Allspice

Allspice is the dried berry of Pimenta dioica, an evergreen tree of the myrtle family native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico and Central America and now grown in many warm countries. Crushing its dark, oval leaves releases a scent like clove; small white flowers grow in clusters at the branch tips, followed by pea-sized berries that are picked while still green and dried in the sun until brown. Jamaica long supplied most of the spice in trade, and there the tree grew thickly enough to make whole forests. The English were calling it allspice by 1621, because its taste seemed to unite cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, though it is one spice and not a blend. Its genus name comes from the Spanish word for black pepper, which the dried berries resemble. Long before Columbus, the Indigenous peoples of the West Indies and Central America used it as food and medicine; the Maya mixed it into smoking tobacco, and both the Maya and the Aztec used it in embalming. Today it flavours Jamaican jerk seasoning among much else. In magic it serves as an incense, burned to draw money and luck, and it is used to promote healing, carried as a single dried berry for luck, and used to bless amulets, altars and the space for a rite.