People & places
The Spice Merchants of the Souk
In the souks of Marrakech and Fes, the spice merchant — the attar — presides over a stall that is part grocery, part pharmacy and part treasure chest. Pyramids of coloured powders, sacks of whole seeds and pods, dried flowers, roots and resins surround him, and behind them lies something less visible: knowledge. The attar knows what each spice does, how to blend them, and how to assemble the great mixtures like ras el hanout that give Moroccan cooking its aromatic depth. He is a keeper of the cuisine's most closely held secrets.
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- 7 min
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- People & places
- Updated
- 20 July 2026
At a glance
- The attar (spice merchant) is grocer, apothecary and master blender in one.
- The signature skill is assembling complex blends like ras el hanout, often to a secret formula.
- The great spice souks of Marrakech and Fes are institutions at the heart of the cuisine.
Grocer, apothecary and blender
The Moroccan spice merchant has never dealt only in culinary spices. Traditionally the attar was also a herbalist and apothecary, selling not just cumin and cinnamon but medicinal herbs, dried flowers, natural cosmetics, kohl, henna, and remedies for every complaint. Food, medicine and cosmetics overlapped in his stall, reflecting an older understanding in which spices were valued for their healing and preserving properties as much as their flavour.
This breadth of knowledge made the attar a figure of some standing. Customers came to him not only to buy but to ask advice — which spice for a cold, which blend for a wedding tagine, how much saffron a dish truly needed. The relationship between a household and its spice merchant could last for years, built on trust in his knowledge and the quality of his wares.
The secret of the blend
The supreme skill of the attar is blending, and the supreme blend is ras el hanout — 'the head of the shop', the merchant's own finest mixture. A good ras el hanout may contain twenty, thirty or more spices, balanced by feel and long experience, and its exact composition is often a closely guarded secret, a matter of the merchant's reputation. Two attarine in the same souk will make quite different blends, and knowledgeable cooks have their preferred merchant.
Beyond ras el hanout, the spice merchant mixes blends for specific purposes — for grilled meats, for fish, for particular tagines, for coffee spicing. This bespoke blending, done to order and adjusted to the customer, is a craft passed down and defended, and it is one reason Moroccan spice mixtures resist standardisation.
- Ras el hanout: the merchant's signature blend, often dozens of spices to a secret formula.
- Bespoke mixes: blends made to order for meats, fish and particular dishes.
- Reputation: a merchant's standing rests on the quality and balance of his blends.
The great spice souks
The spice trade has its landmark places. In Marrakech, the Rahba Kedima square — once a caravan and, in a darker chapter, a slave market — is now lined with spice and apothecary stalls, its mounds of colour a fixture of the medina. In Fes, the Attarine quarter takes its very name from the spice merchants, and its historic streets near the great mosque have been the heart of the trade for centuries. These are not merely markets but institutions, where the aromatic identity of the cuisine is stocked, blended and sold.
For the blends the merchants create, see the history of ras el hanout and Moroccan spice blends; for the trade that supplies them, see spice trade routes and Morocco.
Frequently asked questions
What is an attar?
An attar is a Moroccan spice merchant, traditionally also a herbalist and apothecary. Beyond culinary spices, the attar historically sold medicinal herbs, dried flowers, natural cosmetics, henna and remedies, and served as a source of advice on their use.
Why is ras el hanout often secret?
Ras el hanout is a spice merchant's signature blend, and its exact composition — which may include twenty, thirty or more spices — is often a closely guarded secret tied to the merchant's reputation. Two merchants in the same souk will produce distinctly different blends.
Where are the famous spice souks in Morocco?
In Marrakech, the Rahba Kedima square is lined with spice and apothecary stalls. In Fes, the Attarine quarter — named for its spice merchants — near the great mosque has been the centre of the trade for centuries. Both are landmark institutions of the cuisine.
Do spice merchants sell more than food spices?
Traditionally, yes. The attar was also an apothecary and herbalist, selling medicinal herbs, dried flowers, natural cosmetics, kohl and henna alongside culinary spices — reflecting an older understanding in which food, medicine and cosmetics overlapped.