiny is the spice’s main constituent: vanillin. Studies show it may play a promising role in two conditions:

Cancer. In the worldwide search for natural compounds to beat cancer, scientists have taken a close look at vanillin, in the test tube and in experimental animals.

In Malaysia, scientists found vanillin could kill human cancer cells, leading them to declare “it could be a useful colorectal cancer preventive agent.”

In Thailand, researchers found vanillin could limit metastasis—the movement of cancer cells from their original site to the rest of the body. It worked by turning off cancer-promoting enzymes (proteins that spark biochemical action) and by inhibiting angiogenesis, the creation of a new blood supply for the tumor. Japanese researchers found the same effects, concluding that vanillin “may be of value in the development of anti-metastatic drugs for cancer treatment.”

Make Your Own Extract

An ounce of pure vanilla extract and a vanilla bean cost about the same—around $2.50. You can save money without losing flavor by making your own extract. It’s easy. Here’s how:

Take two vanilla beans, split them in half, and place them in a clean jar with an airtight lid. A used mayonnaise jar will work.

Pour in a half cup of vodka—any kind will do—and tightly seal. Put it in a cool place out of sunlight. Turn the jar every day for six weeks. That’s it.

You can remove the beans or keep them in the jar, adding more vodka as you start using the extract.

In China, researchers found that bromovanin—a vanillin derivative—stopped the advance of a “broad spectrum” of human cancers, and suggested the compound was “very appealing for the development” of a new anti-cancer drug.

And researchers at the New York University School of Medicine found that vanillin is antimutagenic. In human cells, it reduced by up to 73 percent the ability of toxins to “mutate” DNA, the genetic damage that can trigger cancer. They also found that vanillin influenced 64 genes with a role in cancer, including genes that control how cancer cells grow and die.

Sickle cell anemia. This inherited and incurable disease warps the round, flexible shape of oxygen-carrying red blood cells into rigid, sticky “sickles”—curved slices of cells, like crescent moons. The misshapen cells snag and stall in the bloodstream, choking the flow of blood and oxygen and producing the disease’s main symptoms: intense pain and fatigue.

Vanilla is from the seed-containing pods of a tropical orchid.

Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia tested a vanillin-derived drug on mice bred to develop sickle cells, and found the compound “significantly reduced” the percentage of sickled cells. The compound, they concluded in the British Journal of Haematology, could be a “new and safe anti-sickling agent for patients with sickle cell anemia.”

Getting to Know Vanilla

The name vanilla is derived from the Spanish vainilla, or “little pod,” a reference to the thin, seed-containing pods of the tropical orchid, or what we now call the “vanilla bean.” Once grown only in Mexico (because the flower is naturally pollinated by a local species of bee), the worldwide crop of vanilla is now hand pollinated, a painstaking process that accounts in part for the spice’s expense (second only to saffron).

Vanilla was first used as a culinary spice in confections by Europeans in the 17th century. Today, it’s ubiquitous as a flavoring in pie fillings, ice cream (50 percent of the vanilla imported into the US is used to make ice cream), cakes, cookies, mousses, soufflés, rice desserts, and alcoholic drinks.

How to Buy Vanilla

Vanilla has a pervading, sweet fragrance that varies depending on where it’s grown. It’s sold in two forms: as a dried whole bean and as an extract. Both are available in most supermarkets. For the best taste, favor the bean. They come in several varieties:

French vanilla, also called bourbon vanilla, is arguably the best bean, containing the strongest aroma and the most vanillin. French beans are grown in Madagascar, Réunion Island, and the Comoro Islands, in the Indian Ocean. The majority of vanilla beans imported to the US are French beans; they’re the bean you’ll find in most markets.

Mexican vanilla lacks the depth of flavor found in French vanilla, say connoisseurs, though some vanilla mavens prefer it.

Vanilla may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Sickle cell disease

___________________________________

Vanilla pairs well with these spices:

Almond

Aniseed

Cardamom

Chile

Cinnamon

Clove

Cocoa

Ginger

Mint

Nutmeg

Sesame seed

and complements recipes featuring:

Any sweet confection

Fruit

Milk and cream

Pears

Seafood

___________________________________

Other recipes containing vanilla:

Los Banos Low-Fat Brownies

Sesame Seared Tuna with Pickled Ginger and Vanilla Slaw

Indonesian vanilla, also known as New Guinea vanilla, is full-bodied, but has a spotty reputation when it comes to quality.

Tahitian vanilla is produced (not surprisingly) in Tahiti, but it’s also produced in Hawaii and other Pacific islands. It contains less vanillin and therefore less of the classic vanilla flavor than either French or Mexican beans. However, demand for the Tahitian bean is rising, as its unique flavor has made it popular among chefs.

West Indian vanilla is grown on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Because of its low vanillin content it’s not considered suitable as a spice, and is sold mainly to the cosmetics industry.

Vanilla beans are typically sold in cylindrical tubes, usually in quantities of three. Look for beans that are dark brown (almost black), moist to the touch, and pliable, like a piece of licorice. You may spot a dusting of sugar powder, called givre, on the surface of some beans. It’s a sign of a top-quality bean.

If you don’t buy the bean, buy pure (or natural) vanilla extract. To create extract, beans are chopped, soaked in alcohol, aged, and strained. The alcohol content is important to the quality: the higher the alcohol, the stronger the flavor. (By federal law, the alcohol minimum is 35 percent.)

Store vanilla beans or extract in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Both keep for up to 18 months.

What about imitation vanilla extract, which contains no vanillin? This synthetic product mimics but doesn’t perfectly duplicate the flavor of true vanilla, and is considered a second-rate addition to the kitchen by vanilla connoisseurs. Be that as it may, there’s plenty of imitation vanilla extract out there: the demand for natural vanilla outstrips its availability.

