Which spice is made from the dried flower buds of a tree?
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The buds are picked just before they open and dried until they go hard and brown, which is why the whole spice keeps its nail-like shape.
Which spice is the dried inner bark of a tree?
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The outer bark is scraped away and the inner layer peeled off in strips, which curl into quills as they dry.
Which spice is made from the hand-picked dried stigmas of a crocus flower?
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Three stigmas grow in each flower and they have to be pulled out by hand on the morning the bloom opens, which sets the price of the spice more than anything else.
Which herb, with narrow dark needle-like leaves, is the traditional partner to roast lamb in British cooking?
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It is woody rather than soft-leaved, so it stands up to long roasting where a tender herb would blacken and turn bitter.
Black peppercorns are the dried fruit of what kind of plant?
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The vine carries its fruit in long hanging spikes, and the berries are picked while still green and dried until the skin wrinkles and blackens.
Which red spice is made from dried, ground sweet peppers?
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The grade depends on which parts of the pod go into the grind, since the flesh carries the colour and sweetness while the seeds and ribs carry the heat.
Which herb’s leaves are the basis of Italian pesto?
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The leaves bruise and darken easily, which is why the classic method pounds them in a mortar rather than chopping them with a blade.
Which spice is the dried unripe berry of a Caribbean tree, said to taste of several spices at once?
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Jamaica grows most of it, and the name was given by seventeenth-century English cooks who thought one berry combined several warm spices.
Which herb is sold as cilantro in North America?
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The seed and the leaf of the same plant taste quite different, and in British shops the two are usually sold under a single name.
Which pungent bulb, broken into segments before use, is a staple flavouring worldwide?
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Cutting or crushing it releases the sulphur compounds that give the smell, which is why a whole roasted head tastes so much milder than a chopped raw one.
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