Allspice makes everything nice
From embalming agent to autumnal seasoning, allspice does it all.
When the first umber leaves hit the ground, I don’t automatically think, “It’s pumpkin spice season!” Instead, I reach for a bottle of allspice dram—the workhorse of the winter cocktail that also pulls double duty in my holiday baking.
What is allspice?
Contrary to popular belief, allspice is not a combination of spices; it’s a singular spice derived from a berry found on the Pimenta dioica tree (aka: Jamaica pepper or Jamaican allspice tree). The unripe berries are harvested and sun-dried until they shrivel up to resemble large brown peppercorns before they’re ground up for use in a variety of sweet and savory dishes and drinks.
The tree is native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and the Greater Antilles. Historically, Jamaica was its primary grower and it became so valuable that the country guarded against the export of the whole plant.
People tried growing the pimenta tree from seed, but reportedly failed because they didn’t know that the seeds need to pass through an avian digestive tract in order to germinate. (Sometimes animals eating and pooping out seeds is the only way to get them to grow. Whether it’s due to stomach acidity breaking down the seed’s outer shell or from spending time the animals elevated body temperature is up for debate—either way, it works.)
Fun facts about allspice
Allspice is the only spice that is grown exclusively in the Western Hemisphere.
The Mayans used allspice as an embalming agent and for flavoring chocolate.
Once imported to Europe, people found other uses for allspice besides food, medicine, and drink. During the Napoleonic war of 1812, Russian soldiers put allspice in their boots to keep their feet warm and reduce the smell. The manly benefits off allspice were passed down for generations, resulting today’s cosmetic industries commonly using pimento oil in men’s toiletries (especially products with the word “spice” on the label).
Have I piqued your appetite yet?
Allspice Dram
In the cocktail sphere, allspice is most widely known as allspice dram or pimento dram, which is a rum-based liqueur made by infusing rum with dried allspice berries and diluting it with water and sugar (aka: simple syrup). It has a sweet, clove-like essence that pairs well with tropical flavors, making it very popular in tiki drinks and holiday cocktail recipes.
Pimento, the spice vs. pimento, the orange thingy inside green olives
Allspice dram and pimento dram are the same thing. Allspice come from a berry found on the Pimenta dioica tree, but was dubbed “allspice” by the British around 1621 because its smell and taste resembled that of clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg—you know, all the spices <insert eye roll at the creativity here>.
But many liqueur producers still use the term “pimento,” so for years whenever I heard the words “pimento dram,” I pictured the little orange cubes tucked inside green olives, which was confusing as a novice cocktail drinker. Why add green olive flavor to a tiki drink?
Turns out those little cubes are actually pimientos, a type of red cherry pepper, but for no good reason I can find, we refer to them as pimentos anyway.
Brands to try
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram: Made by master distillers from Destillerie Purkhart in Austria using smoky Jamaican pot-still rum.
The Bitter Truth Pimento Dram: Made by a German company producing gorgeous liqueurs and bitters. Harder to find in the states than St. Elizabeth’s, but here’s a list of spots you can order it from.
Hamilton Ministry of Rum Pimento Dram: Blended with Worthy Park Estate pot still rum and raw sugar.
Allspice cocktails to try
A once-forgotten Prohibition-era drink, the Lion’s Tail cocktail combines bourbon, lime, and allspice dram. It resurfaced around 2008 and gained renewed popularity after the recipe was published in Ted Haigh’s book, “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.” Some would argue that helped make it the most well-known, non-tiki cocktail with allspice in a starring role.
There are numerous variations of there Lion’s Tail now, most notably Brandon Ristaino’s rum-forward rendition called the Tropical Lion’s Tail, the amaro-forward Italian Coda de Lion from Amy Ward of Aggio, a tiki evolution called the Lions Fang from Chad Robert Austin of Bootlegger Tiki in Palm Springs, and a completely reimagined version from Dead Rabbit’s Jack McGarry that does away will all the ingredients except for the allspice dram and lime.
