What is your favorite spice?

Salt.

@talljasperman You would love this place then, they had all kinds of exotic salts like Himalayan pink salt, Hawaiian black lava salt, and French fleu de del sea salt (or grey salt).

Madagascar vanilla!

The dill I have growing in pots in my living room…a few freshly snipped fronds go on almost everthing. Scrambled eggs, all salads (including egg, tuna and potato) most soups and even cottage cheese on whole wheat toast.

Tied for second are fresh basil and tarragon.

Garlic. If it’s not sweet and you eat it at my house, there’s garlic in it somewhere. Fresh, dry or powered. I throw chopped dried garlic in almost any water I boil.

This is # 2, and is had made near my home.

Yes, they both rank above salt.

@ibstubro I’ve never heard of that blend. Do you know what’s in it?

No, @Kardamom, it’s local. Regional. It’s my perfect all-around seasoning. You actually don’t need salt with it.

One time I found it clearanced in a gallon bottle for $5!! I keep it in the freezer and pass out samples regularly. When I like a product, the maker should send me more than I can use for free. I’m a promotional fool!

Note that says “PROMOTIONAL” not “Professional”!

Victoria Beckh…okay, I won’t go there then.

I always assumed that you checked the IDs of young mothers to be sure they were old enough to legally drink.

A second for garlic!

I love spices. My favorites are clove, nutmeg, anise, allspice, and cinnamon.

@gailcalled But none of the things you mentioned were spices…..

Cloves, or chinese 5 spice. Sometimes both of these flavors show up in red zinfandel. If you have zin alongside pork with 5 spice, it creates this sort of ping-pong effect with the flavors where you keep wanting to alternate bites and sips. It’s awesome!

@uberbatman: You’re right. I guess that officially green things with roots are herbs.

Cinnamon and turmeric w. freshly ground pepper.

Cumin is pretty high up there for me. Also, oregano.

Janbb. Like me, you cofuse the herbs and spices. Oregano is also a green thing with roots.

Oh – I’m thinking of dried oregano as a spice. But you are correct.

And “hope is the thing with feathers.” Does that make it a spice or an herb?

I can’t pick just one – rosemary and dill are two of my favorites. Of course, I also have to have sea salt (although I love all the variations that @Kardamom mentioned)

^^Another guilty party. Rosemary is also green with roots.

Salt is neither an herb or a spice but a mineral used for seasoning, if anyone cares.

Garlic, like its cousins – onions, leeks, scallions, chives and ramps – is a vegetable, if we still care.

this thread is giving me giggles.

Damn, @gailcalled you’re ruining my fun, lol.

You didn’t really expect I could pick one did you?

At least when it comes to spices, @uberbatman and I share the exact same taste: clove, nutmeg, anise, allspice, and cinnamon.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room I think they refer to those particular spices as the holiday spices, ‘cause they’re in pumpkin pie and mulled cider and such. I can smell them from here.

@gailcalled easy way to remember, spices are seeds, fruits, roots, and bark whereas herbs are the leaves/stems of the plant.

@Kardamom Yup, pumpkin stuff isn’t good cause it taste like pumpkin, it’s good because it taste like all those spices :P

They need to be tailored to the food. It’s a moving scorecard.

One thing I picked up in another store, before I even heard of this place was smoked paprika. Regular paprika barely has a flavor at all and is often used just for color and decoration, like when it’s sprinkled on top of deviled eggs or cottage cheese. Smoked paprika, on the other hand, has a wonderful sweet/smoky flavor without being hot. It is now in my repertoire of spices.

@uberbatman for the sake of this conversation, I think we can allow herbs and spices and salts to be put into the same category. The store calls itself an Spice Shop, but they had all of those things. I guess I was thinking of mostly the dried stuff in powdered or minced form, because that’s what they had in the store, and what I keep in my spice rack. Actually it’s not a rack, it’s an entire cabinet! I can imagine having entire spice closet. Wouldn’t that be something?

@Kardamom Your link for the spice store has categories for spices and a separate one for herbs :P

When I was in culinary school we learned that spices were something that brings out the natural flavors in food. By this definition the only spices are salt and sugar. I don’t like that definition :P

@Kardamom: With the new criteria, I would have to say hot fudge sauce. You put it on or over something to enhance the flavor.

Ginger

I kinda like these spices too.

Quit it, I’m getting hungry. And my homemade applesauce might not survive tonight.

I really enjoy marjoram and kardamom. They are my favorites.

