Everyday use: spices that mark them
The spices of the working kitchen, reached for every day.
Daily cooking is the main home of spice, with a few trusted spices used every day in every kitchen, such as turmeric, cumin and chilli in India, pepper in Europe, and cinnamon and allspice in the Caribbean.
The everyday spice rack
Most households use between five and fifteen spices regularly. A typical Indian kitchen has a masala dabba, a tin holding mustard seed, cumin, turmeric, coriander, chilli and one or two others. A European kitchen has pepper, paprika, bay, thyme and cinnamon.
How skill is passed on
Families learn the proportions by watching, and the same spices can taste different in each house. Many cooks toast and grind small batches weekly.
Keeping it simple
Few spices are needed to start. Learn a handful well, buy whole where possible, and keep jars fresh.
Everyday use on EveryMasala
The spices written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreParsley
A bright green herb from the celery family, used fresh across Europe and the Middle East.Leaf · Bitter · Herbal and green
🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreCalifornian white sage
An aromatic desert shrub whose seeds flavour maize foods and roots make tonic teaSeed · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreCulantroជីរបន្លា
A tropical herb with serrated leaves, offering a deep and pungent coriander flavour.Leaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreShiso紫蘇
A mint-family herb with serrated leaves, used fresh or pickled across East Asia.Leaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreGarden cress
A fast-growing edible herb with peppery leaves and seeds used in salads and traditional medicine.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Sour and tart
🇲🇽 Mexico and 2 morePápalo
A pungent herb from central Mexico to the Andes, used fresh in salsas and tacos.Leaf · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreSansho山椒
The dried berries and young leaves of a spiny Japanese shrub, prized for their numbing citrus heat.Seed · Citrus and bright · Numbing and tingling
🇻🇳 Vietnam and 4 moreHouttuynia折耳根
A heart-shaped herb with a sharp fishy taste used in salads and teas across Asia.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Citrus and bright
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreKencur沙姜
A stemless ginger-family rhizome with a peppery, camphorous biteRoot · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Parsley: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pápalo: Wibowo Djatmiko ( Wie146 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Culantro: Maxintaft, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Houttuynia: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kencur: Hariadhi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shiso: Dalgial, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Californian white sage: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sansho: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Garden cress: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source