Allspice: One Berry, Not a Blend. Flavor, Chemistry and Uses

Despite the name, allspice is one spice, not a blend: the dried berries of Pimenta dioica, a myrtle-family tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It got its English name because the berry tastes like a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It tastes warm and clove-forward, and the clove note mostly comes from eugenol, which also dominates clove oil, though some allspice oils are low in it. In Jamaica, where it’s called pimento, it’s central to jerk, and meat for traditional jerk is smoked over pimento wood.

At a glance

What allspice is

The allspice tree is an evergreen. Kew lists it as native from southern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, and as introduced in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Venezuela, among other places. It grows mainly in the seasonally dry tropics.

The fruit is picked before it’s fully ripe. PROSEA says fully mature but still green fruits are harvested 3 to 4 months after flowering, and that in Jamaica the harvest normally runs from July to September.¹ As they dry in the sun, the berries turn from green to a dull reddish brown.

You’ll often read that allspice trees once grew in “rainforests” and are dwindling as those forests are cleared. We found no source for either part. Kew puts the species in the seasonally dry tropics.⁵

Flavor and aroma

Britannica calls allspice aromatic and pungent, and gives the clove, cinnamon and nutmeg comparison as the reason for its name. A 2022 review describes its flavor the same way. In the pot it comes across warm, clove-forward and faintly peppery. You may run into a “4 on the hotness scale” rating. It has no source and no defined scale.

The compounds

The aroma lives in the berry’s essential oil. The main compounds are eugenol, methyl eugenol and myrcene.² Eugenol is also the dominant compound in clove oil, which is why the two spices smell so alike.⁶ How much oil there is, and how much of it is eugenol, depends a lot on the source:

Those figures come from different samples and methods, so we haven’t merged them. The last two rows show why: one Mexican oil in the review was dominated by methyl eugenol, not eugenol.² For comparison, the 2020 review by Batiha and colleagues puts eugenol at about 85 to 92% of clove oil.⁶

Origin and history

PROSEA says Spanish explorers came across allspice used as a spice in the Caribbean in the 16th century. They mistook the berries for black pepper because of their shape and flavor and called them pimienta (pepper), which English later turned into “pimento.”¹ Britannica also says early Spanish explorers called it pimenta.

We couldn’t trace the common claim that the English named it “allspice” in the 1600s. Britannica gives the reason for the name but not when it was coined or by whom.

Production and trade

PROSEA names Jamaica as the largest producer and exporter, with about 70% of world exports, and puts annual world trade at 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes worth US$5 to 7 million. It gives no year for either figure.¹ A 2022 review says Jamaican berries are higher quality than those from other islands and are preferred in trade.² We didn’t find a current official production or trade series for allspice.

How allspice is used

• Jamaica. Pimento is central to jerk. Smithsonian Magazine’s history of the dish calls pimento and fresh thyme essential ingredients, alongside Scotch bonnet peppers, and notes that meat for traditional jerk is smoked over pimento wood.⁷ See jerk seasoning and Jamaican spices.
• Pickling and broths. PROSEA says whole berries go into meat broths, gravies and pickling liquids, while ground allspice is the pick for desserts. Britannica says it’s widely used in baking and is usually in mincemeat and mixed pickling spice.
• Meat products. PROSEA and the 2022 review both note that the meat industry uses allspice oil and oleoresin.
• Cincinnati chili. Saveur’s recipe uses allspice alongside cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.

You’ll sometimes hear that allspice is the only spice in many Palestinian main dishes. We found no source for that, or for several other dish-specific claims that float around (Jamaican beef patties, Middle Eastern stews, commercial ketchup), so we’ve left them out.

Technique

Whole berries suit long-cooked liquids where you can fish them out. Ground allspice suits batters, rubs and fillings. It’s a strong spice, so add a little, let it cook in, and taste before adding more. Already gone too far? See too much allspice.

Buying and quality

PROSEA notes two kinds of adulteration: ground allspice cut with clove stems and starchy fillers, and allspice berry oil cut with eugenol from cheaper sources.¹ Whole berries are harder to adulterate than ground, so if that matters to you, buy whole and grind as needed. We didn’t find an international standard for allspice that we could open.

Storage

We didn’t find a shelf-life figure for allspice from a regulator, standards body or study. Like other spices whose flavor lives in a volatile oil, it keeps best whole, tightly closed and away from heat and light. Let your nose be the judge.

Safety

The 2022 review gives no toxicity figures for allspice oil, and we found no regulator or clinical source that sets an amount at which allspice in food becomes a concern.² In the US, allspice is on the FDA’s list of spices generally recognized as safe for their intended use.⁴

Methyl eugenol, which can dominate some allspice oils,² is regulated as an added substance in the EU. It can’t be added to food on its own, and some compound foods have caps for it. Those caps don’t apply when the only flavorings added are fresh, dried or frozen herbs and spices.⁸ Allspice also falls under the EU’s general ochratoxin A limit for dried spices, 15 µg/kg.⁹

Health claims

Allspice has been used in traditional medicine for gastrointestinal complaints, cramps, flatulence, indigestion and nausea, according to the 2022 review.² That’s a record of traditional use, not evidence that it works. Lists crediting allspice with treating fever, depression, arthritis and infections, or with supplying meaningful amounts of vitamins and minerals, have no source we could check. We’re not claiming allspice treats or prevents any condition.

Substitutes and comparisons

Since its flavor is likened to cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, those three, in some combination, are the usual stand-ins, and allspice can fill in for them too. See allspice substitutes, and:

• Allspice vs. cloves
• Allspice vs. nutmeg
• Allspice vs. black pepper
• Allspice berries vs. juniper berries
• Mace vs. allspice
• Garam masala vs. allspice