pungent seeds of Aframomum melegueta, a reedlike plant of the family Zingiberaceae. Grains of paradise have long been used as a spice (spice and herb) and traditionally as a medicine. The wine known as hippocras was flavoured with them and with ginger and cinnamon. The plant is native to tropical western Africa and to São Tomé and Príncipe islands in the Gulf of Guinea; it is cultivated in other tropical countries. Grains of paradise are exported from Ghana.

The seeds are contained in the acid pulp of the fruit and have a glossy, dark brown husk, with a conical, light-coloured membranous caruncle at the base and a white kernel-like structure called an aril. They contain a neutral essential oil and a viscid, brown resin.