Vanilla is also sold as a paste, which is used mainly in making ice cream and in restaurants.

Vanilla seeds, removed from the bean, are the most expensive form of vanilla. They have the deepest and strongest aroma.

Both paste and seeds can be purchased from specialty vanilla retailers, which you can find online. See the “Buyer’s Guide” for a list of top-quality online spice retailers.

In the Kitchen with Vanilla

Vanilla is usually found in sweet treats, though vanilla itself isn’t very sweet. (It’s the sugar in the confections that supplies the sweetness.) In fact, in Africa and other tropical nations, vanilla is used more frequently in savory stews than in sweet dishes. Western chefs have discovered this tasty use of the spice, and you’ll now spot vanilla sauces on entrée menus, mostly accompanying fish. Consider experimenting with vanilla in savory dishes in your kitchen.

When using fresh beans, slit along the middle and scrape out the seeds. Both the seeds and the pods are used in cooking.

Spicy Vanilla Rice Pudding

If served cold, this will keep in the refrigerator for two days.

1 cup basmati rice

2 cups water

1 three-inch cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups whole milk

1½ cup half and half

 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon ground clove

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Freshly grated nutmeg

1. Rinse the basmati rice with cold water until water runs clear. (Put the rice in a bowl, cover with water, and run it through a mesh strainer three times.) Put the water, rice, cinnamon stick, and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the milk, half and half, sugar, cloves, and cardamom. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean, then add the bean. Increase the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens and becomes creamy, about 40 minutes.

3. Remove the pudding from the heat, remove the cinnamon stick and the bean, and discard. Divide among four dessert bowls and grate fresh nutmeg over the top.

Makes 4 servings.

There is no need to discard the pod after using it. Let it dry out and bury it in a canister of sugar. You can reuse it several times before it completely gives up its flavor, putting it back in the sugar each time. (You can use the vanilla-scented sugar, too.)

Here are some sweet and savory ways to get more vanilla in your diet:

• Vanilla is exceptional with lobster, shrimp, or scallops. Make a cream sauce and spike it with vanilla beans.

• Vanilla marries well with butter. Sweeten butter sauces for savory dishes featuring fish or chicken with a little vanilla.

• Use vanilla to round out stronger flavors in salsas, chutney, and curries.

• Steep a split vanilla bean in coffee, cover, and chill. Serve with whipped cream and nutmeg.

• Add vanilla to fruit compotes featuring apples, gooseberries, and rhubarb.

• Add a drop or two of vanilla extract to holiday eggnog, or when you are whipping fresh cream.

Lemongrass: The Calming Spice – Lowering Cholesterol

You know the saying: When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. Well, when life hands you lemongrass, make lemongrass tea. You’ll feel a whole lot better.

Overwrought Brazilians drink abafado, a lemongrass tea believed to relieve tension and aid sleep. Nigerian folk healers use lemongrass tea to soothe sore throats, lower fevers, and control type 2 diabetes. In Thailand and Vietnam—where lemongrass is a much-used ingredient in the cuisine—folk healers also use it to improve circulation.

One reason these folk remedies might work is citral, an antioxidant oil in lemongrass that is anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal. The oil is also rich in plant sterols, a cholesterol-like compound that cuts the absorption of dietary cholesterol.

Taming Tough-to-Lower Cholesterol

Researchers in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Wisconsin studied 22 people with high total cholesterol (an average of 315 mg/dL; 200 or less is normal). They gave them 140 milligrams (mg) a day of lemongrass oil. After three months, eight had big drops in total cholesterol, of up to 38 mg/dL.

In another study on lemongrass and cholesterol, researchers in Chile found that a compound in lemongrass stopped the oxidation of “bad” LDL cholesterol—the same process that forms artery-clogging plaque. “As oxidative damage to LDL is a key event in the formation of atherosclerotic lesions, the use of this natural antioxidant may be beneficial to prevent or attenuate atherosclerosis,” concluded the researchers in the journal Molecules.

High cholesterol is common in people with type 2 diabetes, 75 percent of whom die of heart disease. Noting that lemongrass is used by the Yoruba healers of southwest Nigeria to treat type 2 diabetes (as well as fever, jaundice, throat and chest infections, moderate-to-severe pain, hypertension, and obesity), scientists in Nigeria tested an extract of the spice on laboratory animals. They found it lowered LDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, increased “good” HDL, and also lowered blood sugar levels, “confirming its folkloric use and safety in type 2 diabetic patients.”

Keep on the Lemongrass

There are many other ways lemongrass might be good for you.

Cancer. In the laboratory, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine studied the power of lemongrass oil against 12 types of human cancer cells. The more lemongrass oil, the worse it was for the cancer cells—with lemongrass destroying projectile-like structures on the surface of cancer cells, blocking the first stage of cancer cell division, and killing cancer cells. Lemongrass oil “has a promising anticancer activity and causes loss in tumor cell viability,” concluded the researchers in the journal Chemical and Biological Interactions.

When Israeli researchers investigated “the anti-cancer potential” of citral—the amount found in a typical cup of lemongrass tea—they found it could kill human cancer cells.

Researchers from the Department of Dermatology at the UCLA School of Medicine found citral protected animals against skin cancer, and has a “possible role as an anti-tumor” agent. Japanese researchers also found that citral activated antioxidants in the skin that could protect against skin cancer.

Another team of Japanese researchers found that a lemongrass extract protected laboratory animals against chemical-induced liver cancer, publishing their results in the journal Cancer Letter. And writing in the journal Carcinogenesis, a group of Japanese researchers found lemongrass extract protected laboratory animals against colon cancer.

