SPICE CATEGORIES
Teaching spice for me is ultra reliant on helping my students understand spice categorisation. My six masala dabbas come with me to every class, and it’s these that I use to help translate the depth of spice function.
Learn a little bit more about the seven spice categories discussed in this video by reading the tips below.
SPICE CATEGORY BASICS:
Salt is a category all on its own. Primarily salt is responsible for driving flavour. It helps all aromatics to articulate with clarity, resulting in a more distinguishable sensory experience. Salt will help every spice in the pan to appear more defined. EXAMPLES: fine pink salt, fine white salt, and kala namak (Indian black salt).
Bitter Spice category is responsible for providing structure to a masala. Bitter spices work as scaffolding that allow other flavour to “hang”, in the same way that a coat rack allows visual identification of hanging clothing. This scaffolding allows the mouth to understand the aromatic content of a dish. Different bitter spices will have different impacts on the end result of flavour. EXAMPLES: turmeric powder, fresh turmeric, fenugreek seed, and fenugreek powder are the most commonly used examples of bitter spice.
Astringent-Sulphuric category is not essential when creating ga whole and complex masala, however it is a powerful addition that works to expand access to the palate. Astringent-Sulphuric spices open up the gullet, allowing aroma to move in the space between the palate floor and the throat. I love to use theses spices when working with darker and heavier flavours - they slice through aromatic shadow. EXAMPLES: asafoetida, fresh ginger, garlic, and onion.
Warm category is rounded and soft flavour that provides comfort and pleasure - to important aspects of aromatic profiling. Though warm spices are largely used in Western cooking in the context of sweets and desserts, Eastern cuisine uses warm category spices to soften contrasts. EXAMPLES: cinnamon powder, ginger powder, ground cardamom, and cassia powder.
Acidic category is also pleasure, but where warm category spices are rounded, acidic category spices are electric. These are exciting aromatics that punctuate dishes with high tone flavour. This aromatic contribution is relied upon heavily in creation of punchy street food flavours, or dishes that evoke a tropical sensory experience. EXAMPLES: amchur, sumac, and tamarind.
Earth category is texture, weight and the designated flavour exchange for the palate. The first two aspects - texture and weight - help the mouth to experience the sensation of consumption, which aids the sensory body in signalling appetite completion. A fuller feeling in the mouth, means a fuller tummy sooner. Just as importantly, the weight of earth spices across the mid palate works as a natural intersection where spices can cross over and move into different areas in the mouth. Without earth spices in a dish you can be left with a bit of a “doughnut effect”: that sensation of taste around the edges of a mouthful but a disappointing absence of experience in the middle. EXAMPLES: cumin seed, fennel seed, ground coriander, and nigella seed.