Spices and herbs may perform multiple duties when added to foods.
The word "seasonings" is a catch-all phrase that encompasses many natural flavorings, including herbs and spices. Herbs are plants that are grown for their leaves, flowers and stems, and either used fresh or dried to be used later. Spices are less likely to come from leaves of plants and are more often found in seeds, bark and roots of certain plants. Spices are almost always dried and ground into powder for later use. Herbs, spices and seasonings have multiple purposes when it comes to food, such as preservation, health benefits, flavor enhancement and cooking and baking processes. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Preservation
Spices and seasonings became popular because of their ability to retard spoilage in certain foods. The antimicrobial activity provided by such spices and seasonings as garlic, salt and vinegar allowed food to remain edible for long periods of time before the invention of refrigeration. For example, vinegar has been used for thousands of years as a resource for pickling and preserving foods. Salt curing meats, such as bacon, jerky and fish, was the most common way of preserving meat until the turn of the 19th century.
Medicinal Benefits
Throughout history, herbs were often ground up using a mortar and pestle, mixed with salt water to form a paste and used as poultices. Some followers of alternative methods still use this method today. Once someone got the idea that the herbs and spices could provide the same benefits internally, spices were added to food. Spices and herbs may act as anti-inflammatories (cayenne pepper, cumin and thyme), antibacterials (cinnamon, garlic and peppermint) and antioxidants (peppercorns, parsley and dill weed).
Flavor Enhancement
Many foods, such as vegetables and meat, are bland and flavorless in their natural state. When heat is applied to them, they can lose even more of their flavor. Adding spices and herbs to the dishes wakes up their flavors as well as the taste buds on your tongue. On its own the flavor of a baked potato, for example, is less than remarkable, but a simple addition of salt and black pepper can make it more palatable. Although many spices and seasonings work well together, some have such strong flavors that too much can ruin a dish. This is especially true of the hotter spices, such as cayenne pepper, which can overpower a dish so much that it becomes inedible.
Cooking Process
Spices and seasonings play a key role in cooking and baking processes as well. For example, bread would not exist, at least in its present form, without salt. In addition to adding flavor, salt slows down the fermentation process in yeast and allows bread to have structure by making dough stronger and tighter. Cream of tartar, which is a derivative of salt, is a key ingredient when making meringue for pies. Vinegar is useful when poaching eggs because, when added to the cooking water, it lowers the temperature slightly and allows the egg white to congeal faster.
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