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- Herbs are the leaves of a plant, while spices could be anything other than leaves.
- For example, cinnamon is a spice and its powdered form comes from grinding the bark of trees that belong to the Cinnamomum category.
- Oregano seasoning comes from crushing the dried leaves of the oregano plant, and, therefore, it qualifies as a herb.
- Herbs mostly come from herbaceous plants (i.e. plants that don’t have woody stems), but there are exceptions such as the bay leaf.
- Spices can be made by drying and/or crushing the fruit (e.g. black pepper), seed (mustard seeds), flower (saffron), root (ginger), and bark (cinnamon) of a plant.
- Spices tend to have stronger flavours than herbs because they are made from crushed portions of plants that are rich in essential oils.
- Spices mostly grow in warm tropical & subtropical regions such as the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and India, while herbs are more prominent in temperate regions such as America, Europe, etc.
- Some plants can produce both herbs and spices, e.g., cilantro leaves (herb) and the seeds, coriander (spice).
Image courtesy of Ratul Ghosh through Unsplash
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