Spice
Ossame
B tier
Ossame is a regional or historical name encountered for grains of paradise in some trade and ethnobotanical notes—still Aframomum melegueta seeds when correctly applied. Verify with a citrus-pepper crush test. Rare on modern labels; if you find ossame in a text, cook as grains of paradise. Start with few cracked seeds—the heat builds. Prefer merchants who also list the Latin name.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
CrackExperimentalStew
Traits
AromaticPepperyRare NameRare SynonymRegional HistoricalSame SeedVerify IdentityWarm
History
Variant names including ossame appeared in scattered trade notes.
Ethnobotanical records captured local and sailor synonyms.
Ossame became obscure outside specialist literature.
Spice historians crosswalked ossame to Aframomum melegueta.