Favorite and unfavorite spices

[sonia]

I love the condiments topic and I've been meaning to start this conversation all month. Here it is almost the end of January, so you get two posts at once.

What are your favorite and least favorite spices? Do you know why you dis/like them?

Comments

[sonia]

One of my favorites is cinnamon, not the hot kind, but a sweeter kind that I believe is Vietnamese cinnamon, although the different varieties all seem to get labeled "cinnamon." I'll even put it on savory dishes for a Moroccan feel.

A spice I keep trying to use even though I don't really like it is cumin. It seems like I should like it! Now that I'm writing this, I wonder if there are different varieties of that too and I should try a different brand.

[mific]

I read somewhere about the cassia cinnamon that's commonly sold being potentially toxic, esp. if you have too much. So I got Ceylon cinnamon from Trade Aid and it has a slightly sweeter, milder flavour.

[sonia]

Thanks for the info! I poked around a bit and found this post that confirms that the kind I like is Ceylon cinnamon, as sold by Simply Organic.

[mific]

Chilli is probably my fave, and aniseed my least favourite. But in spices, aniseed flavours aren't so bad, I just hate it in sweets. A little star anise is fine in a Chinese stir fry.

[nerakrose]

my least favourite is caraway seed. it's relatively common in the nordic countries as a spice added to cheese and to baked goods (breads and rolls). I have never had it in cheese as I avoid cheese with it in, but in breads and rolls I hate the weird aftertaste it leaves in my mouth of something stale or attic-like. the actual flavour of it is kind of avoidable while eating, it's after you've finished that it hits you (imo). there's a brand of gluten free (frozen) bread I now can't remember the name of that's available in Denmark (it may be a Swedish brand?) they do an oat loaf (best) and two or three other varieties, and one of those is a seeded loaf that has caraway seeds in it. I absolutely HATE it and to my pain it was the ONLY variety of that gf bread available where my mum lived so that was always the only gf bread she had on hand (in the freezer) for me and I just had to suffer through it, lol.

anyway!! my favourite spice! I don't know!!! there are so many Good Spices!!! what I always make sure to keep on hand in my cupboard is ground coriander, ground cumin, paprika (regular), ground chili, and ground ginger. various combinations of these go into most of what I cook, as most of the time when I cook (and don't just make a sandwich or a cheese toast for dinner) it's some kind of asian curry or similar dish.

for sweet baking I suppose my favourite spice is cardamom. it's so difficult to find ground cardamom here in the UK (the spices shelves will usually have cardamom pods, but not ground cardamom) that I wound up having to buy a huge sachet of it off Amazon. ground cardamom goes into cardamom twists (think cinnamon rolls, but without the cinnamon), sweet rolls crusted with sugar, pie crusts (to be filled with a kvarg mixture and berries), and so on. again commonly used in the nordic countries this way...

Cardamom is on my top 5 list

[jesse_the_k]

...I love love love it. It makes anything sweet better. When the recipe says "1/2 tsp" I always double it.

[sonia]

I'm guessing it's not a low-effort recipe to match this month's theme, but I'd be interested if you want to post your recipe for cardamom twists.

[nerakrose]

My recipe is not gluten-free :(

If you have a recipe for a gf brioche-like yeasted dough that already works for you, use this, and add 1tsp ground cardamom to the dough. For the filling mix equal amounts of brown sugar and soft butter (like you would for cinnamon rolls, just don’t put cinnamon in). After baking immediately glaze with sugar syrup and sprinkle with sugar that’s been mixed with ground cardamom.

In the bottom of this recipe link is a video that shows how to twist them to the right shape, I use this one every time as I can never remember how to do it: https://www.arla.dk/opskrifter/kardemommesnurrer/

[sonia]

Thank you! I'll have to look around for a brioche recipe. The cardamom twists sound yummy!

[panisdead]

My hands-down favorite is thyme, and I have no idea why! I also really like ground coriander in savory dishes.

No to anise/Chinese five spice/and all anise variations.

I like the taste of cumin and cook with it often, but when grinding it and during the cooking process I do think it smells reminiscent of body odor, which could be…off putting.

Yes!

[jesse_the_k]

I avoided cumin for too long because of its stinky preview odor. But when it's cooked in, none of that quality remains.

There's another spice in the South Asian vocabulary with a scary smell before it's cooked: Asafoetida, also known as "hing." I'm not yet confident enough to include it my recipe development.

Re: Yes!

[sonia]

I was using hing regularly for a while, and then got tired of it and haven't used it at all. I suppose I'll go back to it eventually. I sprinkled it in at the beginning of starting to make stirfry to make sure it got thoroughly cooked.

[sonia]

Mmmm, coriander! I like thyme too and used to grow it, but it was always so fussy to strip the tiny fresh leaves off the stems.

Interesting point about the difference between smelling cumin on its own and in the food. Maybe I should start with smaller amounts.

[hilarita]

Paprika, hands down is my favourite spice. Otherwise I have some that I'm not necessarily that fond of, but there's a group that's large enough and similar enough that I can't pick out a least favourite.

[sonia]

I think there are different kinds of paprika too. I miss it - it's a nightshade, so it's off my list.

What a fun prompt!

[jesse_the_k]

My absolute number one is ginger: I use it in savory and sweet contexts. I double whatever the recipe calls for. (I'm sorry that my body rebels at its cousin, turmeric. I need a low-key way to try another cousin, galangal.)

Thanks to a suggestion here, I'm falling in love with ground allspice--it's good in gingerbread bars and ketchup and pulled pork.

Smoked paprika adds a subtle dreamy quality to any savory dish.

Dried herbs can be a big disappointment: fresh rosemary is great, and all the loveliness escapes with the moisture. Dried parley is meaningless. Dried dill at least tastes of something, but it's nowhere near as vibrant as the fresh version. I'm so glad for the hydroponic herb growers that supply fresh herbs year round.

Black pepper does nothing for me.

Re: What a fun prompt!

[panisdead]

I’ve used and eaten galangal in tom kha, but truthfully couldn’t identify it. I don’t know if it’s subtle or if I just don’t know what I’m looking for to identify.