Grains of Paradise

These seeds are from the Aframomum melegueta plant, and it is an herbaceous perennial plant found in West Africa and is part of the ginger plant family. Grains of Paradise is commonly referred to as alligator pepper, melegueta pepper, guinea grains and guinea pepper. The pepper provides a warm, spicy bite with slightly bitter overtones. Today the spice is used for flavoring certain types of drinks, most notably some aquavit, beers and gin, and can also be sued to flavor vinegar.