Bible lands were full of strong herbs and spices. What wasn't grown locally was brought in by merchants from India and Africa. The seasonings helped give a bit of punch to a rather mundane menu.

Caraway, dill, mustard, mint, parsley, thyme and sage were a few of the plants that were used for seasoning food.

Isaiah mentions cumin (Is.28:27), and the bay tree appears in the Psalms, where it is called a "native green tree" (Ps.37:35)

Cinnamon is mentioned by Solomon (Prov.7:17)

The children of Israel compared the flavour of manna to coriander (Num.11:7)

The Pharisees were such sticklers for obeying the Law that they even tithed 10% of the spices that were used to season their food, right down to the grains of salt. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus says that they measured out a tithe on their mint, anise and cumin.