Both herbs and spices are plants that are used either as flavourings for food, or as food themselves, although generally only herbs tend to be used in the latter case. They can also be used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. A herb, in the culinary meaning of the word, is the leafy green part of a plant that is used in cooking.
Spices, which are also plant parts and are also used as flavourings as well as medicinal and cosmetic uses, may seem fairly similar to a herb. The difference is in the part of the plant that is used. Rather than using the green, leafy portion of the plant, spices come from any other part, such as the root, for ginger, the bark, for cinnamon and the seed, for caraway.
Spices have historically been the most expensive and, even today, some are still expensive, in particular saffron and vanilla. During the Middle Ages, black pepper was literally worth its weight in gold.
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