Fruits and berries
Black pepper, allspice, star anise, juniper, sumac and tamarind: dried fruit that carries the flavour.
Fruit spices are dried fruits used for their sour, sweet or aromatic flesh and seeds. Black pepper, allspice, tamarind, sumac, star anise and vanilla are all in this group.
What they are
Black pepper is a dried berry, allspice is an unripe berry, star anise is a star-shaped fruit and vanilla is the cured pod of an orchid. Sumac is the dried berry of a shrub, and tamarind is the pulp of a pod. The fruit holds both oils and acids that give flavour.
How they are used
Peppercorns are cracked or ground, tamarind is soaked into pulp for sour curries and chutneys, sumac is sprinkled on meat and salad for tang, and vanilla pods are split to flavour milk and cream. Star anise lends a licorice note to broths and braises.
Buying and keeping
Keep whole fruits in closed jars. Vanilla pods should be supple and oily. Tamarind keeps well as a block. Ground fruit spices lose aroma quickly, so grind them as needed.
Fruit on EveryMasala
The spices written up so far, best known first.
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreIndian prickly ash
A pungent fruit from a thorny shrub, used for its tingling spice in coastal India and Vietnam.Fruit · Sharp and pungent · Numbing and tingling
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreSichuan pepper花椒 (huājiāo)
The dried husk of Zanthoxylum fruit, prized for its citrus scent and electric numbness.Fruit · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Sichuan pepper: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Indian prickly ash: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source