It's one spice of many, dear (5)
I believe the answer is:
clove
'it's one spice' is the definition.
(clove is a kind of spice)
'many dear' is the wordplay.
'many' becomes 'c' (C is the Roman numeral for 100).
'dear' becomes 'love' (synonyms).
'c'+'love'='CLOVE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for clove that I've seen before include "Dried flower bud spice" , "Spice, used whole or ground" , "Flower bud used as a spice" , "A small bulb as of garlic" , "caused separation" .)