SC - spices vs. herbs?

[Par Leijonhuvud]

On Mon, 23 Mar 1998, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> When is an item a spice and when is it considered an herb?

Websters (www.m-w.com/dictionary) says the following:

Herb:
  2 : a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or
   aromatic qualities

Spice:
 1 : any of various aromatic vegetable products (as pepper or nutmeg)
   used to season or flavor foods

Which doesn't help much. Me, I usually (on the flimsiest of evidence)
think of it such that herbs is a sub-set of spices, namely those that
are dried or fresh leafy parts of a plant. I.e. sage, thyme, and
rosemary are herbs, but ginger, pepper, mustard, and nutmeg aren't. 

The definitions pretty much overlap, so I think it all boils down to
custom. What does the "pros" say?

/UlfR

- -- 
Par Leijonhufvud                  par.leijonhufvud at labtek.ki.se
Win95 - The only virus with a GUI


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