Popular Christmas spices come from all over the world: Andrew Coppolino

Spice season generally starts in the late summer and early fall with pumpkin lattes and donuts tinctured with nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and ginger flavours. It's then a ramp-up to the holiday season when Christmas spices become a harbinger of the holidays.

Yet the very spices that go into a batch of seasonal gingerbread cookies to be the teacher's gift or a simmering pot of mulled wine that perfumes the house with cinnamon and vanilla actually originate in corners of the world where Christmas may not be celebrated.

I think it's enlightening to recognize the impact spices have in what we cook and acknowledge their long, interesting and even controversial history.

Cultures mingle and clash

From the early Middle Ages, the Crusades and the opening of spice trade to the mix of restaurants in Waterloo Region serving foods from around the world, spices represent a mingling and sometimes a clash of cultures.

While commodities like genuine saffron and vanilla are quite pricey today, hundreds of years ago almost every spice was hard to find and very expensive. Even the basic and ubiquitous black pepper that we take for granted at mealtime was once very costly and far too expensive for the typical household.

Even the very wealthy during the Medieval period might reserve their spices, imagined to have travelled from far-away and  exotic places, for celebrations and festive occasions such as Christmas. Remember, too, that spices were used for perfumes and personal hygiene, medicine and spiritual matters and not just for cooking.

When spices became more easily accessible – often through the brutality (and in fact near genocide) of colonialism – they became less expensive and more available, but they remained traditions at the holiday season for many European  cultures, those so-called "warming Christmas spices."

Christmas spices

Spices are the most-used ingredient in our kitchens – and have no nutritional value. That alone gives them unique status.

They don't even get the honour of being the primary or pretty parts of plants: they are most often derived from bark, dried seeds or perhaps a root.

Here are some notes on a few so-called "Christmas spices."

Cinnamon quills
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of an evergreen tree found in Ceylon and Sri Lanka. A variety with which we are most likely familiar is cassia cinnamon from China and Indonesia  When cut from the trees, cinnamon sticks (called quills) curl.

Nutmeg and mace
These two are part and parcel of the same plant, a tree originally from the Spice Islands (Indonesia's Moluccas) and now a major crop grown in Grenada. They have similar flavours. Mace is a reddish, mesh-like fibre that grows around the nutmeg seed.

Cloves
The dried flower buds of a plant in the myrtle family, cloves – one of the most aromatic spices – come primarily from Indonesia and Madagascar. The buds are picked before blooming and dried to become very hard. Like many spices, they season both savoury and sweet dishes and might be found in an Indian biryani, poked into a baked ham or grated onto gingerbread. Whole cloves never soften while cooking and must be removed before eating the dish. In fact, the French name for them translates to "wooden nails."

Ginger
A rhizome that sends out creeping roots to form a knobbily or "antler" shape, ginger originated in southeast Asia; today, the powdered version is primarily produced in China, India and Jamaica. It has long been a staple spice of both Asian and Mediterranean cooking.

Allspice
The berry of a tree, allspice is from the New World and mainly produced in Jamaica. It was thought to taste like a combination of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg – hence the name, "allspice."

Spice available 

More and more, chain grocery stores are carrying a wide range of spices. There are also a growing number of specialty food stores in the region carrying dozens of different spices: Vincenzo's, Full Circle Foods, Onkar Foods and Spices, Kishki World Foods and Ammar Halal.

Spice tips

• Don't reach for the four-year-old jar of clove powder stuck in the back of the drawer. Spices have a relatively short shelf life – about one year. So, if you are making a special holiday dish, invest in some new spices.
• If buying from open bulk containers, give them a quick smell-test: they can pick up aromas from nearby aromatic items. Whenever possible use whole spices, like nutmeg, and grate them fresh (nutmeg is harmed by high heat, so add it at the last minute).
• Toast spices gently in a pan on medium heat to release their essential oils. Make sure you give the spices a chance to incorporate into the dish you're preparing, so they're not uncooked and grainy.
• Store spices in airtight glass jars (rather than improperly sealed bags which can allow air in) and away from heat and direct light. On the kitchen window sill and in the drawer beside your oven is not a good place to store your spices.