Quatre-épices

This article covers the French blend of spices. For allspice, also called four-spice, see there.

Quatre épices ( French for "four spices") or four-spice is a traditional spice blend of French cuisine from white pepper , dried ginger , nutmeg and cloves - they were a long time the most important spices in long-distance trade. Variants use cinnamon instead of ginger, black pepper instead of white, or allspice instead of any of the other spices.

It is used universally, especially for game stews , pies and sausages , for gherkins , pickled onions , pumpkins , terrines, in stews and the like as well as gingerbread spices .

To make quatre-épices, about eight parts of pepper, one part of ginger (or cinnamon) and one part of cloves are roasted dry , two parts of grated nutmeg are added and everything is finely ground. Variants use different mixing ratios or do without roasting, but the proportion of pepper is almost always greater than that of other spices.

Since the discovery of pimento in the Antilles by Christopher Columbus , which has a taste reminiscent of this spice mixture, this spice has occasionally been called quatre-épices or four-spice in its unmixed state, because its taste is reminiscent of the mixture, especially pepper and cloves.