What is allspice?
A: Allspice is the dried unripe berry of Pimenta dioica, a midcanopy tree.
Allspice is also known has what?
A: Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento.
Where is it native to?
A: The Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now
cultivated in many warm parts of the world.
The name allspice was coined as early as 1621 by the
English, who valued it as a spice that what?
A: Combined the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.
When are the fruits picked?
A: When green and unripe and are traditionally dried in the sun.
When dry, they are brown and resemble what?
A: Large, smooth peppercorns.
Fresh leaves are similar in texture to what?
A: Bay leaves.
Leaves and wood are often used for what?
A: Smoking meats where allspice is a local crop.
Care must be taken during drying to ensure what?
A: That volatile oil, such as eugenol, remains in the end products.
Allspice is one of the most important ingredients of
what?
A: Caribbean cuisine.
Under the name pimento, it is used in what?
A: Jamaican jerk seasoning, and traditionally its wood was used to smoke
jerk in Jamaica.
In the West Indies, an allspice liqueur is produced
under with what name?
A: Pimento dram.
Allspice is also indispensable in Middle Eastern
cuisine, particularly in the Levant, where it is used to flavor what?
A: A variety of stews and meat dishes, as well as tomato sauce.
In Arab cuisine, for example, many main dishes use
allspice as what?
A: The only spice.
In northern European and North American
cooking, it is
an ingredient in what?
A: Commercial sausage preparations and curry powders, and in
pickling.
In the United States, it is used mostly in what?
A: Desserts.
Allspice is responsible for giving Cincinnati-style
chili it’s what?
A: Its distinctive aroma and flavor.
Allspice is commonly used in Great Britain, and appears
in many dishes, including what?
A: Cakes and also in beauty products.
In Portugal, whole allspice is used heavily in what?
A: Traditional stews cooked in large terracotta pots in the Azores islands.
The allspice tree, classified as an evergreen shrub,
can reach what height?
A: 10–18 m (33–59 ft) in height.
At the time allspice was encountered by Christopher
Columbus during his second voyage to the New World, it was found only on the
island of Jamaica, where the plant was readily spread by what?
A: Birds.