Tunisian Spices: Harissa, Tabil, Caraway

In 2022, a Tunisian chile paste joined UNESCO’s intangible heritage list.¹ That paste is harissa: sun-dried peppers pounded with salt, garlic and coriander. Tunisian cooking runs on chile, and most of that chile shows up as harissa. Around it you’ll find a few seed spices (coriander, caraway and cumin), the blend tabil, and in some dishes the more elaborate ras el hanout plus two old pepper-like spices, cubeb and grains of paradise.

At a glance

Seasoning	What it is	What it brings	Typical use
Harissa	Sun-dried chiles crushed with salt, garlic and coriander	Heat, garlic	Kept as a household staple; merguez, shakshuka
Tabil	Coriander, caraway, garlic and dried chile	Warm, citrusy, mildly hot	Stews; sprinkled on grilled meat
Caraway	Dried seed	Sharp, anise-like	Harissa recipes
Coriander seed	Dried seed	Citrusy, warm	Harissa, tabil
Cumin	Dried seed	Earthy	Savory dishes
Ras el hanout	Multi-spice blend	Varies by maker	Varies
Cubeb, grains of paradise	Peppery seeds and berries	Pungent, bitter or citrusy	Blends

Harissa

UNESCO’s inscription, made in Tunisia’s name in 2022, describes harissa as chilies dried in the sun and then crushed with salt, garlic and coriander, with a pestle and mortar or a hand meat mincer, and kept in glass or pottery jars. It calls the paste an integral part of household provisions, usually made by women in a festive family setting.¹

Recipes vary. Katzer notes that several Tunisian harissa recipes call for caraway,² and commercial dry blends go further:

Source	Ingredients
UNESCO (traditional paste)¹	Sun-dried chile, salt, garlic, coriander
Katzer (Tunisian recipes)²	Several call for caraway
The Spice House (dry blend, US)³	Tomato powder, chiles, salt, garlic, cumin, paprika, pepper, coriander, caraway, fennel, lemon juice powder

The Spice House suggests 3 tablespoons of its blend per pound of ground meat for merguez, and lists shakshuka among its uses.³ See harissa powder, harissa paste vs. powder and harissa substitutes.

Tabil

Tabil is a Tunisian blend. Dave DeWitt writes that the word means coriander but usually refers to a mix, which Tunisians use in stews and sprinkle over grilled meats. His recipe uses coriander seed, caraway seed, garlic and a dried crushed chile.⁴ Think of it as harissa’s dry cousin: the same seeds and garlic, with less chile.

Caraway

Caraway has some importance in North African cooking, mostly in Tunisia. See caraway seeds, cooking with caraway seeds and caraway vs. cumin.

Coriander seed

Coriander fruits are a common spice across Europe, Northern Africa and West, Central and South Asia. In Tunisia it’s one of the three seasonings in UNESCO’s description of harissa and the namesake of tabil. See coriander, cooking with coriander and coriander vs. cumin.

Cumin

Cumin is especially popular in North African cooking, as well as in Asian and Latin American cuisines. It isn’t part of UNESCO’s description of traditional harissa, though some commercial harissa blends include it. See cumin and cumin uses.

Ras el hanout

The Oxford Companion to Food says ras el hanout, a name meaning something like “top of the shop,” turns up in different forms in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Its standard ingredients, per the Companion, are cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, cardamom and nutmeg, with many more in fancier versions.⁵ It’s better known as a Moroccan blend. See ras el hanout and Moroccan spices.

Cubeb and grains of paradise

Katzer writes that cubeb pepper is now used mostly in North Africa, especially Tunisia and Morocco,⁶ and that the Tunisian blend gâlat dagga contains grains of paradise.⁷ See cubeb pepper and grains of paradise.

Mint

Katzer calls an infusion of green mint the “national beverage” of Morocco and Tunisia.⁸ See Moroccan mint and spearmint.

Also in the pantry

Flat-leaf parsley and olive oil show up in most savory Tunisian dishes. See parsley.

Harissa, knowledge, skills and culinary and social practices, UNESCO Representative List, 2022. ich.unesco.org · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³
Gernot Katzer, Caraway (Carum carvi), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Harissa Seasoning product page, The Spice House. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²
Dave DeWitt, “Tabil”, Fiery Foods Central, 2015. fieryfoodscentral.com · Publication ↩
Alan Davidson, “Ras-el-hanout”, The Oxford Companion to Food, 2014. app.ckbk.com · Reference work ↩
Gernot Katzer, Cubeb Pepper (Piper cubeba), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩
Gernot Katzer, Grains of Paradise (Aframomum melegueta), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩
Gernot Katzer, Mint (Mentha), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

Also drawn on

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages, Gernot Katzer. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com
Cumin, Encyclopaedia Britannica (revised by Sohini Dasgupta, updated 14 Aug 2026). britannica.com

Tunisian Spices: Harissa, Tabil, Caraway, Coriander and Ras el Hanout