# Spices & herbs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 6, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987 "2003-09-06T21:13:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987/1 "2003-09-06T21:13:52Z")

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What’s the difference?  
What makes one plant a “spice” and another an “herb”?

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**Author:** ![trabi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@trabi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trabi)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987/2 "2003-09-06T22:22:38Z")

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Probably not the most scientific explanation, but I usually differentiate between things that look like powder and things that look likes bits of plants.

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987/3 "2003-09-06T22:56:27Z")

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[Spice](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=spice)

> [@](#):
>
> 1. A vegetable production of many kinds, fragrant or aromatic and pungent to the taste, as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, cloves, etc., which are used in cookery and to flavor sauces, pickles, etc.

[Herb](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=herb)

> [@](#):
>
> 1. 
> 2. A plant whose stem does not produce woody, persistent tissue and generally dies back at the end of each growing season.
> 3. Any of various often aromatic plants used especially in medicine or as seasoning.

Pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice, ginger, and cloves are spices, but not herbs.  
Basil, oregano, savory, marjoram, thyme and are herbs _and_ spices, as are all other herbs used to flavor food.  
Ragweed, marigold, and marijuana are herbs, but not, commonly, spices.  
Redwood trees are neither an herb, or a spice.

The term ‘herb’ is based in botany, while ‘spice’ relates to cooking. The term herb in cooking, refers almost exclusively to dried leaves, while spices include seeds, bark roots etc. AND (some) herbs.

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**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spices-herbs/199987/4 "2003-09-07T00:17:01Z")

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Yep; I go with **trabi**. Herbs are dried leaves from temperate regions; spices are ground-up woody things from foreign parts.