Spice facts for kids

Shop with spices in Morocco

Spice is an ingredient that adds flavor to food. It is usually used to enrich or alter the quality of something. Spices can be used to give food an interesting and exciting taste.

Examples of a spice would be cinnamon, fenugreek and nutmeg.

Spices can also be used to hide or cover up bad tastes in the food, because it is rotten or affected by fungi, e.g. marzipan.

Indians use alot of spices like turmeric.

Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production.

Images for kids

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  "The Mullus" harvesting pepper. Illustration from a French edition of The Travels of Marco Polo.

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  Chili powder, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, cumin seeds

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  A plate of Indian herbs and spices.

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  A shelf of common spices for a home kitchen in Canada or the United States

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  Pepper mill

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  Spices and herbs at a shop in Goa, India

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  The Gato Negro café and spice shop (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

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  A spice shop selling a variety of spices in Iran

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  Night spice shop in Casablanca, Morocco.

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  A spice shop in Taliparamba, India

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  Spices sold in Taliparamba, India

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  Spice seller, Kashgar market

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  Spice market, Marrakesh, Morocco