Spices give aroma, color, flavor, and sometimes even texture to food. Each spice, chile, or herb has specific, unique chemical compounds that create these sensual qualities. Even casual cooks are probably able to identify the four most well-known flavor profiles- bitter, salty, sour, and sweet. In the last decade or so, a fifth taste profile known as “umami” has emerged in the collective social consciousness in America. This Japanese word translates loosely to “pleasant savory taste” and is usually associated with the flavor of things like mushrooms or Nori. The best description of umami is that it falls somewhere between savory and salty, though there is no English word to accurately describe that flavor.

When talking about spices, a true spice aficionado simply cannot be limited to just four or five. For these people, there are many more equally identifiable flavor characteristics- cooling, earthy, floral, fruity, herbaceous, hot, nutty, piney, pungent, spicy, sulfury, and woody.

Spices usually do not have a single flavor profile. For example, the popular spice cumin falls into a few of the flavor profiles as it is both earthy and spicy. Thyme is bitter, floral, herbaceous, and piney. Americans tend to consider themselves the center of many universes, and the culinary world is not exempt to this phenomenon. Americans taste buds do not necessarily align with the taste buds of people around the world; for example, there are many cultures that consume much spicier cuisine than the typical American. This would mean that the focus would be on other specific flavor profiles, not on spicy flavors.

In our page descriptions of spices, chiles, and herbs, we provide a flavor profile for each, as well as other spices that partner well with each particular spice, chile, or herb. For these profiles, we try to be as encompassing as possible, though we are American and the American palette is really all we know. Bear with us!