Spice Foods Vs. Sweet Foods

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. In the kitchen, spices are distinguished from herbs, which are leafy, green plant parts used for flavoring. Piquance or piquancy is a type of pungence specific to the sense of taste. Piquance is often quantized in scales that range from mild to hot. The Scoville scale measures the piquance of chili peppers, as defined by the amount of capsaicin they contain. It is not considered a taste in the technical sense, because it is carried to the brain by a different set of nerves. While taste nerves are activated when consuming foods like chili peppers, the sensation commonly interpreted as "hot" results from the stimulation of somatosensory fibers in the mouth. Many parts of the body with exposed membranes that lack taste receptors produce a similar sensation of heat when exposed to pungent agents. Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well.