Spices

🇬🇪Georgia

Georgian Marigold

Ყვითელი ყვავილი

Dried and ground marigold petals used as a colouring and mildly bitter seasoning, standing in for saffron in Georgian cooking.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

Goraka

ගොරකා

The dried, blackened rind of a sour tropical fruit, used to sour and preserve fish curries in place of tamarind.

🇲🇱Mali

Grains of Paradise

Grains de paradis

Grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta), a West African spice; listed in What The World Eats as a core spice of Mali; related to cardamom; used to season sauces, stews, and grilled meats; has a pungent, peppery flavor with hints of citrus; a traditional West African spice; the pepper of the Mali Empire.

🇸🇹Sao Tome and Principe

Grains of Paradise

Pimenta de Guiné

Grains of paradise, also called melegueta pepper; a traditional spice used in Santomean calulu; native to West Africa; peppery, pungent, and aromatic; a key seasoning in the national dish; the spice that gives calulu its distinctive flavor; a historic trade commodity.

🇬🇩Grenada

Grenadian Mace

Mace

Mace, the lace-like red aril that covers the nutmeg seed; Grenada is one of the world's top producers of both nutmeg and mace; used in abundance in Grenadian cuisine; has a similar but more delicate flavor than nutmeg; a distinctive product of the Spice Isle; the mace of Grenada; a versatile spice in both sweet and savory dishes.

🇬🇩Grenada

Grenadian Nutmeg

Nutmeg

Grenada's spice, producing roughly 20% of the world's nutmeg; the nutmeg sits at the center of the Grenadian flag, representing the island's devotion to the spice; used in abundance in both savory and sweet dishes; grown on the volcanic slopes of the island; the distinctive product of the Spice Isle; exported worldwide.

🇬🇵Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe Chili

Piment

Chili peppers; a plethora of spices enriches Guadeloupean dishes; piments (chili peppers) are common; the pillar of Creole cooking; the piment that fires Guadeloupean cuisine.

🇬🇼Guinea-Bissau

Guinean Pili-Pili

Pili-pili

African bird's eye chili pepper (50,000-175,000 SHU); used in sauces, as a condiment, and as pili-pili oil; the heat source of Guinean cuisine; called piri-piri in Portuguese.

🇺🇸Hawaii, United States

Hawaiian red salt

A coarse, red-tinted sea salt from Hawaii, colored with iron-rich volcanic clay (alaea).

🇦🇫Herat, Afghanistan

Herat Saffron

زعفران هرات

Saffron grown around Herat, hand-picked at dawn in autumn and repeatedly rated among the world's best.

🇺🇸Hawaii, United States

Hiwa Kai (Hawaiian black salt)

A Hawaiian sea salt blended with activated charcoal, giving it a jet-black color and a mineral crunch.

🇮🇷Iran

Iranian Saffron

زعفران

Saffron from Khorasan, where the overwhelming majority of the world's crop is grown and hand-picked in a three-week autumn window.

🇮🇶Iraq

Iraqi Baharat

بهارات عراقية

Household spice blend of black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, coriander, cumin and rose petal ground together.

🇭🇺Hungary

Kalocsai Paprika

PGI paprika from Kalocsa; regional grades need editorial mapping.

🇰🇭Coastal Cambodia (Kampot and Kep), Cambodia

Kampot Pepper

ម្រេចកំពត

Black peppercorns from Kampot and Kep provinces, GI-protected since 2016 and EU-recognised, prized for a floral aroma with a sweet eucalyptus note.

🇰🇷South Korea

Korean Chili Powder

고춧가루

Fine chili flakes from Korean gochu peppers, essential for kimchi and gochujang, with a vibrant red color, smoky aroma, and moderate heat.

