Sweet and mellow
Vanilla, liquorice, paprika and fennel: soft, round and gentle.
Sweet spices carry a natural sweetness and are used in desserts and drinks. Vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, liquorice and fennel seed are among them.
What makes them sweet
Vanilla owes its character to vanillin, cinnamon to cinnamaldehyde, and anise and fennel to anethole. These compounds smell sweet, and the brain reads sweetness from the smell, so a vanilla scent can make a dish taste sweeter without more sugar.
How cooks use them
They flavour custards, ice creams, biscuits, milk puddings, sweet rice and drinks. In South Asia, cardamom perfumes kheer and tea, in the Middle East rose water and mastic flavour sweets, and in the Americas vanilla and cinnamon appear in chocolate and cakes.
Pairings
Sweet spices also work in savoury food, such as cinnamon in a meat stew or fennel in sausages. They pair well with citrus, nuts and dairy.
Sweet and mellow on EveryMasala
The spices written up so far, best known first.
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 3 moreStar anise鍏 (b膩ji菐o)
The reddish-brown star-shaped fruit of a Chinese evergreen tree, used for its licorice-like flavor.Fruit 路 Sweet and mellow 路 Anise and liquorice
馃嚮馃嚦 VietnamH煤ng l矛u
A Vietnamese spice blend of cinnamon, star anise, and clove for roasted meatsWarm and sweet-spiced 路 Sweet and mellow
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 5 moreGarlic chives闊彍
A flat-leaved Allium with a garlic scent, used across Asia as a herb and vegetable.Leaf 路 Sweet and mellow
馃嚠馃嚛 Indonesia and 4 moreClove
The dried flower bud of a tropical tree, prized for its intense warmth and numbing bite.Flower 路 Sharp and pungent 路 Warm and sweet-spiced
馃嚞馃嚰 Guinea-Bissau and 5 moreCalabash nutmeg
The dried seed of a West African tree, used as a local substitute for nutmeg.Warm and sweet-spiced 路 Sweet and mellow
馃嚞馃嚟 Ghana and 5 morePrekesepr蓻k蓻s蓻
The scented pod of a West African tree, used to perfume soups.Fruit 路 Sweet and mellow
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 1 moreChenpi闄崇毊
Sun-dried mandarin orange peel aged for use in Chinese cooking and medicineFruit 路 Sweet and mellow 路 Sharp and pungent
馃嚘馃嚭 Australia and 1 moreMountain pepper
The dried berry of an Australian shrub, used as a peppery condiment and wasabi substitute.Fruit 路 Hot and fiery 路 Sweet and mellow
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Clove: Bayu Nugroho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mountain pepper: Melburnian, CC BY 3.0, source
- Chenpi: Dboxes, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Star anise: Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Prekese: NMNH, CC0, source
- Garlic chives: Kurt St眉ber [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Calabash nutmeg: Samuel Curtis and William Jackson Hooker, Public domain, source