Researchers in India found that a lemongrass extract protected laboratory animals against DNA-damaging ionizing radiation—the same type of cancer-causing radiation we get from the sun and from medical devices such as CT scans and x-rays.

Anxiety. Noting that lemongrass tea is used in Brazilian folk medicine to reduce anxiety, Brazilian researchers tested an extract of lemongrass in mice. Using a standard maze device to measure the animals’ level of anxiety, they found the tea significantly calmed the mice.

Insomnia. They also found that lemongrass extract reduced physical activity and induced sleep in mice as effectively as a sedative drug.

Epilepsy. The spice also reduced the number of chemically induced epileptic seizures in the mice.

Fungal and yeast infections. Doctors in South Africa found that lemongrass in lemon juice was an effective treatment for oral thrush (an infection on the inner cheeks and tongue with the fungus Candida albicans) in HIV/AIDS patients. The findings were in the journal Phytomedicine.

Researchers in Brazil also found that lemongrass oil and citral had “potent” activity against candida. Japanese researchers found the same, and said their results “provide experimental evidence suggesting the potential value of lemongrass oil for the treatment of oral or vaginal candidiasis.”

Getting to Know Lemongrass

Lemongrass is, well, grass—tufted, razor-like blades with a central rib that are native to Southeast Asia. When the leaves are chopped and crushed they give off the lemony aroma that is characteristic of the cuisines of Thailand and Vietnam, where lemongrass is widely used in stews, and in soups such as hot-and-sour soup.

In Thailand, the tender stalks are also added fresh to salads and pounded into spice pastes for curries. (Sometimes the leaves are tied in a knot and simmered in a curry.) In fact, lemongrass is used to flavor spice pastes and blends throughout Southeast Asia. It’s a key ingredient in hot condiments called sambals, and in an Indonesian spice called bumbu, which is popular at roadside food stands.

Lemongrass, native to Southeast Asia, has tufted, razor-like blades with a central rib.

Lemongrass is cultivated in Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, India, the Caribbean, Australia, and Florida. However, Florida lemongrass is not grown for culinary purposes. The oil is extracted for use in cosmetics, soaps, bath salts, perfumes, and furniture polish.

LEMONGRASS WAS USED TO SCENT BATHS IN ANCIENT ROME.

Lemongrass oil is often called citronella—the name of the scented oil and candles used as bug repellents. But bug-repelling citronella oil is derived from two varieties of lemongrass that are inedible.

How to Buy Lemongrass

You can often find lemongrass fresh in large or high-end markets in areas where there is a large Asian population. Even though the entire plant is aromatic, you’ll usually find only the lower white stalk—the only part of the plant tender enough to eat.

Fresh lemongrass stalks are usually sold in bunches. Choose stalks that are firm and don’t look dried or wrinkled. They should be white with a greenish tinge. However, if lemongrass is native to your cuisine, you’re more likely to purchase the whole plant, including the root and leaves, using the leaves to make lemongrass tea. Lemongrass enthusiasts also fold the leaves to release the aromatic flavor, and add them to foods cooked in a liquid. The leaves are discarded before eating, like a bay leaf. Asian and Latin markets usually carry the whole plant. But be careful: the blades are sharp. (Whole lemongrass is also sold frozen.)

Lemongrass may help prevent and/or treat:

Anxiety

Cancer

Cholesterol problems

(high total cholesterol,

high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL

cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Epilepsy

Insomnia

Thrush (oral candida

infection)

Triglycerides, high

Vaginal yeast infection

___________________________________

Lemongrass pairs well with these spices:

Black cumin

seed

Cardamom

Chile

Cinnamon

Clove

Coconut

Coriander

Cumin

Fennel seed

Fenugreek

seed

Galangal

Garlic

Ginger

Onion

Tamarind

Turmeric

___________________________________

and complements recipes featuring:

Asian stir-fries

Curries

Marinades for meat

and poultry

Poultry

Shrimp

Soft-shell crabs

Tomatoes

Other recipes containing lemongrass:

Malaysian Curry Paste

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Thai Red Curry Paste

Mussels with Thai Red Curry Sauce

With the make-ahead curry paste as an ingredient, this is an easy dish that is special enough to serve company. Serve it with a loaf of crusty bread to enjoy the sauce. To complete the meal, add a green salad made with Mediterranean Vinaigrette.

3 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste

4 large red ripe tomatoes

3 garlic bulbs, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

1 fourteen-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk

1½ cups seafood stock

1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

½ teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

1. Pick over the mussels and discard any that are open.

2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the red curry paste and fry until fragrant, stirring constantly, about one minute. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and ginger and continue to fry, stirring, until garlic is soft, about three minutes.

3. Stir in the coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, salt, and pepper to taste. Lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the mussels, turn up the heat, cover and cook, shaking the pot occasionally, until the mussels open, about 5–10 minutes. Transfer the mussels to four bowls and pour the sauce over them. Sprinkle with basil and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Lemongrass is also sold preserved in jars, with lemon juice or vinegar. It’s the next best thing to fresh.

You can purchase dried lemongrass in Asian markets, sometimes sold under the Indonesian name sereh. It’s also available online. (For a list of online resources, please see A Buyer’s Guide to the Healing Spices.) You can find dried lemongrass whole, shredded, or ground. Reconstitute in warm water before using.

Ground lemongrass is available at most supermarkets with a well-stocked spice aisle.

All forms of dried lemongrass lack the characteristic intense lemony flavor of fresh, however. You’ll get the best flavor from fresh lemongrass. If you can’t find fresh, preserved is better than all forms of the dried.

You also can find dried lemongrass leaves for making tea in Asian and Latin markets. But don’t use them for cooking: they contribute little to the taste of a dish.

