17 Spices and their Hausa names

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  • Post last modified:November 21, 2022

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SPICES! The one thing that most of us feel we need for cooking almost every meal. We all have our favorite spices that we cannot do without in the kitchen. They consist of local and foreign spices but foreign spices are more popular.

Have you ever thought of the local spices that are grown Nigeria and west Africa as a whole?

We have many common food items including spices in this region. Some of our local spices are becoming unknown and unpopular due to the influx of foreign spices and their promotion in all these new, promoted recipes.

We try to recreate those delicious foods that our mothers and grandmothers made for us when we were young.

But sometimes, nailing the taste as we remember can be difficult because they were mostly using local ingredients and spices which are disappearing from our society and kitchen.

This post is for local spices of Nigeria and West Africa as a whole so those foreign spices that you have been looking for their local names such as cumin, cinnamon, Fenugreek, Fennel, Star anise etc. you will probably not find it.

This is because we don’t have them in our local languages because they are not our food. They are imported into the country and with time, we became familiar with them.

Likewise, you cannot find the names of our local spices e.g Ashanti pepper, uziza, ogbono, kuli-kuli in other foreign societies such as the west, China, India etc.

You can try going to united kingdom and ask them for a local name for our spices like the Ashanti pepper, etc. They have no local names for them because it is not their local produce.

Today we want to discuss all those local spices that are grown by the local farmers and then we will discuss their names in our local languages.

I will be updating this list with more Local languages as time passes. Some of them I am sure you are familiar with them but you might find some that you probably never knew.

If u know of other local spices not included in this list, kindly let me know in the comments below. We Shall now begin:

bakin algaru in english

English name: Mustard Seeds

Scientific name: Brassica nigra.

Hausa name: Bakin Algaru

kimba in english

English name: Grains of selim, African black pepper

Scientific name: Xylopia aethiopica

Hausa name: Kimba

There is often, some confusion between the grains of paradise and grains of selim. These are two different spices though they can look similar to the eye.

Alligator pepper within its pods is long and without the pods, it is small and grainy like the common black pepper seeds while grains of paradise have bigger seeds.

kaninfari in english

English name: Cloves

Scientific name: Syzygium aromaticum.

Hausa name: Kanunfari, Kanumfari

tafarnuwa in english

English Name: Garlic

Scientific name: Allium sativum

Hausa Name: Tafarnuwa

CItta in english

English Name: Ginger

Scientific name: zingiber officinale.

Hausa name: Citta

daddoya in english

English name: African Basil

Scientific name: Ocimum gratissimum

Hausa Name: Daddoya

There are many types of basil and they differ in colour and sizes across the world. There is much confusion on the internet on the identification of the type of basil in west Africa as the common basil that is referred to as just basil is not the same basil with our own.

I have tried to get it right and I believe that the basil that we have here locally is called the African basil (clove basil) (common in Nigeria, Ghana etc.).

Others are the Christmas basil (common in Gambia, Senegal) and the camphor basil (common in east Africa such as Kenya, Uganda, Sudan). It is not the common basil (Basil), the black opal basil or the holy basil.

kaajiji in english

English Name: Grains of paradise

Scientific name. Aframomum melegueta

Hausa Name: Kaajiji

daddawa in english

English Name: African Locust Bean Seeds

Scientific Name:  Parkia biglobosa

Hausa Name: Daddawa

african nutmeg in hausa

English Name: African Nutmeg, Calabash Nutmeg & Jamaican Nutmeg

Scientific Name: Monodora Myristica,

Hausa Name: Gudan Miya, Gyada Mai Kamshi.

This is another interesting but not very popular spice that very few know about and even less use it. The African nutmeg is native to west Africa and has been used for both food and as medicine.

For food, they are used as a substitute for the common foreign nutmeg spice.

Perhaps the deterring factor of this spice is the hard shell that is stuck to the spice itself. This makes it very difficult to properly crack and remove the spice whole.

I know this because I have tried to do that before and it got very messy and i felt discouraged from trying again. I ended up with a blend of the nuts and the spice which made me doubt if I can even add it to my food.

It’s a shame that we cannot enjoy this spice more due to the hassle of preparing it ready hence the foreign nutmeg is more popular in our society as it has been

Update: Upon further research, turns out we don’t need to remove the difficult shell before using it as the foreign nutmeg is also grounded with its shell. J

ust crack the nutmeg shell without breaking it in half then grate the nutmeg on the smallest grater hole or a standard nutmeg grater and you are done. Or just blend everything to fine powder.

turmeric in hausa

Englsih Name: Turmeric

Scientific name: Curcuma longa

Hausa name: Kurkum

We mostly get our turmeric in a powder form from the market. The fresh turmeric root is hard to find in many parts of west Africa but is available in place like southern Nigeria.

