Welcome to FabulousFusionFood's Spice-based Recipes Page — Spices are typically the stronger of the flavourings added to food. Indeed, in ancient times a spice was defined as anything with a pungent odour. In terms of a modern definition, a spice obtained from the dried fruiting body of a plant. Thus it can be the whole fruit (as in cubeb pepper or allspice berries or cumin) or it is the kernel or seed of the fruit (as in nutmeg and fenugreek seeds or nigella seeds). In contrast, herbs are the vegetative parts of a plant (the stems and leaves) and include lemongrass (stems), thyme (leaves), oregano (leaves). One exception to this rule is the Methi curry leaves (which are the dried leaves of fenugreek) which is generally considered as a spice.

In addition the roots and bark of plants in their dried form are also considered as spices. Thus turmeric and ginger are spices (both derived from roots), as is cinnamon (a bark). Dried plant resins (eg asafoetida or mastic) also count as spices. This section of the website concentrates on spices (with the exception of kaffir lime leaves). It's companion pages FabulousFusionFood's Herb Guide deals with herbs.