[MR] Mystery spice

[C. Brian Towey]

There I was at Pennsic, and.

 

Along came a wandering merchant with a broad basket full of all kinds of
spices.  He had one spice I didn't recognize, and said it was used in North
African and sometimes French cooking.  I bought a small bag of lumpy brown
seed pods, each about the size of a whole nutmeg.  They don't weigh much, so
I suppose they are mostly hollow.

 

There's just one problem.  He told me the name of this spice, but by the
time I got home, I'd forgotten it.  Without a name, I can't guess what to
cook with it.

 

I feel a bit as though I had traded a cow for some magic beans. 

 

Can any of you guess what spice this might be?

 

Sheepishly,

 

Charles Fleming