Below is the classic version, but I highly recommend playing with the alternatives linked above. A little bit of allspice dram goes a long way, so that seemingly endless bottle is going to feel full for years unless you find reasons to empty it.
Lion’s Tail
2 oz bourbon
1/3 oz allspice dram
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/6 oz rich simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Combine all your ingredients in a shaking tin with ice and shake until chilled. Double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
Allspice Old Fashioned
Give pumpkin spice a vacation and replace the simple syrup with allspice dram in your next old fashioned.
2 oz bourbon or rye whiskey
1/4 oz Allspice dram
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir your ingredients over ice and serve over a large rock. Garnish with an expressed orange peel studded with cloves (for aromatic effect).
Make your own allspice dram
At it’s core, allspice dram is just a rum infusion. You can find recipes all over the internet, but I’d argue the fun bit is choosing the style of rum to infuse. White rum will yield a milder flavor overall, whereas pot still rum provides a richer, full-bodied experience. Overproof rum or navy strength rum will pack a boozier punch, and dark or flavored rums might imbue it with more maple or holiday-spice notes.
Some people add cinnamon stick or whole clove to their infusion, but for tried-and-true allspice flavor, stick to using toasted allspice berries.
Another consideration is the sugar. Some people opt for white sugar, others use brown sugar or Demerara sugar. Think about what recipe you’re using the allspice dram for and tinker from there. Below is a small-batch recipe that will yield roughly 8 to 9 ounces of allspice dram.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup allspice berries
1 cup rum of your choice
1/2 cup sugar of your choice
1/4 cup distilled water
Instructions:
Heat a skillet over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. *Toast the dried allspice berries until fragrant, about 1 minute. Allow to cool then roughly crush.
Combine rum and crushed allspice berries in a sealable glass jar, tighten the lid and give the bottle a good shake. Steep the mixture for 10 days, shaking occasionally.
Strain the allspice-infused rum through a coffee filter into a small saucepan and add the sugar. Heat over low, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is fully dissolved.* Add water to desired taste and consistency (basically, do you want a dram or a thicker syrup). Cool to room temperature before storing in a glass jar or bottle.
*You can also skip this step and just pop the crushed allspice berries in the rum without toasting them.
**Another option is to add 2:1 simple syrup to the strained infusion without heating it. Alcohol evaporates at 173 degrees Fahrenheit, so there’s little risk of losing your dram’s boozy kick by preparing it as listed above, but by adding simple syrup a little bit at a time, you can pinpoint your desired sweetness.
For a 2:1 simple syrup just heat 1 cup of sugar with ½ cup of water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Easy peasy.
Boozy Baking
Allspice dram is an easy substitute for vanilla extract in any recipe, which is what I did below in this malted vanilla allspice cake. I also added it to the frosting. The cake features rich vanilla bean flecks and toasty allspice seasoning mixed into the sponge as well, and I think it works beautifully with the malt’s added depth.
I’d also argue that allspice dram would pair wonderfully when mixed into a choux pasty cream or vanilla curd, a pumpkin spice cake, or drizzled over a rum cake as a allspice-butter glaze. A little goes a long way so there’s ample space to play.
Malted vanilla allspice cake with sweet allspice frosting
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups (160g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) malt powder (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
1 large egg (room temperature)
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
1/4 cup (55g) unsalted butter (softened)
1/4 cup (60ml) neutral oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste for stronger flavor)
1 teaspoon allspice dram
Instructions
Preheat and prep. Place a rack in the center of your oven; preheat to 350°F. Next, grease an 8 x 8 baking pan with butter or nonstick spray, then place a strip of parchment across the bottom and up two of the pan’s sides so that the edges hang over. This will make it easier to lift the cake out of the pan once it’s cooled.
Mix your wet ingredients. Combine the eggs and sugar in a large bowl, whisking until foamy and pale. Add the buttermilk, softened butter, oil, vanilla, salt, and allspice dram, whisking until smooth.
