57 of 100: Grains of paradise

David recently bought a big bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin. On its sides are listed the ten ingredients that go into its special flavoring. I recognized half of them: almond, lemon peels, liquorice, coriander, and of course juniper berries. The other half, not so much: orris root, angelica, cassia, cubeb, and the mysterious grains of paradise.

When I read out these ingredients to David, who was busy cooking dinner (I like to keep him informative company while he slaves away), he asked me to look up grains of paradise, find out if it was real.

And yes indeed! Grains of paradise, aka melegueta pepper, Guinea grains, osame, or fome wisa—or, most reliably, Aframomum melegueta—is in the ginger family and closely related to cardamom. Its seeds impart a pungent, black pepper–like flavor with hints of citrus. It is native to West Africa (as the blue Bombay bottle also indicates), which is sometimes known as the Pepper Coast because of this commodity. Native to swampy habitats along the West African coast, the plant has trumpet-shaped purple flowers that develop into two-to-three-inch-long pods, whence the grains of paradise: small reddish-brown seeds. 

Melegueta—the pods and leaves—makes up 80–90 percent of the diet of the Western Lowland gorilla! Wow! They also use it make nests and beds. Full use of the resource. (The lack of grains of paradise in their zoo diet may contribute to poor cardio-vascular health.)

The spice was traditionally carried by camel caravan through the Sahara up to Sicily, then to the rest of Italy. In the 14th and 15th centuries it served as a popular substitute for black pepper (Piper nigrum). Today, it gives flavor to craft beers (for instance, Silverback Pale Ale out of Austin, Texas), Norwegian akvavit, and, yes, gin.

Wikipedia says, "In West African folk medicine, grains of paradise are valued for their warming and digestive properties, and among the Efik people in Nigeria have been used for divination and ordeals determining guilt. A. melegueta has been introduced to the Caribbean and Latin America, where it is used in Voodoo religious rites. It is also found widely among Protestant Christian practitioners of African-American hoodoo and rootwork, where the seeds are employed in luck-bringing and may be held in the mouth or chewed to prove sincerity."