The English baking blend built on allspice, and the reason British festive baking tastes as it does
Origin: England
From the journey of Allspice.
Every country with a Christmas has a spice blend, and this is England's. Mixed spice, sometimes called pudding spice, is what goes into the Christmas pudding, the mincemeat, the hot cross bun, the Eccles cake, the simnel cake, and the parkin. It is not the same as the American pumpkin pie spice, which leans on ginger, nor the German Lebkuchengewürz, which leans on clove and cardamom. The English blend leans on allspice, and that is the whole difference. The reason is historical and unromantic: money. Clove, nutmeg, and mace were expensive imports through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Allspice, once Jamaica was taken from Spain in 1655 and producing at scale inside the British empire, was cheap, and it tastes of all three at once. English baking therefore built its warm-spice character on the affordable berry rather than the dear ones, and it has never gone back. The name misleads twice over. It is not mixed spices in the general sense, and it is not the same as allspice, despite English shops occasionally shelving them side by side and American recipes conflating the two. Allspice is one berry; mixed spice is a blend in which that berry does the heavy work. Grind it fresh and in small quantities. The whole point of a blend is that its components are volatile in different ways, and a jar bought a year ago tastes of dust and cinnamon.
Allspice is the largest single component and that is what makes this English rather than German or American. Do not reduce it. Proportions vary by household and by baker. Some add a little cardamom or a pinch of black pepper; both are defensible. Mixed spice is not the same thing as allspice, despite the names and despite occasional confusion in American recipes. If a British recipe calls for mixed spice, one spice will not do. Use in Christmas pudding, mincemeat, hot cross buns, Eccles cakes, simnel cake, parkin, spiced biscuits, and apple pie. A quarter teaspoon in a plain sponge is transformative. Make small quantities often rather than a large jar once.
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