A second for hot fudge as well.

Check out this recipe for something else that’s Chocolately. It’s loaded with spices or herbs or flavoring agents if you will.

Cinnamon. Especially now that I have successfully made mole!

@tedibear If you can believe it, I’ve never actually made mole. Not yet, at least. It sounds a bit daunting, and I would like to get both a spice grinder and a mortar and pestle first, to do it right. It’s so ridiculously good and doesn’t taste like anything else.

You guys are out of control. Garlic is a spice now??

Going by use, I would say cinnamon. But I love grating fresh nutmeg over things. I think I love it even more because fresh nutmeg tastes nothing like the powdered stuff.

@Kardamom I thought it should have been written “kardamomon” but I finally got round to googling your name and realised it is indeed the English word for κάρδαμο/καρδάμωμον. I didn’t know the word had evolved further than the latinization of it

My favourite spices are oregano, saffron and cinammon.

PS. This is a very difficult question for someone who is used to the Greek cuisine!

@glacial So I don’t know what it is, but I’m really allergic to nuts, I’ve had powdered nutmeg my whole life, absolutely love it, but the two times I’ve had freshly grated nutmeg I had a horrible reaction. Weirdest thing.

@kounoupi Oh, baby, make me some traditional (unflamed) saganaki with a spanakopita chaser!!

I think the question could correctly be interpreted as, “What is your favorite seasoning?” and be in @Kardamom‘s spectrum?

(I mean, it’s about taste and flavor, not definition? _No?)

@uberbatman More nutmeg for me!

Ahhh fresh oregano.

We go to the Savory Spice Shop in Princeton fairly often. They let you taste the different spices, and have a nice variety.

I don’t think I could choose a favorite, though.

If we are including salt and herbs, then salt is my number one. Behind that is dill, basil, cinnamon and nutmeg.

@janbb Cumin! A pinch of cumin is the secret ingredient in so many of the best dishes, but most especially guacamole. It’s not complete without a tiny little bit of cumin.

Garlic, dill, and cinnamon.

Does Sriracha count?

@Haleth I will try cumin next time I make guacamole. People swear by using cilantro, but I just don’t taste the difference.

@filmfann If you can’t taste the difference they aren’t using enough cilantro :P

Ew… cilantro.

It had the magical ability to make anything taste… like cilantro.

Yuck

Zatar. Because there is a Star Trek episode with almost the same spelling.

@filmfann for successful guacamole, you should use both cilantro and cumin.

recipe:

-avocados
-shitloads of lime juice
-chopped red onion
-chopped cilantro
-finely diced hot pepper of your choice (jalapeno, thai peppers, habanero)
-salt and pepper
-dash cumin

A very attractive saleswoman came knocking on my door with a selection of spices.
My instinctive reaction was to say, ”nice rack!”
She slapped me across the cheek leaving a rosy hue, I really have no idea why she reacted in that manner, none at all.

Were you wearing pants ?

@Haleth No tomato or garlic?

^ garlic

Can’t recall, mainly because I think I just made the whole thing up.

Well, next time you make something up, please put on some goddamn pants…

There are so many. Oregano, Paprika, Cumin, Cayenne, these four I use the most.

paprika, cinnamon, garlic, nutmeg, rosemary

@filmfann I forgot garlic! Garlic is totally essential. Tomato, too.

Why?

Because my daughter is a Jehovah’s Witness and happens to be visiting the UK right now…

I suspect that to be a lie of sorts, besides, your daughter must be 70yrs old by now, you really should have gone with her.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t.

Pants, my friend…...fuckin’ PANTS !!

Is what your daughter does when she climbs the stairs, must get out of breath easily…bless.

Bless this….

@Rarebear I did get some za’atar! I first tasted it at a Lebanese restaurant. They mix copious quantities of it with lebneh (thick, strained yogurt with garlic) and spread it on a bread that is a cross between Indian naan and pita bread. It’s so good! The main spice that is in it is sumac (not the poison variety).

Here is a recipe for lebneh that’s been sprinkled with za’atar.

@Kardamom: I have wild sumac trees everywhere. Who would have thought to dry and grind the berries? They are certainly a beautiful color.

Re; herbs vs. spices. Check out Chinese parsley. The leaves are cilantro (herb) and the seeds it sets coriander (spice). Pictures I grow it on my deck in summer.

Ditto for the dill plant. The skinny frond-like leaves are the herbs and the seeds it sets are the spices. Pictures. I also grow it on my deck in summer and overwinter it in my living room. I can pinch off a few leaves for scrambled eggs or corn chowder as needed.