🇪🇸Castile-La Mancha, Spain

La Mancha Saffron

Azafaran de la Mancha

Spanish saffron from La Mancha, the world's most expensive spice by weight, essential for paella, with deep red threads and an intense aroma, protected by PDO.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Lebanese Seven Spice

سبع بهارات

A warm ground blend of allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, coriander and ginger, used in almost every meat dish.

🇳🇨Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

Lifou Vanilla

Vanille de Lifou

Lifou vanilla; a prized local product from the Loyalty Islands; plays a prominent role in various preparations; used in crème brûlée, rice cooked in vanilla coconut milk, and other desserts; a key ingredient in New Caledonian cuisine; a specialty of the islands

🇨🇬Sangha-Likouala (Northern Forest), Republic of the Congo

Likouala Pepper

Ndongo bela

A wild pepper harvested in the northern Congo forests by Baaka foragers; aromatic with a mild heat, distinct from standard black pepper.

🇧🇴Bolivia

Locoto

A Bolivian hot pepper (Capsicum pubescens) with black seeds

🇦🇼Aruba

Madame Jeanette

Pica Madame Jeanette

Madame Jeanette pepper; a core ingredient of Aruban cuisine; a hot pepper hotter than jalapeño with fruity notes; used to flavor almost every dish; processed into hot sauce that is a much-wanted souvenir; encountered everywhere on the island

🇸🇷Suriname

Madame Jeanette Pepper

Madame Jeanette

A pale yellow lantern-shaped chilli, fruity and very hot, that goes whole into soups and is ground into the country's sambals.

🇲🇬Madagascar

Malagasy Vanilla

Lavanila

Bourbon vanilla cured on the north-east coast around Sambava and Antalaha, the source of most of the world's supply.

🇧🇷Bahia, Brazil

Malagueta Pepper

Pimenta Malagueta

Small fiery Brazilian chili used fresh or in pepper sauces, especially in Bahian and northeastern cooking.

🇰🇲Comoros

Mayotte Bourbon Vanilla

Vanille de Mayotte

Planifolia vanilla cured by small producers on Mayotte, often under the Association Senteurs & Saveurs. Pods are dark, oily and prized for chocolate, dried-date and praline notes; used in desserts, rums and fish sauces.

🇨🇦Montreal, Canada

Montreal Steak Seasoning

Montreal steak spice: a coarse blend of black pepper, garlic, coriander, dill, and salt, rubbed on steaks before grilling.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Njangsa

Oily seeds of a forest tree, roasted and ground to thicken and perfume sauces such as kati kati and mbongo tchobi.

🇭🇺Hungary

Paprika

Pirospaprika

Paprika is a Hungarian cooking spice made from ground dried peppers, available in sweet and hot varieties.

🇵🇬Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea Vanilla

Vanilla beans from PNG — one of the world's premium vanilla sources, grown in the Highlands and coastal regions; used in desserts and baking.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Penja White Pepper

Poivre de Penja

White peppercorns grown in the volcanic soil around Penja in the Littoral region, protected by a geographical indication since 2013.

🇻🇳Vietnam

Phú Quốc Pepper

Tiêu Phú Quốc

Phu Quoc pepper is a GI product bought as itself and picked on farm visits.

🇬🇫Cayenne, French Guiana

Piment végétarien

A mild, aromatic French Guianan pepper used fresh or preserved as a fragrant seasoning alongside Creole dishes.

🇯🇲Jamaica

Pimento

Dried unripe berries of the pimento tree, native to Jamaica and named for tasting of clove, nutmeg and cinnamon at once — the base of jerk and of most Jamaican cooking.

🇫🇲Pohnpei State (Capital FSM), Federated States of Micronesia

Pohnpei Black Pepper

Piper nigrum grown on Pohnpei; distinct flavor and heat with high sugar content and volatile oils; an important cash crop exported internationally; one of the world's premier pepper varieties; grown in the volcanic soil of Pohnpei; a potential GI product.

🇵🇪Peru

Rocoto

Hot red pepper, essential for rocoto relleno