#11 Chemistry of Spices

Chemistry of Spices by V. Parthasarathy, B. Chempaka and T. J. Zachariah - Click to buy @ Amazon

Chemistry of Spices
by V. Parthasarathy, B. Chempaka and T. J. Zachariah (2008)

Ratings: Learn more
Quality: 4/5 – Great Textbook
Importance: 5/5 – Spice Hackers’ Bible
Difficulty: 5/5 – Food Chemists Only
Rarity: 4/5 – Expensive, Rare

Today’s Cookbook:
Yesterday we delved too deeply into the chemical workings of chocolate manufacturing with cookbook #10 The Science of Chocolate.

I like to go as deep as my mind can comprehend- and then go one level deeper (so that I can give my brain something to work on).

Today’s cookbook is a dense food science textbook by a group of researchers at an Indian spice institute (!), so let’s try and spice hack it up with cookbook #11 Chemistry of Spices.

Cinnamon and clove’s major chemical constituents are modeled here- Eugenol, Benzyl benzoate and Cinnamaldehyde (Cinnamon) vs Eugenol and Eugenyl acetate (Clove). Clove and cinnamon share a flavor compound- signs of culinary synergy.

Total Spice Chemistry
When I started learning Molecular Gastronomy, I had to teach myself organic chemistry- mostly by reading textbooks. This book taught me everything I ever need to know about spice chemistry, with a focus on the culinary uses of spices: Aroma, Taste, Color and Pungency (trigeminal nerve effects).

How is spice chemistry useful to cooking? Let me show you an example.

Here is every spice listed in this book, with its consituent flavor compounds (responsible for taste or aroma) along with region of origin:

• Black Pepper: Piperine (South India)
• Ginger: Gingerol (China)
• Cardamom: Cineole (Himalayan India)
• Turmeric: Turmerone (India)
• Cinnamon: Cinnamaldehyde, Eugenol (Sri Lanka)
• Clove: Eugenol (Indonesia)
• Nutmeg, Mace: Sabinene, Myristicin (Indonesia)
• Coriander: Linalool (Eurasia)
• Cumin: Cuminaldehyde (Mediterranean, India)
• Fennel: Anethole (Mediterranean)
• Fenugreek: Diosgenin (Eurasia, Ethiopia)
• Paprika: Capsanthin (South America)
• Vanilla: Vanillin (Mexico)
• Ajowan (Bishop’s Weed): Thymol, Terpenene (India)
• Star Anise: Anethole (China, Vietnam)
• Aniseed: Anethole, anisaldehyde (Eurasia)
• Garcinia: Humelene (Indochina, Africa)
• Tamarind: Fufural (Madagascar)
• Parsley: Menthatriene (Europe)
• Celery: Myrcene, Limonene, Pinene (Eurasia)
• Curry Leaf: Caryophyllene (South Asia)
• Bay Leaf: Cineole (Mediterranean)

It may be obvious how to pair spices by considering their region of origin- Vanilla goes good with Chocolate, they both come from Mexico. But what about understanding the chemical components of spices? Do Clove and Cinnamon taste good together because they both contain Eugenol? What about Star Anise, Aniseed and Fennel?

If you memorize this list, you can experiment with culinary synergies by looking for complementary chemistry of spices through their constituent flavor compounds. Which brings us to..

Molecular Spice Hacks
Geeking out about chemical synergy between spices is just one trick we can learn from this reference book.

Looking through cookbooks to get ideas is a simple enough thing to do for most cooks- but where we really challenge our cooking style is by trying to incorporate culinary ideas from other realms (like Chemistry).

Each chapter of this book is really a 20-page paper written by a researcher at an Indian spice institute (!), listing for each spice:

• an in-depth description of culinary and medicinal uses
• description of the plant’s botany (parts used)
• composition of the spice’s volatile oils, non-volatile pigments and oleoresins
• commercial specifications, origins of production, grading and manufacturing processes
• molecular diagrams and charts indicating essential oil makeup of the spice

Often I like to experiment with a spice for a full month- trying different forms (ground, whole) and origins/cultivars (I especially like doing this with salt). Different cultivars of spice plants contain different proportions of essential oil, and luckily this cookbook covers all of the commercially important ones- often comparing quality grades and parts of plants, as shown in this cinnamon chart:

Essential oils from different parts of cinnamon and their volatile compounds. The twig’s bark oil contains mostly cinnamldehyde, while the clove-flavored compound eugenol is more pronounced in flower oil pressed from cinnamon buds and flowers.

Besides cultivar and flavor compound information, there is plenty of nerdy food trivia for each spice that is bound to inspire- ex: the constituent of nutmeg responsible for hallucinations (Myristicin) is also responsible for that spice’s insecticidal properties. But what spice will kill the bugs in my mind?

Conclusion: Spice Hackers Only
This is an expensive chemistry textbook, and I think the only people who would benefit from adding this to their library are hardcore spice hackers, home chemists, or spice purveyors. I think I’ve gone too far off course into Science and hopefully tomorrow’s cookbook will restore our journey’s culinary course.

While reading this book, I was forced to focus on one spice’s chemical properties for 20 pages- which provoked a lot of ideas. Previously I have had to rely on Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages, a sort of one-man spice encyclopedia, to dive deep into a spice- but this book replaces Gernot’s resource for me because it goes so much deeper and was written by experts.

No recipe today, but I leave you with another example of how deep this book goes: a chart showing Vanilla’s aroma compounds. Each time I sniff a vanilla bean, I try and detect more of these odors and think about what wine I would serve or what other food this would highlight- just another way spice chemistry challenges me to evolve my cuisine.

Vanilla bean aromas detected by Gas Chromatograph/Olfactometer. Listed are the chemical compound, the concentration in parts per million, the aesthetic odor quality, and the headspace intensity (weak, medium, or strong)