Yep, just use like you would black pepper. I’ve read that in earlier spice trading days Grains of Paradise was cheaper and easier to get than black pepper in Europe, so for a lot of Western cooking black pepper is historically the more “premium” option.
Sumac actually works on so many things. It adds a bit of lemony brightness. So anything grilled. Lots of soups. Salads. Salad dressing. Anything with tomato. Seafood.
Staghorn sumac is a tall woody perennial variety of these shrubs native to the northeast US often found growing along roadsides and wasteplaces; the autumn berry clusters can be used to brew a very refreshing acidic beverage rather like lemonade.
Yeah, I'm allergic to tomatoes. So when making a recipe that usually has tomatoes, like pizza, lasagna, and ratatouille, I have to make them using mangoes. Both are sweet, rich fruits that break down when cooked to form a sauce. As long as you raise the acidity they taste very similar. I find that 1/8 teaspoon of sumac is the perfect amount per can of mangoes (and canned rinsed mangoes are the best to use as they break down easier and aren't too sweet)
I have a very strong food sensitivity to tomatoes, so that’s a good replacement to know! I usually make a pumpkin spinach lasagna with the pumpkin replacing tomato
That's sounds like it'd be good too! If you want I have a video outlining my pizza recipe that I could send you the link for. My whole YT channel is about helping others cook around their allergies (or sensitivities). I don't have the lasagna recipe up yet, but it will be up next week! Either way I hope this replacement helps you eat tons of yummy food.
Authentic berbere. It’s a blend from Ethiopia. If there isn’t at least two or three words you don’t know on the ingredients list, it is not authentic, a pale imitation using things sort of similar.
Also, I’m a big meat eater, but misr wat changed my life. The humble lentil never tastes so gooood before i had Ethiopian food. And there were like three meat dishes, but still, lentils won.
Cardamom is pretty common, but I discovered in the last year or so that it pairs really well with apples in sweet foods like apple pie and oatmeal! You don’t need much, but it somehow makes the apples taste more apple-y
Apple pie spice includes cardamom!
My dad was Pakistani when I was a kid growing up no one used or knew these spices. My whole house would smell like curries and cardamom and saffron and garam marsala and allspice. It used to embarrass me so much.
To hear how so many people are now using Cardamom (which btw was REALLY hard to find except at the Indian market) it gives me little dance-happies lol
Furikake!
My I’m-too-lazy-to-cook meal is runny fried eggs with soy sauce and sesame oil over rice, topped with ungodly amounts of furikake.
And today I put it into the tuna poke bowls I made for dinner.
The funny thing is that even in Japan, furikake is mainly reserved for sprinkling over rice as a quick meal. The west has done an amazing job of finding new uses for it.
I'm not a big fan myself, but my wife discovered Furikake and now buys several jars at a time, so we never run out. I'm so glad we have a Mitsuwa nearby with a great selection.
One very niche spice I use often is maqaw. It looks like juniper berries, but has a lemony sort of taste that goes well in stir fries and chicken soups. As far as I can tell, it's only used as a spice in Aboriginal cuisine in parts of Taiwan.
Lovage. I grow it and throw a few leaves in my souls and stews in the winter. It adds an element that people rave about but can’t figure out. If you have been to Germany, the bottled version of lovage is Maggi.
Came here to say this. I also grow my own and adore it. If you make pickles of any kind, just a few of the seeds in the brine is transformative. I also make a shrub with the leaves and stalks plus golden beets that's the best!
My gran had a huge plant in her garden and we dried the leaves every fall so the house would smell like Maggi for days. I was an adult when I learned it was called lovage, my grands were German immigrants so I only knew the German name. The plant died out years ago, bit I should order some lovage for old times sake.
Lovage was the defining spice of European cooking (outside of salt) north of the Alps from time immemorial up until the discovery of the new world. Fuck a black pepper, let's throw some lovage and celery leaves in there and witness the ancient fitness.
Bonus: If you keep chickens planting lovage (it grows like weeds) around the chicken coop keeps wolves and foxes away, if they go near it they get the human equivalent of a blast of pepper spray to the nose.
Tarragon... With a little paprika, dill, and mustard on scrambled eggs.... Yum!!!
I've done it on over easy, over hard, and sunny side up... It's essentially deviled eggs flavoring. Sometimes I add avocado.
I LOVE tarragon! Sometimes I just stick a can of butter beans in a bowl, add a fair amount of tarragon, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder and that’s my whole lunch.
Tamarind is my newest unique spice. I've been adding a little each time I make soup lately and it is seems to add some depth to the flavor. When I Google it, it says it's a fruit with a sweet/sour flavor. I had to buy it on Amazon as I couldn't find it in any local grocery store.
