💡 Facts

Korean cooking is built on fermented pastes (jang), gochugaru chilli, garlic, ginger, spring onion and sesame, with kimchi and banchan on every table.

Several deadly or harmful plants look like wild herbs. Wild garlic is confused with lords-and-ladies and lily of the valley, and hemlock and hemlock water dropwort resemble parsley and cow parsley.

Annual, biennial and perennial herbs explained: how long each common culinary herb lives, which are hardy in a British winter, and what that means for sowing and planting.

Bird's eye chillies are small, pointed, very hot chillies used across Southeast Asia and Africa. The name covers several varieties of Capsicum annuum and Capsicum frutescens.

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Lemon balm is a hardy, easy-going perennial of the mint family with soft, lemon-scented leaves. It is used fresh in teas, salads, fruit dishes and light sauces.

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The cured seed pod of a Mexican climbing orchid, slowly fermented and dried until fragrant with vanillin. Hand-pollinated and labour-intensive, it is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

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A small bundle of herbs, classically parsley stalks, thyme and bay leaf, tied together and simmered in stocks, soups and stews, then lifted out before serving.

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How Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indians, Chinese, Greeks and Romans used spices and herbs, from embalming and incense to medicine and cookery, and what the surviving texts and finds actually show.