(no subject)

[coraa]

Silly quiz time (but this time not an LJ poll, because it doesn't lend itself to that):

I need to rebuild my herb and spice collection. I had a fairly good one, but moving a couple times messed that up -- plus, in the last move, the last thing I wanted was an extended determining of 'which spices did you buy and which did I?', so I left most of them; all but the ones I knew she hadn't bought because they still had a label from a little Indian grocery in LA. But it's time to rebuild the collection.

What herbs and spices do you consider to be essentials? What do you make sure you keep on hand -- fresh or dried, whole or ground?

(Right now, I have: whole mace, whole cardamom, whole cloves, wasabi powder [yes, I know it's not the real thing, but the real thing is $50/lb at Uwajimaya, outside my price range if I just want some kick in a stir fry], whole cumin seeds, black peppercorns, dried whole chiles, and fennel seeds; in my window is a miniature herb garden of basil, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary, tarragon, sage, and thyme, although the sage is sadly withering and I can't figure out why.)

Comments

Only listing things you didn't

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

Oregano, or if you like it sweeter, marjoram. Cinnamon. Nutmeg. Whole bay leaves (the only spice I absolutely demand be in the particular form I want). I'm a cilantro lover but YMMV. Whole (I prefer yellow) mustard seeds, for the texture as well as the taste. I love me some toasted ground fenugreek seeds in Indian cooking. I buy them pre-toasted as toasting them yourself is a pain and a half. I like celery seed, but again, YMMV. Coriander's useful but I wouldn't die without it.

[fairmer.livejournal.com]

Beyond what you mentioned:

I can't do without cinnamon, whole nutmeg, whole allspice, star anise, a goooood vanilla, adobo blend, and cayenne pepper. But it sorta depends on what stuff you like to cook. I love cinnamon with meat: Greek stiffado, Moroccan chicken...

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem ("problem" -- usually I'm quite happy about it) is that both the boy and I have widely-ranging tastes, and cook a lot of different things. Which is good for variety, but bad for prioritizing spice purchases!

I love cinnamon with meat, too. Mm.

[donaithnen.livejournal.com]

Cinnamon, nutmeg and curry powder. (I have GIANT bottles of cinnamon and curry powder from Costco =)

Oh, have i mentioned that i don't cook? ;)

[porfinn.livejournal.com]

I am fond of dill, especially fresh.

[bellwethr.livejournal.com]

I could go on, but the major thing missing, IMO, from what's been suggested so far, would be a variety of salts! I keep sea salt, kosher salt, and granulated around.... I also really love truffle salt (pricy, but a little goes a long way) and my guilty pleasure, krazy jane's seasoning salt. Lawry's seasoning salt is also fabulous....

(I also have black salt, sel gris, and flake sea salt, but those are mostly beacuse I'm crazy like that. :)

[bellwethr.livejournal.com]

Oh! And it's lots of fun to grow a little bay tree in a pot. It's slow growing, but beautiful. I'm impressed you can keep french tarragon alive. Mine have always died. Mexican tarragon is also fun to keep fresh in a herb garden---really easy to grow and it's delicious. Less subtle than french tarragon.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

My tarragon (traditionally finicky) is doing peachy, but my sage is dying and my thyme isn't doing so well -- and I'd never had trouble with either of them before. I'm not sure whether I just got weak plants, or if they're not happy with where I put them and how I'm treating them.

The basil, parsley and rosemary are very happy, though.

A bay tree is *very* tempting. I'm also looking to get some lemon verbena and lavender, and some kind of mint.

[paperclippy.livejournal.com]

So, I like my food pretty heavily spiced, and I tend to cook southwestern, italian, and asian style most of the time. That influences my herb and spice choices! Some of my things in the "less frequently" category are things that I use for baking, I just don't bake that often.

