Spices vs Herbs

Nuts and seeds and spices, oh my!

The leaves and flowers of a Cinnamon tree

I got a business card the other day from an old friend, Linda Britton-Fairchild. advertising Adult Indulgences.  Oh My!  No, not that kind of indulgence and it doesn't have anything to do with chocolate either.  These indulgences are spice blends that she has created and decided to go into business to sell them on the internet and perhaps out of her home. I'll have to call her and ask.  Here is a link to her website.  Check it out.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/AdultIndulgences

Got me to thinking. So, what is the difference between and herb and a spice? The ingrediant list sure looks similiar.  Take Linda's Turkish Veil Spice Blend.  Things like red pepper, garlic, parika, cumin. (gods, this is sounding really yummy)  Is a spice just a seed or nut and an herb the leaves or stems?  That can't be it, what about cinammon?  It's a spice and that is tree bark!  So, hopped to the internet.

It seems the line between and herb and a spice is sometimes a little grey.  Some herbs are spices, some spices--herbs.  But most seem to think it comes down to where the plant was grown.  If it was grown in the tropics or Far East, it is a spice.  More temperate climes produce herbs.  The problem with that definition is things move around a lot more in todays world then they did in the old world.  Spices that could never have been native or grown in North America are now encouraged to grow in someones greenhouse. 

But Chefhome.com suggests that spices are dried flowers or fruits of tropical trees and shrubs with a few expections...like that cinammon bark.  Herbs are the fresh or dried green bits of a plant (usually, we got some roots too!)  Some plants give both.  The infamous coriander is a spice when the coriander seed is used, but an herb when the fresh leaves are used...they are called cilantro and my Dad hates them with a passion.  Almost as much as he hates rhubarb.  He has personally killed at least three rhubarb plants with gleeful abandon.  I saved the last one by giving it to Debi.

Todays lesson learned was Spice vs Herb.  I like them both and I like Linda's blends. I might have to have a little adult indulgence!

Cinnamon, by the way is  classifed as:
Kingdom: Plantae---plant--I think I'm getting that one down.
Division: Magnoliophyta---in the flowering plant area
Class: Magnoliopsida--a flowering plant whose seeds have two little leaves. AKA dicotyledons
Order: Laurales---a basal dicotyledons....wow, when I figure that out, I'll let you know
Family: Lauraceae---related to a laurel bush and about 3000 other species of laurel-like bushes
Genus: Cinnamomum--one of, oh, over a 100+ cinnamon trees in the world
Species: C. verum --ah! a latin word I know!  Truth.  This means it is "true" Cinnamon

The name originally came from the original name of Sri Lanka...Ceylon
Check out this cool BBC news site on the harvesting of Cinnamon
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/south_asia_sri_lanka0s_spice_of_life/html/1.stm

I have a new appreciation for my morning toast and cinnamon!