I give the seeds to friends as mini-gifts. You toss them in your garden (or in a pot) like sprinkling salt, and soon you have plants.

@gailcalled I really must grow fresh herbs next year. I’ve been spending too much time away during the summers lately to make it worthwhile, but you are making me miss it. :)

@glacial:Where do you live? Most herbs take care of themselves if they get enough water. My dill and cilantro reseed themselves now and pop up all over the place. They both set seed from mid-summer onwards and I go out and harvest them into paper envelops for distribution while I sip my morning Earl Grey. One of life’s most pleasant activities.

I have acres of lemon balm in areas where I am trying to stamp out the poison ivy. All started from one small container of seeds from the supermarket a few years ago.

I’m not far north of you, but I’ve been gone a couple of months at a time, and I trust the local fauna to eat everything down to the stems if I leave them out. Anyway, I haven’t thought it worth the effort until now, but I’ll definitely do it next summer.

What do you do for aphids?

@glacial You can grow a lot of herbs in containers and overwinter them inside. We’ve got some that are 4 or 5 years old. Most animals won’t mess with herbs either. The best way to get rid of aphids is a hard blast of water from a hose. It might take a time or two but blasting them off works better than any pesticide.

@Adirondackwannabe I suspect it would be too cold for them indoors here. Hmm… I’ll keep your hose idea in mind, though. You don’t lose any little plants with the aphids? ;)

@glacial You naughty, naughty girl! Keeping Addy’s hose in mind : P

@glacial We keep the house in the 60’s F during the winter and they don’t mind at all. They go a little dormant, so don’t over water or fertilize. Just let them have a little rest, but you can pick all of them you want.
@Kardamom You leave my hose out of this. I thought I was the one that had my mind in the gutter all the time.

@glacial: I do remember now where you live. I keep the animals at bay by growing the herbs in pots on my deck. Most deer and rabbits don’t like to climb the five steps (plus Milo is there looking deceptively red in tooth and claw). I bring in only two pots over the winter. Occasionally I have had issues with white flies or scale. Not this winter. I did, as @addie suggests, bring in only pristine plants (the herbs, some geraniums and nasturtiums.)

@Adirondackwannabe Yeah, I don’t heat at all in the winter, so it gets pretty cold in here. I’m content to wait for the warmer months.

@gailcalled I was thinking of the more acrobatic fauna – squirrels and mice. Perhaps they wouldn’t be interested, but I figure my neighbour must chase after them swearing on a daily basis for a good reason.

I plant a lot of garlic on the perimeter of my beds. It keeps a lot of animals at bay. I have tons of deer, rabbits, woodchucks, you name it. They don’t bother anything behind the garlic.

@Adirondackwannabe It probably keeps the vampires away too.

I just read something online about black garlic, anybody know anything about that? And I think @gailcalled mentioned ramps. 2 things I’ve never tried. Discussion?

(Thanksgiving in Southern Illinois I picked a plant out of a farm field. Ginormous root vegetable growing (oxymoron) above ground. As big as the calf of my leg. WHAT IS IT? Any ideas? Rutabaga?)

@ibstubro Call any vegetable, call it by name.

We’ve had black garlic on Asian dishes – the ramen place we go to has an off-menu soup with this in top… Mmmmmmmm…

Ramps are similar to spring onions – I’m not sure what the difference is.

@janbb I am so impressed by you right now. :)

Cinnamon, Turmeric, cardamom. I love Spiced Tea.

@Smitha Mmm me too. I’m drinking a cup of apple masala chai right now, so nice on these days that are starting to feel cold.

All right, @Haleth. I came home with some cumin today. :)

I’m the only ginger lover?

@jonsblond My husband loves ginger. When he eats sushi it is covered in the pickled ginger, and he loves other ginger laden dishes.

I am currently obsessed with a particular ginger dressing; I guess you could call it a food jag. I want to drink it when it is left at the bottom of the bowl after I eat my salad. However, I typically am not a huge ginger person.

@jonsblond I’m with you on the ginger.

@JLeslie Is the pickled ginger that comes with sushi actually related to the ginger we know as a root or a spice? For some reason, I thought they were two different things entirely.

@glacial It is ginger. Ginger that has been pickled. It is exactly what it is called.

How to make pickled ginger

Peeled ginger root, sea salt, rice vinegar, white sugar…the simple version. The hardest part is peeling the ginger.