Add the dry ingredients. Whisk in the flour, baking soda, baking power, and allspice until combined.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and tap it gently on the counter to release any air bubbles. Smooth the top with a knife or an offset spatula.
Bake for 30–40 minutes, until the top has risen slightly and is light golden brown. Insert a cake tester or a toothpick into the center of the cake to test its doneness. If it comes out clean, you’re good to go.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 15–20 minutes. Use the overhanging parchment to remove the cake from the pan and place it on a cooling rack.
Allspice frosting
Ingredients
1 cup confectioner’s sugar (aka: powdered sugar or icing sugar)
1/4 cup unsalted butter (softened)
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon allspice dram
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice (or use lime if you’re going for a Lion’s Tail flavor)
Pinch of salt
Nutmeg to garnish
Instructions
Sift the confectioners sugar into a medium bowl to prevent lumps from forming when mixing.
Add everything else. Mix in the butter, vanilla bean paste, allspice dram, juice, and salt. Combine using an electric hand mixer. Use a silicone or rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and reincorporate any splattered bits.
Mix until smooth and creamy. If the texture is too wet for your liking, gradually sift in more sugar. If it’s too thick, you can add milk by the teaspoon until it’s reached the desired consistency.
Frost your cake. When the cake is completely cooled, frost the top of your cake with reckless abandon. Garnish with grated nutmeg, slice, and serve.
Did you try the malted vanilla allspice cake or the lion’s tail? What did you think?
Allspice in savory cooking
Allspice’s use goes far beyond the holiday bakes we know it from in the states. For example, allspice is the backbone in Jamaican jerk seasoning. In Mexican cuisine, it’s used in a plethora of savory dishes, including Chilpozontle, which is a chicken and allspice stew.
In Middle Eastern cuisine, allspice is reserved exclusively for savory dishes and is frequently paired with cinnamon. It plays a starring role in hashweh, which is an onion and ground beef mixture used as a stuffing or served with rice (as in hashweh rice), and to top dips like hummus.
In Northern European and North American cooking, it is an ingredient in commercial sausage, curry powders, and in pickling. In the United Kingdom, you can find allspice dominating the popular condiment known as “brown sauce.”
And as previously mentioned, in the United States it’s mostly associated with holiday desserts, but it is responsible for giving Cincinnati-style chili its signature aroma.
Origins of allspice
Contrary to popular belief, allspice is not a combination of spices; it’s a singular spice derived from a berry found on the Pimenta dioica (aka: Jamaica pepper tree). The unripe berries are harvested and sun-dried until they shrivel up to resemble large brown peppercorns before they’re ground up for use in a variety of sweet and savory dishes and drinks. The tree is native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and the Greater Antilles. Historically, Jamaica was its primary grower and it became so valuable that they guarded against the export of the whole plant.
People tried growing the pimenta tree from seed, but reportedly failed because they didn’t know that the seeds needed to pass through an avian digestive tract in order to germinate. (Sometimes animals eating and pooping out seeds is the only way to get them to grow. Whether it’s due to stomach acidity breaking down the seed’s outer shell or from spending time the animals elevated body temperature is up for debate—either way, it works.)
Eventually people figured it out and now pimento is grown in Tonga and Hawaii—it’s even become naturalized on Kauaʻi and Maui. Jamaica still remains the primary source of the pimenta plant, while Central American countries like Guatemala, Mexico, Honduras, and Belize have become leading global exporters of allspice.
Non-culinary uses
Allspice is a warm-tasting spice whose primary compound is eugenol, which also found in clove. And while none of this is FDA approved, eugenol has anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, antipyretic, antioxidant, antifungal, and analgesic properties, and is often found in over the counter “wellness” products for dental pain management. Allspice is was also traditionally used in Mexico to treat stomach upset; making an allspice tea was said to cure gas, bloating, and cramps.