paprika

The dried, ground fruit of Capsicum annuum, listed here for pigment and a gentle warmth. The library's one recipe that calls for it is the Fish Spice Mix, which takes 1 gram, about half a teaspoon, against 2 grams of coriander seed and 1 gram each of cumin and fennel. The coriander, cumin, fennel and three peppercorns are toasted in a dry pan for 2 to 3 minutes and ground coarse; the paprika is stirred in afterwards with the allspice, turmeric and salt. The jar is used generously as a rub for fish, and the Gazan Sayadiya draws on the mix.

The Journal's note on the seven spices of the Levant gives paprika a date. Capsicum annuum was domesticated in central-east Mexico, so any blend carrying paprika or chili cannot predate 1492; the thirteenth-century Aleppan blend the note opens with has twelve ingredients and neither. The modern lists disagree about it: The Lebanese Cookbook names six spices with paprika often added, and three other published books give an eight-spice formulation that starts with it. The note adds a limit of its own, that the book record it searched is overwhelmingly in English.