OBJECTIVES: Spices are increasingly finding other useful roles in healthcare aside their primary use as organoleptic enhancers in culinary. Several herbs and spices are currently being investigated for their potential health benefits, hence the explosion in scientific literature in the fields of nutraceuticals and functional foods. The rise in interest on medicinal properties of herbs and spices is consequent on the failing efficacy and toxicity associated with conventional drugs and their inaccessibility to poor rural dwellers. This work reviews three piquant spices; Piper guineense, Afromomum melegueta, and Tetrapleura tetrapetra common in the culinary of the Southern part of Nigeria, and it aims at concisely highlighting the researches that have been done on the nutritional quality, phytochemistry, and medicinal properties of these spices.