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.