Spice Mixtures

There are classic mixtures which vendors make up and which are often simply called ‘the three spices’ or ‘the four spices’. In Egypt what we called les quatre épices was a ground mixture of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. ‘Four spices’ in Tunisia may mean cinnamon, pepper, rose buds and paprika, and in Morocco it may be cloves, nutmeg, ginger and pepper. ‘Curry mixtures’ of varying compositions popular in the regions neighbouring India are similar to those of that country.