Recently, turmeric has gained popularity as it is the main ingredient for most curry powders that we use such as the popular Ducros curry.

Though it is mostly used by Indians, turmeric has become a popular food spice and cosmetic ingredient for DIY face masks in our society. Its natural yellow and orange colour is also often used for food coloring

black pepper in hausa

Englsih Name: Black Pepper

Scientific Name: Piper Nigrum

Hausa Name: Masoro

Yes this spice. The one spice that sparked my curiosity and led me to begin this journey into discovering unpopular African foods.

Black pepper is an old-world spice that has been used by many societies for millenniums.

Today, black pepper is necessary for most western dishes. While we don’t use it as often here in Africa, it is still a well-known spice that we add to our teas, drinks, and pepper soups.

borkono in english

English name: Birds eye chilli.

Scientific name: Capsicum annuum.

Hausa name: Barkono.

The variation of the chilis and peppers in the world can make anyone confused due to their numbers and variations of colour, size, shape, heat intensity, etc.

In west Africa, we have mostly 4 types of chili which are the birds’ eye chili, the African pepper (habanero pepper), serrano pepper, and the African medium bell pepper.

The bird’s eye chili is very popularly used in west Africa, India, south-east Asia, etc. It is red, yellowish or green sometimes and is the length of a human pinky finger.

It is also the main ingredient for the popular Nigerian yaji, other pepper condiments while most people use it for adding some spiciness to our foods. We love spicy foods over here (haha..).

Caution should be taken by those that has stomach issues such as Ulcer and gastritis as they can irritate the stomach if not taken in moderation and with caution.

Common foreign spices

Though I am only concerned about our locally grown herbs and spices that are a part of our culture in this post, there are some foreign spices that have been with us for quite some time and have become a part of our spice corner.

Some of these plants are used more for health than for cooking such as lemongrass.

Don’t forget, most of these spices don’t have a local name as they are not our own rather, they are referred by their English name, Arabic name etc. They include:

lemongrass in hausa

English Name: Lemongrass

Scientific Name: Cymbopogon

Hausa Name: Lemongrass/ Ciyawar lemo

kaikai koma kan mashekiya in english

English Name: common Nettle, stinging nettle, nettle

Scientific Name: Urtica dioica

Hausa Name: Kai kai koma kan mashekiya

cinnamon in hausa

English Name: Cinnamon

Scientific Name: Cinnamomum verum

Hausa Name: Kirfa

mint in hausa

English name: Mint.

Scientific name: Mentha.

Hausa name: Na’a Na’a

fenugreek in hausa

English Name: Fenugreek

Scientific name: Trigonella foenum-graecum

Hausa Name: Hulba

Conclusion

Ok. Finally we are done. I hope it wasn’t too long for you. These are the local spices that we need to be more aware about and challenge ourselves to explore them and incorporate them into our foods.

By doing so, we will give our food a fresh taste from the typical curry and thyme spices. Let us not forget, all of these spice have medicinal values that will improve our health in numerous ways.

If I missed a spice you would like to know about, please let me know in the comment section below and I will be sure to reply. Subscribe to this blog if you would like to be alerted when articles such as these are published.

Have a nice day and see you next time!

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Hirtley

I absolutely believe that good food, good habits & lifestyle, and natural healing are the key to being healthy both mentally and physically.

This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Oyin

    The hausa name for coriander??
    Please I would be waiting for your answer ?

    1. Hirtley
      Hirtley

      Hello Mr. Oyin
      As I said earlier, coriander is not a local herb so it does not have a local hausa name. If you are looking for coriander or star anise, just ask the spice sellers for coriander, star anise. They also call it by its english name

      Best of luck

  2. Avatar
    Oyin

    Please I need the hausa name for star anise ❤️

  3. Avatar
    Oyin

    Please I need the hausa name for star anise???

  4. Avatar
    Sayyidah

    Please I need hausa name for cumin seeds
    Thanks for the ones listed above

    1. Hattyo
      Hattyo

      Hello. Unfortunately Cumin doesn’t have a Hausa because it is not a local Hausa spice. It is a foreign spice. Just like Tuwo doesn’t have an English name or Yoruba name. Its just tuwo to them because it is not a local dish. I hope you undertand.

  5. Avatar
    ALAKE

    Actually I found it interesting knowing those names in Hausa Language.
    However, I really need the Hausa name for CARDAMOM.
    Thanks

    1. Hattyo
      Hattyo

      Hello Mr. Alake.
      Cardamom doesn’t have a local name because it is not a local spice the same way, there is no English name for Eba. Usually for an item to have a name in another language, it has to be used by society and cardamon only became known in Nigeria in the last 7-10 years or so hence, we just use the English name for it cardamom.

      Thank you for stopping over

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