Fresh lemongrass can be kept refrigerated in plastic wrap for about two weeks. It can also be frozen in an airtight freezer bag for six months. Dried lemongrass should be stored in an airtight container in a dry, dark place. It will keep for about a year.

In the Kitchen with Lemongrass

Because of its robust flavor, lemongrass can withstand long cooking without losing its flavor. It is best used in long-simmering dishes, such as a stew or curry. But to get the best results from its strong lemony taste, you need to prepare it properly.

If you’ve bought a stalk, cut it into thin rings. Or cut it into large pieces, and crush it with the back of a knife, as you would garlic, and add it to the dish. (Use it the same way you use scallions.)

If you’ve bought an entire plant, leaves and all, trim it to get to the edible part. Cut off the root end with a knife, and pull off the outer leaves right down to the white stalk. (It’s a good idea to wear plastic gloves to protect your fingers from cuts.) Slice or chop the stalk.

Lemongrass Iced Tea

In Thailand, people drink lemongrass tea iced and slightly sweetened, as a cooling counterbalance to the hot cuisine. It is served at both lunch and dinner.

1 cup lemongrass pieces, about ½” each

½ cup sugar

8 cups water

1. Bring the lemongrass pieces, sugar, and 2 cups water to a boil in medium-size saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and steep, partially covered, until cool.

2. Put the steeped tea with the lemongrass pieces in a blender or food processor and process until finely chopped. Pour the tea through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher, pressing to get out all of the liquid. Discard the solids. Add ice, fill the pitcher with the rest of the water, and stir. Serve over ice.

You can use the entire stalk by tying the full length in a knot and dropping it into the pot. The bruising will release the lemon flavor. Again, be careful that you don’t cut your fingers on the sharp leaf edges. The whole stalk isn’t meant to be eaten—discard it at the end of cooking. (It will leave behind its intense aroma!)

You can use the fresh leaves to make a tea. Place the leaves in a large pot and pour a quart of hot water on top of them. Steep for 10 minutes. Strain the tea and discard the leaves.

Here are some ways to put more lemongrass in your diet:

• Cut the stalks coarsely and add them to the water when steaming seafood.

• Put stalks in foil when you barbecue fish.

• Use whole stalks as stirrers to put a touch of lemon in drinks or to intensify lemonade.

• You can use lemongrass to tenderize and aromatize meat. Break 2 stalks of lemongrass in pieces and put them in a spice grinder with a garlic clove and 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds. Combine the ground spices with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and ¼ cup of Asian fish sauce, and rub the mixture into steaks or beef kabobs before grilling.

• Combine lemongrass (sweet) with copious amounts of garlic and shallots to make a sweet-and-sour sauce like they do in Malaysia.

Chili: Red-Hot Healer – A Proven Pain Killer, Burning Up Fat and A Heart-Warming Spice

It’s a bit ironic that the hottest spice in the world is called chile. Then there’s the ongoing debate as to its spelling. Is it chile, chilli, or chili? (And why not chilly?)

Self-professed keepers of the flame, so to speak, defer to the Spanish chile, rather than the English chili, or the chilli that is synonymous with Mexican cuisine, so chile it shall be. But it really doesn’t matter how you spell it as long as you know what it means: hot, as in a mouthful of persistent heat that can range from tangy to tongue torching.

Chiles get their trademark fire from capsaicin, an alkaloid concentrated mostly in the interior seeds and membrane. The more capsaicin, the more intense the heat. If there’s no heat, there’s no capsaicin. If there is no capsaicin, it’s not a chile.

Capsaicin is indestructible. Neither cold, nor heat, nor water will douse the fire—a fire so fierce it can incinerate a variety of diseases. And the hotter the chile the more therapeutic it is. But have no fear: you don’t need a high pain threshold to benefit. All chiles have healing properties.

Chile’s healing capsaicin is enhanced by a wealth of antioxidant vitamins. Ounce for ounce, a chile contains nine times more vitamin A than a green pepper, and twice as much vitamin C as an orange. It’s also rich in minerals, including potassium and magnesium.

In the last 20 years, thousands of scientific studies have been published describing the medicinal benefits of chiles. Here’s the “hottest” research.

A Proven Pain Killer

When you bite into a chile, capsaicin triggers the release of a neurotransmitter called substance P, which tells the brain to transmit pain along nerve fibers. Capsaicin, however, builds a tolerance to substance P. As you eat more and more chiles, capsaicin triggers less and less substance P. (At the same time, it also triggers the release of somatostatin, a hormone that cools inflammation.) This is why diehard chileheads can down hotter-than-hot habañero hot sauce that leaves neophytes writhing in agony. In effect, your taste buds become desensitized to the burn.

People with a lot of pain have a lot of substance P, and capsaicin affects it in a similar way. When you rub capsaicin cream into the skin at the source of pain, you feel a warm and burning sensation, a sensitivity caused by substance P. However, repeated use, usually over a period of three days, reduces and eventually blocks substance P, numbing the pain, and releases somatostatin, which promotes the healing process.

Studies have found that capsaicin creams, which are approved by the FDA, can have a dramatic and long-lasting anesthetic effect on a variety of painful conditions. Most studies show that capsaicin cream brings relief to nearly 75 percent of people who use it. It even works for extreme pain. Zostrix, for example, is an FDA-approved prescription capsaicin cream for some of life’s most painful events, such as nerve pain associated with mastectomy or post-operative amputation.

The one downside to capsaicin cream is the initial heat, which can cause skin redness and irritation in some people. However, a study reported in Archives of Internal Medicine reported that capsaicin cream was the preferred treatment of choice among 100 older patients with severe osteoarthritis in the knees.

