Indigenous and folk: spices in ritual
Smudging herbs, ceremonial plants and the spice knowledge of indigenous peoples.
Indigenous peoples around the world have long known, grown and used spices, and many keep ceremonial and food traditions that should be presented in the words of the communities themselves.
Plants of place
Native spices include chilli and vanilla in the Americas, allspice in the Caribbean, mountain pepper and wattleseed in Australia, grains of paradise in West Africa and timur in the Himalaya. Indigenous peoples domesticated chilli and vanilla and kept hundreds of varieties.
Ceremony and use
Plants are used in offerings, in smoke and in feasts. In Mexico, chilli and cacao have long been used in ceremony, and in Australia, native plants are used as food and in cultural practice. Specific uses belong to specific nations and are best learned from them.
Respect and fair trade
As interest in native spices grows, communities ask for fair sourcing and recognition of their knowledge. Buying from Indigenous-owned suppliers, where they exist, helps.
Indigenous and folk on EveryMasala
The spices written up so far, best known first.
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreCommon prickly ash
An aromatic North American tree whose bark and berries give a sharp, numbing biteBark 路 Bitter 路 Numbing and tingling
馃嚡馃嚨 Japan and 4 moreMugwort鑹捐崏 (脿i c菐o)
Aromatic leaves from the Artemisia genus used in Asian cuisine and traditional medicine.Leaf 路 Bitter 路 Herbal and green
馃嚬馃嚪 Turkey and 5 moreBay Laurel未维蠁谓畏
The dried leaf of a Mediterranean evergreen, used to infuse slow-cooked dishes with herbal depth.Sharp and pungent 路 Bitter
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Bay Laurel: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us, source
- Common prickly ash: A. Barra, CC BY-SA 4.0, source