German Spices Although there is a huge assortment of different spices and herbs in stores in Germany and also available in online shops, being offered naturally or chopped and freshly or dehydrated, the traditional spices in the German cookery are just salt and black pepper. Besides that Germans like to flavour their food with different kinds of mustards such as middle-strength or hot versions. Especially in the southern part of Germany they use a mild mustard in the majority of cases together with Bavarian specialties like veal sausage or liver loaf. Another popular spice is horseradish, for example used to refine sauces for boiled beef. Because of its typical smell garlic has never played an important role in the typical and traditional German cookery, but in consequence of the influences by the French and Italian cookery it has established itself meanwhile. Caraway and Juniper Generally speaking the German cookery is not too spicy and typical, traditional dishes are rarely hot. Of course there are many spices and herbs needed to achieve the typical taste of a dish, but the function of spices and herbs in the German cookery is more to emphasize the typical taste of the foods than to change it. Besides salt and black pepper popular spices for German food are white pepper, caraway and juniper, often used herbs are parsley, thyme, bay leaf, lovage, dill and chives. Again according to international influences herbs such as basil, rosemary, oregano or paprika get popular more and more. In contrary to the traditional dishes for lunch and dinner Germans use a lot of different spices in the Christmas bakery for example when it comes to the production of gingerbread. In this case spices such as cinnamon, ginger, anise or cloves are used to create the typical and famous taste with. Topic: German Spices
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German Cooking 