I frequently use the following: chili powder, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, italian seasoning blend, basil, thyme, oregano, curry powder (I have Thai red curry powder and an Indian curry powder blend), lemon pepper, ground black pepper, whole black peppercorns that I keep in a grinder, ground ginger, red pepper flakes, paprika,

I less frequently use the following: ground allspice, ground cloves, garam masala, garlic powder, onion powder, whole bay leaves, ground coriander, ground nutmeg, cayenne pepper, caraway seeds, mexican seasoning blend, turmeric

I keep the following on hand but don't use them too often: greek seasoning (I used to use it a lot though), chipotle chili powder, ras el hanout, berbere, vanilla beans, whole yellow mustard seeds, ground mustard seed, marjoram, sage, parsley, saffron threads, 5 spice powder, szechuan seasoning blend, tarragon, rosemary, cajun seasoning, old bay, ground cardamom, poppy seeds, poultry seasoning, herbes de provence, cream of tartar, sesame seeds

Extracts and the like: vanilla extract, almond extract, anise oil.

In my fridge I keep bottled minced garlic and bottled fresh grated ginger.

When I need it, I use fresh mint, cilantro, and chives. In our garden we grow sweet basil, oregano, and thyme, which I use fresh or freeze for winter. We are also growing Thai basil, chives, lovage, borage, and cilantro, but we only really use the basil, oregano, and thyme.

I'm not in front of my spice cabinet right now, and I feel like I left something out, but like I said, I am big on seasoning foods so I have a huge spice collection.

[paperclippy.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I have pomegranate molasses too, plus soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, thai fish sauce, and thai chili and garlic sauce. And worcestershire sauce.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Pomegranate molasses is something I'd really like to try. (And worcestershire sauce is one of my secret weapons for anything that tastes a little flat -- as long as I'm not serving vegetarians.)

[triath.livejournal.com]

I never seem to be able to use up spices very quickly, so if I buy in jars, it loses flavor before I use it all.

I'm a HUGE fan of buying spices in bulk when I need them. Or having a small amount on hand. If you're interested, the Food Co-op (two blocks from my house) has a great selection of bulk spices which you can buy in ziplock baggies.

Also, yay on the herb garden!! The only thing I would add is mint - in it's OWN pot otherwise it will take over the world. If you want a cutting of lemon balm, it's taking over my yard, so there's plenty to be had.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I love buying spices in bulk. And I really love buying whole spices (like, a whole nutmeg instead of ground, whole cloves instead of powdered), because ground spices lose potency so very quickly.

Hee! Yeah, I need some mint in a pot. When I was a kid, I had an herb garden, which the peppermint took over... and then it started to throw these one and two foot long runners/vines, like tentacles, across the sidewalk in a bid to escape the bed and continue to take over the lawn.

[cwendy41.livejournal.com]

For fresh herbs, I've got rosemary, French tarragon, (Italian?) basil and (Greek?) oregano growing. I also have chocolate mint (which I got for novelty but haven't figured out what to do with it). I want to eventually get sage, thyme and lavender. I've been harvesting some of them and drying them. I've also taken some and frozen them. The tarragon smelled really nice after being frozen (tarragon loses flavor when dried).

For stuff that we bought powdered and/or dried, we've got rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, basil, salt, and peppers (pepper corn, ground pepper, some sort of red pepper). We've also got sea salt because it was required for a recipe. Garlic salt (because it was cheap) and lemon salt. We also have random seasonings for meat.

For baking desserts: cream tartar, vanilla extract, allspice, confectioner's sugar. On occasion we have whole vanilla bean. Cocoa powder. Not sure if I have nutmeg, but that seems essential to baking. That's all I can remember for now.

[bellwethr.livejournal.com]

Oh! Lemon verbena! It's the most amazing herb. I love it so much--it can substitute for lemon zest in a pinch, and it adds a fantastic lemony flavor to desserts, meat dishes, whatever!

I've been growing it outside in a pot--I'll have to move it inside in the winter though..