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What's Cooking: Herbs and Spices Around the World

by Karan Davis Cutler

Generalizing about anything is dangerous. (To generalize, the poet William Blake observed, "is to be an idiot.") But attempting to write about herbs and spices and how they're used in different cuisines in fewer than 700 pages requires generalizing, just as defining the difference between herbs and spices does. Because herbs and spices are intertwined in most cuisines, many dishes and traditions include both.

The best way to assure a supply of the unusual herbs at the heart of the new international cuisine is to grow them yourself.

The best way to assure a supply of the unusual herbs at the heart of the new international cuisine is to grow them yourself. (Photo: David Cavagnaro)

In general, we grow herbs for their green parts, that's to say for their leaves and stalks; we cultivate spices for their flowers, fruits, seeds, bark, and roots. In general, we use herbs fresh, and spices dried. In general, we agree on which is which: basil and parsley are herbs; saffron, the stigmas of Crocus sativus, and cinnamon, the bark of Cinnamomum verum (C. zeylanicum), are spices. But there are plants that are both: used fresh, Coriandrum sativum is the herb cilantro, while the plant's dried seeds are the spice coriander. So take the generalizations that follow with a grain of salt—which, by the by, is a basic taste but neither an herb nor a spice. (Herbs and spices contain flavor, the combination of taste and aroma.)

Karan Davis Cutler grows herbs, vegetables, fruits, and flowers in northern Vermont. A former magazine editor, her most recent books are Herb Gardening for Dummies (IDG Books, 2000, with Kathleen Fisher) and The New England Gardener's Book of Lists (Taylor Publishing Co., 2000). She's also the editor of four Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks: Salad Gardens (1995), Tantalizing Tomatoes (1997), Starting from Seed (1998), and Flowering Vines (1999).