ALLSPICE

tropical evergreen tree (Pimenta diocia, formerly P. officinalis) of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), native to the West Indies and Central America and valued for its berries, the source of a highly aromatic spice. Allspice was so named because the flavour of the dried berry resembles a combination of cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It is widely used in baking and is usually present in mincemeat and mixed pickling spice. Early Spanish explorers, mistaking it for a type of pepper, called it pimenta, hence its botanical name and such terms as pimento and Jamaica pepper. The first record of its import to Europe is from 1601. The allspice tree attains a height of about 9 metres (30 feet). The fruits are picked before they are fully ripe and then dried in the sun. During drying the berries turn from green to a dull reddish brown. The nearly globular fruit, about 5 millimetres (0.2 inch) in diameter, contains two kidney-shaped, dark-brown seeds. Its flavour is aromatic and pungent. The essential oil content is about 4 1/2 percent for Jamaica allspice and about 2 1/2 percent for that of Central America; its principal component is eugenol. The name allspice is applied to several other aromatic shrubs as well, especially to one of the sweet shrubs, the Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus ), a handsome flowering shrub native to the southeastern United States and often cultivated in England. Other allspices include: the Japanese allspice (Chimonanthus praecox), native to eastern Asia and planted as an ornamental in England and the United States; the wild allspice, or spicebush (Lindera benzoin), a shrub of eastern North America, with aromatic berries, reputed to have been used as a substitute for true allspice.