What is Allspice?

Allspice is the dried unripe berry of a tree called Pimenta dioica. It tastes like a blend of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. Most people meet it as a kitchen spice.

In folk use, people drank it as a warm tea for gas, bloating and an upset stomach. Crushed berries were also rubbed on sore muscles and stiff joints.

Here is the honest verdict. Long use in cooking and folk medicine is not proof that it treats anything. We found no human trials that test allspice for any health problem.

How does Allspice work?

Allspice is full of eugenol, the same oily compound that gives clove its smell. That is the best guess at why it was used, not a proven path.

In lab dishes, eugenol dulls nerve endings, slows the growth of some germs, and eases cramping in strips of gut tissue.

Dishes and animals are not people. Whether a pinch in a stew or a cup of tea does any of this inside your body is simply not known.

What forms does Allspice come in?

Whole dried berries keep their smell longest. You crush or grind them just before use.

Ground allspice powder is the common jar in the spice rack. It fades faster once opened.

Allspice essential oil is very strong and is meant for scent and flavour work, not for drinking. Some skin creams and mouth rinses use tiny amounts of it. Teas and tinctures made from the berry also exist, but no standard strength is agreed on.

Where it comes from:

Allspice comes from Jamaica, southern Mexico and Central America. Spanish sailors carried it to Europe in the 1500s and thought it was a kind of pepper, so it picked up the name Jamaica pepper.

European cooks and herbalists treated it as a warming spice for the stomach. It also became a staple of Caribbean cooking, above all in jerk seasoning.

What does Allspice help with?

• Gas and bloating: This is the oldest and most common use. A tea of crushed berries was drunk after meals to help wind pass. No human trial has tested it, so treat it as a comfort drink rather than a treatment.
• Mild indigestion after a heavy meal: Warm spice teas were a household habit across Europe for a full, heavy stomach. Lab work shows eugenol can relax gut muscle in a dish. Whether that happens in a person who drinks the tea is unknown.
• Sore muscles and stiff joints (rubbed on the skin): Crushed berries were mixed into warm poultices and rubbed on aching backs and knees. The warm, tingly feel is real and comes from eugenol. There is no trial showing it helps the joint itself.
• Toothache and sore gums (folk use only): Eugenol numbs a little, and clove oil has a long history in dentistry for this reason. That history belongs to clove, not to allspice. Do not put allspice oil in a child's mouth.
• Poor appetite: Warm, fragrant spices were added to food to make it more tempting to eat. This is a cooking use with no trial support. It is also a harmless one at food amounts.

Which foods are rich in Allspice?

1. Jamaican jerk seasoning: allspice is the backbone of the rub
2. Mulled wine and hot spiced cider: a classic winter use
3. Pickling spice mixes: added whole to the jar
4. Gingerbread, fruit cake and spice biscuits
5. Caribbean stews, jerk chicken and rice dishes

Practical Tips:

Everyday cooking amounts are the safest way to use allspice.

What are the side effects of Allspice?

• Burning or tingling in the mouth and throat
• Heartburn or stomach burning, mostly at large amounts
• Nausea
• Skin rash or itch from the oil or from poultices
• Gum and mouth irritation from the strong oil
• Allergic reaction in people sensitive to clove or balsam of Peru

Good to know:

At kitchen amounts, allspice is well tolerated and side effects are rare. Most trouble comes from the concentrated oil, not the spice.

The oil can burn skin and the lining of the mouth. Swallowed in quantity, clove-type oils have caused liver damage and seizures (fits), above all in children.

How much Allspice should you take?

• Recommended daily: No medicinal dose has been set, because the trials that would set one have not been done. Food amounts are what we can speak to. The usual folk tea was about 1 to 2 teaspoons of crushed berries in a cup of hot water, steeped for ten minutes. People drank up to two or three cups a day. Do not swallow allspice essential oil. It is many times stronger than the spice and has no safe home dose.
• Best time of day: After meals, if you are using it for a full or gassy stomach. There is no reason to take it at any set hour.
• With or without food: With or straight after food. Taking it on an empty stomach is more likely to cause burning or heartburn.
• Time to effect: If a warm spice tea eases a full stomach for you, you would notice it within an hour. Nothing here builds up over weeks.
• How long to take it: Cooking amounts are fine to use for as long as you like. For tea used for stomach comfort, give it a week or two. If your bloating, pain or indigestion is no better after two weeks, stop and get it checked. Ongoing gut symptoms need a real diagnosis.