Spice statistics (Medicine)

Today, spice use is ubiquitous, but spices are far more important in some cuisines than others. “Japanese dishes are often described as delicate, Indonesian and Szechwan as ‘hot,’ and middle European and Scandinavian dishes as ‘bland’” (Sherman and Billing, 1999).
“Cooktopics generally distinguish between seasonings (spices used in food preparation) and condiments (spices added after food is served), but not between herbs and spices” (Sherman and Billing, 1999). Herbs “are defined botanically (as plants that do not develop woody, persistent tissue), usually are called for in their fresh state, whereas spices generally are dried.” 93% of recipes call for at least one spice. “On average, recipes called for nearly four, but some lacked spices,
especially in temperate countries or in vegetarian dishes. Others had up to 12 spices. In 10 countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, and Thailand, every meat-based recipe required at least one spice. In Scandinavia, one-third of the recipes had no spices. Vegetable dishes are almost always less spicy than meat dishes, a clue that leads Sherman and Hash (2001) to argue that the spices evolved as antimicrobial agents. I agree.
Black pepper and onion were used more frequently (63 and 65%) than garlic, 35%, chilis, 24%, lemon and lime juice, 23%, parsley, 22%, ginger, 16%, and bay leaf, 13%. Then came coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, thyme, paprika, sweet pepper, cumin, celery, turmeric, allspice, mustard, cardamom, saffron, mint, dill, oregano, basil, lemongrass, sesame, tamarind, sage, rosemary, anise, marjoram, caraway, capers, tarragon, juniper, fenugreek, horseradish, fennel, and savory (Sherman and Hash, 2001). Those that I fail to include in this topic, I have covered earlier in my Culinary Herbs ( 1985) and/or Living Liqueurs (1987). I anticipate a CRC Handtopic of Medicinal Culinary Herbs as a sequel to this spice topic, lamenting that there is no clear-cut line between the definitions of spice and culinary herb. But all are medicinal.
Here I use statistics more appropriate for the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in America. For more recent statistics, see the USDA web site: http://www.fas.usda.gov/ustrade

Spices ranked according to the most valuable imports to the U.S. are:

Some valuable spices produced by the U.S. are:

1. Sesame
2. Capsicum
3. Mustard
4. Oregano
5. Sage
6. Poppy
7. Ginger — Hawaii produced 3697 MT in 1989 from 67 harvested acres
When first approached about a lecture on Columbus’ effects on the spice trade, I decided to restrict my talk to seeds. But then I went through the then recent version of U.S. Spice Trade (FTEA 1-90). When you classify the part of the plant that gets into the spice trade, there are few real seed, mustard, nutmeg, poppy, and sesame as noteworthy exceptions. And then there are those “seeds” in the carrot family, aniseseed, caraway, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, and the like, that are really one-seeded fruits. Just a technicality; those are the same “seed” I plant if I want more anise, caraway, etc.
And post-Columbian activities have resulted in Brazil closing in on Indonesia, Malaysia, and India as a leading black pepper producer.
Cloves, though native to Indo-Malaysia, are mostly produced for export by Brazil, Madagascar, and Tanzania. Indonesia produces a lot but is also the world’s largest consumer. Cinnamon and cassia are still mostly produced from the Asian subcontinent, with some cinnamon in the Seychelles.
Nutmegs and mace, both from the same tree, come to us mostly from their native Indian subcontinent, but Grenada and Trinidad are making small contributions to the U.S. market.
Asian turmeric is still largely provided us by India, but Latin America is largely independent for its “azafran.” America has supplanted Asia as the source of cardamoms to the U.S.; Guatemala supplied more than any other producer to the export market, 3 to 1. India still produces a lot, but most is for local consumption.
In the pages that follow, I tabulate the four major producers of each of our spice imports, italicizing those countries where the plant is not native. Figures have been very generously rounded. A summary table of the nativity of these four main producers of each of our main “spice” imports follows. These figures were applicable ca. 1992, 500 years after Columbus discovered America. Where available, I have added year 2000 import statistics from FAS, 2002.