THE SCIENCE OF SPICES

Spices are plants that are laden with flavour and are mostly used for cooking food or for medicinal purposes. They may be distinct from herbs due to the part of the plant they come from. Spices are usually seeds, roots, bark, leaves, etc. Herbs, on the other hand, are almost always from leaves, sometimes fresh and other times dry. In this article we are going to explore the science of spices and why they make your food spicy perhaps “yummy!“

THE SPICES

The reason why various spices smell or taste the way they do is due to the numerous compounds contained within them. These compounds are unique for different kinds of spices but can be categorized mainly into phenols and terpenes.

Phenols are technically a type of alcohol with a benzene ring. These compounds usually dissolve in oil, and their taste can be strong and persistent. This is why even a little amount of spices can linger in food for long and give a strong taste or aroma. In using spices, less is more.

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Terpenes, on the other hand, are a broad range of compounds. They can further be categorized into warming terpenes, fragrant terpenes, earthy terpenes, penetrating terpenes and citrus terpenes. Depending on the category, they can either be warm and strong or mild, and even losing their effect if cooking times are prolonged.

HERE IS A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF COMMON SPICES

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WHAT HAPPENS DURING COOKING?

Several processes take place during cooking. The type of process heavily depends on the type of cooking method, the ingredients involved and the level of heating or temperature. For instance, if you steam meat, what happens to it is different from when you fry or grill the same meat. The same spices might be used, however, due to the moisture conditions and heat transfer methods, the end results would be different.

When cooking with spices, the spice compounds generally diffuse into the entire matrix of the food, releasing their compounds and forming bonds, leading to certain flavor formations. This however, may not always be the case. Some spices contain flavor compounds that cannot withstand prolonged heating. In such situations, the compounds may be completely destroyed by heat or simply be evaporated and smelled as aroma during the cooking process.

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IN CONCLUSION

Spices are one of nature’s greatest endowments. They can be used for several foods and without them, we may not have experienced the flavors that come from the various foods we eat. Imagine steak without spices!