Image: Wikimedia Commons

spice

Dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetable substance primarily used for flavoring, coloring or preserving food

EntityQ42527

Also known as spices

Subclass of: condiment

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

In the culinary arts, a spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavouring or colouring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavouring or as a garnish. Spices and herbs are both seasonings. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, or perfume production. They are usually classified into spices, spice seeds, and herbal categories. For example, vanilla is commonly used as an ingredient in fragrance manufacturing. Plant-based sweeteners such as sugar are not considered spices.

Overview

All data

74 statements · 18% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Has use: cooking
seasoning
flavoring
food coloring
food preservation
Partially coincident with: food powder
Different from: spice
Water footprint: 7,048 cubic metre per ton object named as: Spices · section: Table 2
1
Sources
1.Stated in The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products
View statement on Wikidata ↗
2.35 litre per kilocalorie object named as: Spices · section: Table 2
1
Sources
1.Stated in The green, blue and grey water footprint of crops and derived crop products
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Social media followers: 239,749(May 23, 2023) subreddit: spicy
Made from material: aromatic plant

On other databases

57 identifiers linking spice across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

18%

externally sourced

Source last edited October 19, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). spice (Q42527). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/spice-Q42527