Organic Ground Allspice

Smith & Truslow Organic Allspice is USDA certified organic, freshly ground in small batches, and third-party tested for heavy metals — delivering the warm, complex, simultaneously clove-like, cinnamon-sweet, and pepper-spiced flavor that makes allspice one of the most uniquely versatile, historically fascinating, and culinarily essential spices in Caribbean, Middle Eastern, Scandinavian, and American cooking.

Our organic allspice is made from premium certified organic allspice berries — the dried unripe berries of the Pimenta dioica tree, native to Jamaica and the Caribbean — carefully ground fresh to preserve their essential oils, deep reddish-brown color, and the extraordinary aromatic complexity that gives allspice its singular ability to simultaneously evoke cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and black pepper in a single spice. Whether you're building an authentic Jamaican jerk seasoning, making a classic Caribbean beef stew, building a Middle Eastern baharat, seasoning a Scandinavian meatball, baking a classic spice cake, making a mulled wine, seasoning a Swedish gravlax, building a classic pickling spice blend, or simply reaching for the one spice that does the work of four, Smith & Truslow organic allspice delivers a freshness, complexity, and aromatic depth that grocery store allspice simply cannot match.

Why Is It Called Allspice — and What Does It Actually Taste Like?

Allspice is one of the most intriguingly named spices in the world — and one of the most frequently misunderstood. Despite its name, allspice is not a blend of multiple spices — it is a single ingredient, the dried berry of the Pimenta dioica tree, native to Jamaica and the Caribbean basin. It earned its name from seventeenth-century English traders who discovered it tasted like a combination of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pepper — four of the most valued spices of the era — in a single berry. This perception was not merely poetic — allspice genuinely contains many of the same aromatic compounds as cloves (eugenol), cinnamon (cinnamaldehyde), nutmeg (myristicin), and black pepper (piperine) — making it one of the most chemically complex and aromatically sophisticated single spices in existence. The flavor is warm, deeply sweet, slightly peppery, and intensely aromatic — with a clove-forward character that gives way to cinnamon sweetness and a faint peppery warmth on the finish. It is simultaneously familiar and exotic — recognizable as something you have tasted before without being immediately identifiable as a single specific spice.

Allspice Around the World — One Spice, Many Traditions

Allspice is one of the few spices that is native to the Western Hemisphere — and its global culinary reach tells the story of the spice trade, colonial history, and the remarkable ways in which a single ingredient from a small Caribbean island became essential to culinary traditions on every continent. In Jamaica — its native home — allspice is the defining spice of jerk seasoning, the iconic preparation of heavily spiced, slow-smoked meats that has become one of the most globally recognized and beloved flavor profiles in the world. In the Middle East, allspice is an essential component of baharat — the complex warm spice blend that seasons lamb, beef, rice, and the slow-cooked dishes of Lebanese, Turkish, Syrian, and Palestinian cooking. In Scandinavia, allspice appears in the curing spice for gravlax, the seasoning for Swedish meatballs, and the mulling spice blends for glögg — the Scandinavian mulled wine that is the defining warming drink of Scandinavian winter. In the Caribbean more broadly, allspice appears in virtually every slow-cooked meat dish, stew, and spiced preparation — the backbone of island flavor in the same way that black pepper is the backbone of European seasoning. In American baking it appears in pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, and gingerbread — adding the warm, complex depth that distinguishes a well-spiced holiday dessert from a merely sweet one.

Allspice vs Mixed Spice vs Pumpkin Pie Spice — Understanding the Difference

Allspice is frequently confused with mixed spice and pumpkin pie spice — two blended preparations that contain allspice as an ingredient — and the distinction matters practically for any cook who wants to use the right product for the right application. Allspice is a single-ingredient spice — the pure, ground berry of the Pimenta dioica tree with no other additions. Mixed spice is a British baking blend that typically combines allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sometimes ginger — used in British fruitcakes, Christmas puddings, and hot cross buns where a complex, multi-spice warm flavor is required. Pumpkin pie spice is an American baking blend that typically combines cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves — the defining spice mixture of American autumn baking and one of the most seasonally recognizable flavor profiles in American food culture. Pure allspice is the right choice when a recipe specifically calls for it — jerk seasoning, baharat, Scandinavian preparations, and pickling blends all require allspice specifically rather than a blend that includes it. When a recipe calls for mixed spice or pumpkin pie spice, those blends are calling for the complete combination of spices rather than allspice alone.

Why Our Organic Allspice Is Different

Most conventional allspice is made from berries grown with synthetic pesticides, processed months or years before reaching your kitchen, and stored in ways that degrade the essential oil content that gives great allspice its extraordinary aromatic complexity. The key active compound in allspice — eugenol — is the same compound responsible for cloves' intensity, and like cloves, allspice shows a dramatic difference in aromatic quality between freshly processed and stale product. Not ours. Every lot of Smith & Truslow organic allspice is made from 100% certified organic allspice berries with nothing added — no fillers, no anticaking agents, no irradiation — and tested by an accredited third-party lab against heavy metal specifications more stringent than industry standards. Pure allspice. Maximum complexity. Nothing hidden.

How to Use Organic Allspice

• Build authentic Jamaican jerk seasoning and Caribbean spice blends
• Season Caribbean beef stew, oxtail stew, and slow-cooked island dishes
• Build Middle Eastern baharat for lamb, beef, and rice dishes
• Season Swedish meatballs, Scandinavian gravlax, and Nordic preparations
• Add to pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, and holiday baking mixes
• Season pumpkin pie, apple cake, and autumn baked goods
• Build classic mulled wine, mulled cider, and glögg spice blends
• Add to Indian garam masala and warm South Asian spice preparations
• Build classic pickling spice blend for cucumbers, beets, and vegetables
• Season Caribbean rice and peas, rice and beans, and island rice dishes
• Add to Cincinnati chili, mole negro, and complex spiced meat sauces
• Season lamb stew, beef stew, and slow-cooked braised meats
• Build into homemade ketchup, barbecue sauce, and spiced condiments
• Season spice cookies, gingerbread, and holiday baked goods
• Add to chai spice, warming tea blends, and mulling spice mixes

Certifications & Testing

• Certified organic by the Colorado Department of Agriculture (USDA NOP)
• Certified gluten-free by the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) — less than 10ppm
• Certified kosher by Earth Kosher
• Third-party tested for heavy metals: lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium
• No fillers, no anticaking agents, no irradiation
• Non-irradiated — steam sterilized only

Available in a jar and refill bag. Free shipping on orders over $85.

Also try our Organic Ground Cloves and Organic Cinnamon Cassia — or browse our full line of USDA certified organic spices