These are among the most effective uses for capsaicin creams:

Arthritis. Capsaicin not only offers pain relief to people with osteoarthritis. Studies show that it also increases levels of synovial fluid, which lubricates joints and helps prevent the breakdown of cartilage. It all adds up to less pain and increased flexibility.

In a study from researchers at the University of Miami School of Medicine, people with osteoarthritis of the knee applied either a .025% solution of capsaicin or a plain cream to their knees, four times a day. Those who used capsaicin cream had an obvious reduction in pain after two months. By three months, 81 percent reported fewer arthritic symptoms, including morning stiffness. In contrast, only 54 percent of those using the placebo reported feeling better. The study was reported in Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism.

Nerve pain. A study at the University of California, San Francisco found that high-dose capsaicin cream significantly reduced chronic, debilitating nerve pain (neuropathy) associated with a range of diseases. Seven out of 10 patients improved by at least 50 percent.

A study of 200 patients with nerve damage, reported in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, found that capsaicin cream “significantly reduced” shooting pain and numbing pins-and-needle-like sensations.

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). Shingles (herpes zoster) is a rash-like outbreak of blisters—typically in middle or old age—sparked by the same virus that causes chickenpox in children. In many people with shingles, the reactivated virus damages the nerves, producing an excruciatingly painful condition that can last for weeks (and sometimes years) called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). The FDA has approved a prescription patch containing pure, concentrated synthetic capsaicin called Qutenza for relief from PHN.

Diabetic neuropathy. In one study researchers randomly assigned either capsaicin cream or a placebo to treat 250 people with painful diabetic neuropathy, a common complication of diabetes in which nerves are damaged, often in the legs and feet. The patients using the capsaicin cream had nearly a 70 percent reduction in symptoms.

“With the exception of initial transient burning, capsaicin offers several advantages over oral analgesics [painkillers],” wrote the researchers in Archives of Internal Medicine. Those advantages included safety, fewer side effects, and fewer drug-drug interactions.

Neck pain. Physicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. treated 23 people with chronic neck pain with a .025% capsaicin cream four times a day. After one month, the doctors asked a number of questions, including: “If your pain returns and you were given a choice, would you choose to use the cream again?” A total of 75 percent said they would. The study was reported in theAmerican Journal of Physical Medicine &Rehabilitation.

Headaches. Capsaicin used nasally greatly reduced symptoms among 52 people suffering from one-sided cluster headaches. The researchers, reporting in the journal Pain, found 70 percent of the patients benefited when the capsaicin was applied to the nostril on the same side as the headache.

Burning Up Fat

Fiery capsaicin raises your body heat, increases perspiration, and boosts your metabolic rate—an effect that has helped people lose weight and prevented others from gaining it. Eating chiles can benefit weight loss in several ways:

Increases metabolism. Several studies show that eating chiles increases the rate at which you burn calories. The effect can last for 20 minutes to six hours.

Decreases appetite. In a study by Dutch researchers, people who took a capsaicin supplement before meals ate less fat and fewer calories. The findings were in the International Journal of Obesity.

In another study, in the British Journal of Nutrition, people who ate chiles at breakfast were less hungry and ate less at lunch, and people who ate chiles as part of a dinner appetizer ate fewer calories and fat for the remainder of the meal.

Increases fat burn during exercise. Taking a capsaicin supplement one hour before aerobic exercise increased fat burn, reported a Japanese study in the Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology.

Dissolves fat cells. In animal research, eating chiles reduced the number of fat cells and helped prevent new fat cells from forming—even in animals fed a high-fat diet.

Prevent the complications of obesity. Researchers found that capsaicin can reduce insulin resistance and prevent fatty liver disease in animals—two prediabetic conditions common in Americans who eat a high-fat, high-sugar diet.

A Heart-Warming Spice

Population studies conducted around the world show that people living in chile-eating nations have lower rates of cardiovascular disease than people living in nations where the cuisine is bland. Studies show eating more chiles can help:

Prevent blood clots. When scientists looked at medical records in chile-eating countries, they found a much lower incidence of embolisms, or potentially dangerous blood clots, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Studies show that capsaicin works like an anticoagulant drug by helping the body dissolve fibrin, a substance that causes the formation of blood clots.

Improve cholesterol. Australian researchers found that healthy adults who added an ounce of chiles to their daily diet increased their resistance to the oxidized blood fats that coat and thicken artery walls, according to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition. And a study reported in Phytotherapy Research found that capsaicin supplements reduced dangerous LDL cholesterol and increased protective HDL cholesterol in test animals.

A Passion for Pain

It’s the rare person who can down ribs and chicken doused in 10-alarm chile sauce and go back for seconds, or bite into the hottest of the hots—a naga jolokia—and keep on grinning.

Chile is said to be an acquired taste, and possessing the tenacity to test the temperature and turn up the heat is like an addiction. There are thousands of chile fans who challenge themselves and one another to keep turning it up a notch as if it were a quest to conquer Mount Everest. There is even a scientific method of keeping score called the Scoville heat scale.

The Scoville heat scale measures the levels of capsaicin in a pepper by the amount of sweetened water it takes to dilute it to the heatless state of a bell pepper. One million drops of water moves the index up 1.5 units. This puts bell peppers at 0 units and 100 percent capsaicin at 16 million units. Searing starts at 100,000 units and goes up to 750,000. A jalapeño, for example, ranges from 2,500 to 8,000 units. The Tabasco chile (with a sauce by the same name) and the cayenne range from 30,000 to 50,000 units. (The cayenne is the chile used in most medical research.)

The Scotch bonnet chile, which is used in Jamaican jerk dishes, ranges from 150,000 to 325,000 units. Tiny bird’s eye chiles, used to make Portugal’s piri-piri sauce and Tunisia’s harissacomes in at 100,000 to 225,000 units.

