Spices are said to be the heart of a dish. The act of shunning spices from your happily simmering pot will most likely produce a flavourless meal – and if it doesn’t, you’ll still have a hard time convincing me it wouldn’t taste twice as good with the addition of some aromatic herbs or spices. You’ll simply need them for a tasty lunch or dinner, which also means they are kind of important. That, in turn, means you kind of have to know them in French. Right?
| For an epic cooking and baking glossary concentrating on verbs and kitchen activities in French (with example sentences!), click here. |
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- General words connected to spices
- Spices mainly used in savory dishes in French
- Spices mainly used in desserts in French
- Most common spice mixes in French
- Most-used sauces and salad dressings in French
- Verbs, adjectives, and nouns connected to spices in French
- Bonus: The benefits of spices in French
1. General words connected to spices
- l’épice (f) = spice
- l’herbe (f) aromatique = aromatic herb (such as mint, rosemary, fennel…)
- les épices salées = savoury spices
- les épices douces = sweet spices
- le placard à épices = spice cupboard / spice cabinet
- le mortier = mortar
2. Spices mainly used in savory dishes in French
- l’aneth (m) = dill
- l’origan (m) = oregano
- le cayenne / poivre de Cayenne = cayenne pepper
- la cardamome = cardamom
- la citronelle = lemongrass
- la coriandre = cilantro (coriander)
- le laurier / les feuilles (f) de laurier = bay leaves (Note: the word laurier can also mean the tree itself!)
- la marjolaine = marjoram
- la menthe (poivrée) = peppermint
- la noix de muscade / la muscade = nutmeg
- la sarriette = savory
- le basilic = basil
- le cumin = cumin
- le curcuma = turmeric
- le fenouil = fennel
- le fenugrec = fenugreek
- le genièvre = juniper
- le paprika = paprika powder
- le persil = parsley
- le piment = chili, chili pepper
- le poivre de Sichuan rouge = Sichuan pepper
- le poivre noir = black pepper
- le romarin = rosemary
- le safran = saffron
- le thym = thyme
- la truffe = truffle (both as a mushroom/spice and as chocolate)
- le quatre-épices / le piment de la Jamaïque = allspice
3. Spices mainly used in desserts in French
- les épices sucrées = sweet spices
- la badiane = star anise
- la cannelle = cinnamon
- la vanille (pronounced [vanij]) = vanilla
- la gousse de vanille = vanilla bean
- le clou de girofle = clove
- le gingembre = ginger
4. Most common spice mixes in French
- le mélange cinq épices chinois = Chinese five spice powder mix
- le curry/ le cari = curry (Note: the two names are interchangeable)
- les herbes de Provence (thym, romarin, sarriette, origan, lavande) = herbes de Provence mix
- le mélange d’épices à citrouille = pumpkin spice mix
5. Most-used sauces and salad dressings in French
- la sauce Caesar = Caesar dressing
- la vinaigrette mille-îles = thousand island dressing
- la vinagrette Grecque = greek salad dressing
- la marinade = marinade
6. Verbs, adjectives, and nouns connected to spices
We’ve given you a list of the most useful French spice and herb names above. If you do some cooking more than twice a year, it would probably be a good idea to pick your favorites and memorize them.
This will be useful when cooking French recipes as your language skills get better and better – which is inevitable if you dedicate a small part of your day/week regularly to studying French.
| If you do even more cooking than that, though, a couple extra words might come in handy. That’s because spices come in different shapes and forms: they can be dried, ground or powdered, chopped… the list goes on. And this is how you express those things in French: |
- fresh ginger = gingembre frais
- chopped basil = basilic haché
- dried parsley = le persil séché
- whole coriander seeds = coriandre en grains
- ground cumin = le cumin moulu
- freshly ground pepper = poivre fraîchement moulu
- garlic powder = ail (m) en poudre
- a sprig of rosemary = un brin de romarin
7. Bonus: The benefits of spices in French
Many spices offer health benefits. This is how to say those in French:
- améliorer la digestion = to improve digestion
- être anti-inflammatoire = to be anti-inflammatory
- avoir un effet désinfectant / être antiseptique = to be antiseptic
- être riche en antioxydants = to be rich in antioxidants