10 Questions: Spice Up Your Life Photo Quiz | Hobbies

Answer: Star anise

Star anise is very distinctive due to its star shaped fruit and seeds. The spice is used in Asian and Indian cooking, giving a warming aniseed flavor to curries, stews and sauces. It has also been used in the manufacture of many alcoholic drinks, such as pastis and sambuca, and also home made punches and mulled wine.

Answer: Cinnamon

Cinnamon bark is taken from the Cinnamomum genus of tree. The bark can be eaten directly, or made into a powder which is then added to food to give it a deep, rich, woody flavour. Cassia, or Chinese cinnamon, is the most widely consumed cinnamon worldwide. Saigon cinnamon is also called Vietnam cinnamon and is native to south-east Asia. Ceylon cinnamon is native too Sri Lanka and Korintje from Indonesia.

Answer: Flower bud

Cloves are the small dried flower buds taken from a tree belonging to the Myrtaceae family. The tree was once native to the warm tropical Maluku Islands near Indonesia, also called Spice Island. The spice is used in cuisine, and also for natural medicinal uses, especially known as a remedy against dental pain.

Answer: Liquorice

Pontefract cakes, from Yorkshire, England, are not cakes as we know them, but small round black sweets made from liquorice. Black Jack is a chewy liquorice candy which originated as a chewing gum from America in the late 19th century. Tyrkisk Peber, or Turkish Pepper, is another liquorice flavoured sweet which is popular in Scandinavia. Liquorice, or licorice, is a plant native to Europe, India and Asia, and the sweet roots are used in cuisine and medicines.

Answer: False

Allspice is a plant native to Central America and is alternatively called pimento, or Jamaican pepper. It smells and taste like a variety of different spices, but it is in fact the dried berry taken from the Jamaican pepper tree just before they mature. The dried berries can be used whole in recipes, or ground down to a powder.

Answer: Paprika

The distinctive red paprika is considered to be the national spice of Hungary, and is added as colouring and flavour to any Hungarian Goulash recipe. The peppers are native to Central America but were introduced to Europe cuisine by the early travelers. Traditionally the peppers are air dried.

This means that large quantities of pepper are harvested and dried in the open before being ground down into a powder.

Answer: Garlic

Garlic grows underground but is part of the bulbous onion family called Allium, which also includes leeks, chives and shallot. Ginger, turmeric and cardamom are all grown underground as rhizomes. The seeds of cardamom are consumed, whereas the rhizomes of ginger and turmeric are consumed. Rhizome is the Ancient Greek word for "mass of roots".

Answer: Romans

The Romans blended grape juice called "must" with ground seeds from the mustard plant to create a paste called "mustum ardens" (burning wine). Dijon mustard is very similar as this contains white wine. Mustard seeds are obtained from a variety of different mustard plants throughout the world and harvested to make the condiment by adding water, vinegar or wine.

Answer: Nutmeg

Two spices are obtained from the fruit of Myristica fragrans and these are nutmeg and mace. Nutmeg is the egg shaped seed which is dried and then grated to add as flavouring to food. Mace is taken from the lacy reddish covering called an aril, and has a lighter scent and flavour than nutmeg.

Answer: Little pod

Vanilla was first harvested by the Totomoc people from the Gulf of Mexico and they called it 'tlilxochitl' which means 'black flower'. This is due to the darkened fruit when they dry. The Spanish explorers called it 'little pod'. They tried to take the plant and grow it back home but were unsuccessful. Mexico still remains the largest supplier although they are also grown on Madagascar.