The hottest chile is believed to be the naga jolokia from India, which hits the scale at over 1 million Scoville units. Of the chiles we’re most likely to encounter, the orange habañero is one of the hottest at 150,000 to 325,000 units. However, a few years ago, a hybrid called red savina habañero was designed that tops out at over 500,000 units, one of the highest on record!

Reduce heart rate. Healthy men who ate an ounce of chiles a day for a month had a lower resting heart rate (a sign of a stronger, healthier heart) than men who ate a bland diet, according to a study in theEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition. They also performed better in a stress test that measures heart muscle function.

Prevent arrhythmias. Animal studies found capsaicin reduced ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, two serious and life-threatening types of irregular heartbeat. According to the studies, reported in the European Journal of Pharmacology, capsaicin worked like calcium blockers, prescription medication used to treat the conditions.

Reduce damage after a heart attack. In an animal experiment, researchers found that capsaicin reduced the damage to heart cells after a heart attack. The researchers, reporting in the journal Circulation, believe the capsaicin protected the heart by stimulating nerves in the spinal cord, which in turn activated survival-oriented nerves in the heart muscle.

Capsaicin and Cancer Prevention

Dozens of studies, including those in my laboratory at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, have found that capsaicin causes death to tumor cells in test animals and human cell cultures. Earlier studies on cancer and chiles, however, had produced conflicting results, with some suggesting that eating chiles causes certain cancers, including colon cancer. However, there is evidence that the commercial capsaicin used in the earlier studies may have been mixed with potentially carcinogenic impurities, whereas recent and current research uses pure capsaicin.

Another conflict arose when researchers at the University of Utah found a correlation between eating chiles and a high incidence of stomach cancer among Mexican-Americans and US Cajun and Creole populations. However, this isn’t the case for all chile-eating nations, which makes me (as well as many other scientists) believe that something else may be going on in the diet that is raising the cancer risk. Plus, as you’re about to read, chiles are actually kind to the stomach.

Truth is, over the last decade, close to 100 test tube and animal studies have found a strong correlation between eating chiles and cancer prevention, including cancers of the breast, esophagus, stomach, liver, prostate, and brain, and leukemia. Some of the most promising and extensive research to date has been with prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles found that capsaicin killed 80 percent of cancer cells in test animals medically induced with prostate cancer. Remaining tumors were about one-fifth the size of those in untreated mice. Capsaicin also reduced prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a biomarker that can signal the presence of cancer in men. Dr. H. Phillip Koeffler, director of hematology and oncology at Cedars-Sinai, said it’s possible that capsaicin someday may be used to prevent the return of prostate cancer in men treated for the disease.

Breast cancer. Cedars-Sinai is finding similar success with breast cancer. According to the journal Oncogene, capsaicin blocked human breast cancer cells in the test tube and decreased the size of tumors by 50 percent in test animals. Capsaicin has “a potential role in the treatment and prevention of human breast cancer,” the researchers reported.

How to Put Out the Fire

Grabbing a glass of water is the worst thing you can do for “chile mouth.” This is because chile is not water soluble—in fact, it can make the flame glow even more.

Fat and alcohol are the only substances that can reduce the burn, though they are only mildly effective. Beer, milk, yogurt, peanut butter, and ice cream work the best.

Never rub your eyes or face after handling chiles, as the oil is an irritant and will burn, even hours afterward. If you get chile burn in your eyes, rinse repeatedly with cool water or saline solution until the sting begins to wane.

If your skin burns or is irritated from contact with chile, wash it off with soap and water, or rub it with alcohol, and then dab it with whole-fat milk.

Good for the Stomach

Chiles have a bad—and mistaken—reputation for creating the same fire down below that they do in the mouth. Studies have proven otherwise: they cause neither ulcers nor hemorrhoids. Here’s what we know:

Ulcers. Surprise! Not only don’t chiles cause ulcers, they actually might prevent them.

“Investigations carried out in recent years have revealed that chile and its [active ingredient] capsaicin is not the cause for ulcer formation but a benefactor,” Indian researchers reported in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. “Capsaicin does not stimulate but inhibits acid secretion, stimulates alkali, mucus secretions and particularly gastric mucosal blood flow, which help in prevention and healing of ulcers.”

Ulcer-free people eat 2.6 times more chiles than people who come down with ulcers, Malaysian researchers noted in Digestive Diseases and Sciences. Researchers in Korea found that capsaicin is even potent enough to kill H. pylori, the bacteria that are the leading cause of stomach ulcers.

Animal research in Singapore found that doses similar to typical human chile consumption protected the gastric lining from alcohol-related damage. Another study found the same results on stomach problems related to excess use of aspirin.

Researchers in Singapore found that long-term chile intake protected animals from acute stress ulceration, a serious complication in severely ill patients that often causes stomach hemorrhage, according to a study in the Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Indigestion. Italian researchers, reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 2.5 g of red chili powder a day reduced symptoms in people with functional dyspepsia, a chronic digestive disorder of no known origin with symptoms similar to indigestion. By the third week of treatment, those with dyspepsia reported a 60 percent improvement in their symptoms.

More Hot Discoveries

Psoriasis. Several studies have found that capsaicin cream can help reduce the redness and itching in people with psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin condition for which there is no known cure.

In one study, people with moderate to severe psoriasis applied a capsaicin cream containing either .01 or .025% capsaicin to one side of their bodies several times a day and a placebo cream on the other. After six weeks, the capsaicin cream resulted in a 68 percent reduction in scaling, redness, and swelling, compared to 44 percent for the placebo cream. The study was reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Type 2 diabetes. The amount of insulin required to lower blood sugar after a meal was lower in people who ate a meal containing chiles than in people who ate a bland meal, according to an Australian study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Getting to Know Chile

Chiles are the most widely consumed spice. Worldwide, we eat 20 times more chiles than any other spice!

