Glossary
Terroir
The combined environmental factors — soil, altitude, climate, sun exposure, water — that shape a plant's flavour profile. Borrowed from French wine vocabulary.
A French word that escaped winemaking. Mediterranean rosemary tastes of salt and resin because it grows on chalk soil within range of sea spray; Kashmiri saffron carries floral notes the Iranian variety lacks because of altitude difference. Same plant, different terroir, different ingredient.
Used in herbs and spices, terroir explains why provenance matters more for some plants than others. Aromatic Lamiaceae (rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage) are heavily terroir-dependent. Mass-cultivated spices in standardized greenhouses lose most of the variation that distinguished individual plots a century ago.