ABSTRACT
The American Spice Trade Association (ASTA) defines the term “spices” very broadly as “the products of dried plants, essentially used for seasoning food.” The definition given by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is similar but excludes crushed alliaceous products such as garlic and onions. These definitions would include aromatic herbs, which, however, are not discussed in this chapter. This study will be limited to spices in the restricted sense of the term, that is to say, all aromatic products generally lacking chlorophyll, and among those only the most widely used (Table 1).