Millions of people are so passionate about eating fire that there are hundreds of clubs and Web sites for diehards to share their burning desires and recipes, at least two consumer magazines that write about nothing but chiles, a mini-industry of hot sauce products dead set on turning the mouth on fire, and even an international non-profit institute dedicated to preserving the genetic codes of all species while trying to produce even hotter varieties. It’s mind-boggling to fathom, but there are more than 3,000 varieties of chiles!

There are more than 3,000 varieties of chiles—and the smaller and redder the chile, the hotter it is.

It is so hard to imagine Indian cuisine without chiles that it is commonly believed that they originated in India. Chiles, however, are from the Americas. Christopher Columbus “discovered” them on his secret route that landed him in the Americas on his quest to find the source of black pepper, which the Arabs had been keeping secret from the Europeans for centuries. He didn’t find black pepper (it was 5,000 miles away in India), but he found “red pepper”—the chile. Columbus took chiles back to Spain where they became an immediate sensation as “poor man’s pepper.” It may be one of the best gifts the New World ever gave to the Old!

By the 17th century, chiles were known around the globe. Today they play a key role in the cuisines of India, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and the US South and Southwest. Chiles put heat in South Indian curries, Jamaican jerks, Mexican salsas and moles, Malaysian sambals, Korean kimchi, Indonesian rendangs, Thailand’s nam prik, North African harissa, and Portuguese piri piri. They also go in spice blends, relishes, and pastes.

Cajuns, Creoles, and Jamaicans (as well as many others) go to literally painful lengths to see who can create the most searing hell-fire hot sauce. They come in hundreds of different varieties and ranges of heat and are used as condiments all over the Caribbean and America’s South, from Louisiana to Arizona.

Mexico is best known for its chile cuisine and rightly so. Mexico is the most advanced chile culture, and Mexicans are said to have the most refined palates in the world for developing chile recipes. Mexicans are masters at using an extraordinary variety of fresh and dried chiles to achieve characteristic flavor, aromas, mouth feel, color, and bite to a whole spectrum of dishes. Mexico alone is home to more than 150 different varieties of chiles. (And thanks to the proliferation of Mexican restaurants in the US, salsa surpassed ketchup in the 1980s as America’s favorite condiment.)

India has an infinite variety of chiles, each with its own distinct aroma, flavor, and pungency. Mildly hot green chiles are cooked in butter with tomatoes, molasses, and other spices for a mouth-watering delicacy called mirchi ki bhaji. Chiles are stuffed with roasted spices and pickled in mustard oil to make mirch ka achar, an all-time favorite eaten with fried bread. The black curries of Sri Lanka contain “bird peppers,” possibly the hottest on earth, and red-hot cayenne. Indians temper the fire with cooling side dishes called raitas, which often include cucumber and yogurt, and with rice dishes.

Chiles put the heat in China’s Sichuan and Hunan cuisines. One of the hottest dishes is Kung pao chicken, which contains enough fiery hot chiles in a bean sauce to challenge the taste buds of even the most jaded chile eaters.

Chiles are important in the Caribbean because they add character to otherwise bland starchy staples, such as peas and rice, beans, grains, and yucca. Chiles also produce a sweat, which works like a natural air conditioner in the relentless hot sun.

How to Buy Chile

Chiles are pods with a thick shiny skin covering a hollow that hides a lining of membranes filled with seeds. Chile pods come in an assortment of shapes, colors, and heat levels. They range in size from less than an inch to eight inches or more. But here’s the important fact: the smaller and redder the chile, the hotter it is.

Chile may help prevent and/or treat:

Arthritis, osteo-

Blood clots

Cancer

Cholesterol problems
(high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Diabetic neuropathy

Headache, tension

Heart attack

Heart disease

Indigestion

Neck pain

Nerve pain
(neuropathy)

Overweight

Postherpetic neuralgia

Psoriasis

Stroke

Ulcer

___________________________________

Chile pairs well with these spices:

Allspice

Amchur

Cardamom

Cocoa

Coconut

Cumin

Fenugreek seed

Galangal

Garlic

Ginger

Kokum

Onion

Pumpkin seed

Turmeric

___________________________________

and complements recipes featuring:

Pickles

Relishes

Salsas

Sauces

Chiles are available fresh, whole dried, crushed (flakes), powdered, canned or jarred, and pickled. You can find many varieties at the market. And what you find—either fresh or dried—depends on your locale, your market, and your area’s ethnic population.

Fresh chiles are green until they ripen, after which they turn red, yellow, brown, purple, or black. When buying fresh chiles, look for pods that are firm and have a smooth, glossy outer skin with good color. Chiles should be dry and heavy, not limp, dull, or discolored. Wrinkled skin indicates they have started to dry or may not have ripened on the bush, which is undesirable.

Other recipes containing chile:

Adobo

Ajowan Parathas

All-American Chili con Carne

Basic Barbecue Rub

Berbere

Black Mango Chutney

Black Pepper Rice with Almonds

Bloody Mary Soup with Jumbo Lump Crabmeat

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Caribbean Curry Paste

Chaat Masala

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Chimichurri Sauce

Cocoa Rub

Garbanzo Beans with Mushrooms and Toasted Almonds

Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Hot Curry Powder

Jamaican Jerk Marinade

Madras Curry Paste

Madras Curry Powder

Onion and Tomato Chutney

Pickling Spice

Pomegranate Guacamole

Potato Cauliflower Curry

Prawns with Almond Hot Pepper Sauce

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Sesame Seared Tuna with Pickled Ginger and Vanilla Slaw

Sol Kadhi

Spiced Vegetable Fritters

Spicy Hash Brown Potatoes

Tabil

Tamarind Sauce

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Thai Red Curry Paste

Vindaloo Curry Paste

Fresh chiles can be stored loosely in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Wrap them in a paper towel or put them in a plastic bag and leave it partially open. Fresh chiles also freeze well in a sealed freezer bag.

If possible, buy the type of chile called for in the recipe. Though it’s always okay to substitute one type of chile for another, remember each has a distinct flavor that can be recognized in the final result.

Most importantly, there is a huge flavor difference between a dried and fresh chile, though the heat is the same. Some have likened it to the difference between a fresh and a sun-dried tomato. Drying caramelizes the sugars and other chemicals in the chile, so a dried chile develops a more complex flavor. If you substitute dry for fresh or vice versa when cooking, expect a very different taste.

Mexico considers this taste difference so important it has given different names to the same chile fresh and dried. For example, a poblano chile is called an ancho when dried, and a smoke-dried jalapeño is called a chipotle.

You’re most likely to come upon more variety by buying dried chiles. Many well-stocked markets carry an infinite variety in cellophane bags. You might even find a garland of dried whole chiles called aristra still hanging from the line on which they were dried. Dried chiles vary in appearance according to the variety. Look for ones that are still vivid in color. If they’ve lost their color, it’s a sign that they have probably lost some of their flavor as well. Dried chiles will keep indefinitely in a dry, dark storage area.

Ground chile is manufactured mainly for using in spice mixes and as a convenience at the stove. In the supermarket it comes in two varieties: chili (not chile) powder or cayenne.

Grilled Pork Chile Adobo

This is one of Mexico’s numerous adobos, a vinegar-based all-purpose seasoning designed to give grilled meats a kick. This one is hot, though not fiery, and can be used with any cut of pork. It is traditionally served with guacamole, salsa, and tortilla chips.

¼ cup chili powder

½ cup white vinegar

4 garlic cloves

1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 thick loin pork chops

½ cup chopped cilantro

1. Combine the chili powder, vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, cloves, and cinnamon in a blender and process until it becomes a smooth wet paste.

2. Put the pork chops in one layer into a glass or ceramic dish. Spread the marinade on top and refrigerate for at least eight hours, turning every few hours.

3. Remove from the marinade and grill the chops over medium-high heat, three to four minutes on each side. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Generic chili powder is not pure chile but is made with ground chiles mixed with other spices, such as cumin, oregano, and salt. It’s most noted for adding heat to chili con carne. Do not assume it is pure chile unless the label says so.

Cayenne powder is pure chile, ground from the long, red cayenne chile. It is also fiery hot. It can be found in the spice aisle of any supermarket. Many specialty markets carry other pure chile powders in a range of heats. Ground ancho chile powder, for example, is milder than cayenne and is popular in Mexican cooking. The temperature of chile powder ranges in heat according to the ratio of seeds used when the chiles are ground. The hotter varieties are more orange, rather than red. Asian, Indian, and Latin markets sell specialty chile powders by the bag.

You can find virtually any type of dried chile online. Check the “Buyer’s Guide” for online sources.

Chiles are grown all over the world but the principal growing plantations are found in Mexico, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Thailand, India, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. (India is estimated to be the largest producer of chiles in the world.) In addition to the jalapeño, ancho chiles from Mexico and Anaheim chiles from New Mexico and California are the most commonly used in the US.

In the Kitchen with Chile

Despite all the hullabaloo about heat, chiles add an important flavor to food. However, it should never be used alone as a spice. Rather, use it as background to other spices. It goes with virtually any assortment of spices.

You can’t take away a chile’s heat but you can turn it down by discarding the seeds and cutting away the membrane, the two places where the heat resides. There is more heat in the membrane than the seeds and there’s more membrane in the stem, which is why it’s the hottest part of the chile. For milder flavor, wash and dry the chile, remove the stem, and slice it lengthwise with a small sharp paring knife under running water.

Dried chiles should be soaked, covered in warm water, for about 20 minutes or until soft and pliable, then chop and use as directed. You can remove the seeds from a dried chile by breaking it and knocking out the seeds by tapping it on its side.

Be forewarned! Capsaicin is volatile and can burn on contact. Always wear plastic or rubber gloves when handing any chile and make sure to keep your hands clear of your skin and eyes. The heat from a habañero, for example, is so intense it has been known to cause blisters in the skin of sensitive individuals. Also, avoid breathing the fumes.

Ideally, you should have a special cutting board and knife to work with chiles. Even after washing, capsaicin residue will remain on the surface of your tools. If disposing of chile seeds and remnants in the garbage disposal, make sure to run the disposal with very cold water. Hot water will give you a backlash as the heat diffuses into the air. (This is why capsaicin is an ingredient in pepper spray.)

If you’re tentative about cooking with chiles, always start with a little less. You can always add more heat, but it’s hard (though not impossible) to take it out. If a dish tastes too hot, add a little sugar, milk, or cream. An old wife’s tale says adding a whole potato to the pot for a half hour will draw out some of the heat.

Dried chiles can be added whole to slow-cooked foods, as the heat will slowly seep out and blend into the dish. You can also soak a chile in hot water to soften it and pierce it with a sharp knife before adding.

To intensify the flavor of dried chiles, dry roast them using the method described before soaking. You can get the same effect by running them under a broiler.

To add mild heat to simmering dishes, cut a few slits in a whole fresh chile and add it to the dish while cooking. Remove and discard the chile before serving.

There is no boredom factor when it comes to experimenting with culinary chile creations. With so many different varieties, chiles offer an endless adventure in eating.