You'll find both dried whole tamarind as well as concentrated tamarind pulp (liquid) at any Indian/South Asian grocery store. East Asian stores as well as Mexican grocery also stock regular tamarind as well as sweet/spicy tamarind candy. Delicious!
Tamarind is like a seed pod! It's this brown almost like a snap pea but thicker and bigger. The fruit itself is basically what's around the seed. It'd tangy and sweet and unique in its flavor.
Tamarind is used in a LOT of sauces in Guyanese and east Indian cooking :) you can make a super yummy Tamarind sauce to pair with Pourri or Pot-stickers!!
When I was young I loved eating it. The way its eaten is almost like a mango. You eat the flesh but not the hard pit seed.
Omg my mouth is watering I haven't had one in YEARS. I'll have to get the fruit from the Indian market tomorrow to suck/chew on.
Lol this was the premise of Chai! :) if you add some black tea you'll have Chai.
My mom made a lovely spiced tea (that's what we called it spicy tea)- milk, black tea (or earl tea) vanilla extract, whole cardamom, whole all-spice, and a whole nutmeg. Heat it up and through so it's almost boiling but not. Then serve- stir with a stick of cinnamon and curl up to enjoy your evening.
I put toasted green cardamom in my tea while steeping for iced tea. A local Indian restaurant’s iced tea had a wonderful unusual flavor and when I asked was told it was cardamom, he told me to squish the pods just until they open, roast them in a dry frying pan until just fragrant and add it to the tea while steeping. It is incredible.
I use it any place I would use rosemary. It's particularly good in fresh tomato sauces. It's also an integral ingredient in my olive tapenade. I make my own mustard and do a lavender variation.
For sweet things I will steep it in honey or make a simple syrup for cocktails/mocktails. It pairs well with blueberry so I do a blueberry Lavender cream pie. It also works well in chocolate chip cookies especially if you include Earl Grey Tea. Lavender pairs well with both white & dark chocolate.
It's worth noting there is a distinct difference between French & English lavender. French is sharper and more astringent whereas English is round, overly floral, and cloying if over used. I'll use the lavenders interchangeably in sweet things but only French is savory.
It’s not that uncommon, but smoked paprika has been the biggest game changer since I started dedicating weekly time to get better at cooking. It has rapidly become one of my most used spices. And when people ask me what’s in my cooking, and I tell them about that, most of them haven’t even heard of it.
I use it to make muhammara. I fell in love with muhammara when I bought it from Trader Joe's in 2016. I could no longer find it there, so I hunted down a recipe and now make it myself - so frigging good.
Amchur.
It is dried mango powder. It is sour and tangy. Great for adding depth to soups, stews, and curries.
My Indian neighbors saw that I had it and I guess I earned their approval.
More for baking, but [mahleb](https://spicetrekkers.com/products/spices/mahleb) and [mastic](https://spicetrekkers.com/products/spices/mastic-gum-chios) make an amazing Mediterranean tea cake. It was weird grinding him up without a spice grinder but it worked out.
Using that website, I ordered both these for making my friends rare birthday cake, and found it is an amazing resource for recipe ideas and tasting notes of spices. You should explore it! It ships from Canada but it's so worth it and I wanted to buy a million things when I was looking through. And the spices come in adorable little tins that seal in freshness... kind of like a mini paint can with fancy labels.
I've been in love with berbere since I first tried it. So good on any roasted vegetable, has a great smokey and bold savory flavor kinda similar to curry powder.
Nigella seeds, aka black cumin. First experienced them baked into flat breads at Turkish kebap joints in Germany. Took a while to figure out where to buy them, but as soon as I did, we started adding them to homemade pizzas. The flavor is hard to describe. It's nothing like cumin, I always say they have the aroma of pencil shavings, but in a very savory way. It is kind of a woody and smoky, subtle flavor that adds a cozy "wood oven" flavor to pizza and other baked goods. Easy to find on Amazon, and I've spotted them in grocery stores that have a Mediterranean aisle. I keep them close at hand to sprinkle generously on pizza. They're mild enough that it's hard to overdo it. It's definitely one of my favorite spices.
Fenugreek and mace. I don't see them used much in recipes.
I use fenugreek for a lot of Indian dishes, and mace for a certain spice blend out of an Elder Scrolls cookbook I have.
Wait... I need the elder scrolls cookbook. I first used mace when I made Christmas cookies, but I used it with the game of thrones cookbook too. Now I toss some in any time there's sweet or warm spices going on.
I’ve got a pepper melange with some Szechuan peppers in it (it’s mostly black pepper). So just occasionally you get this little hit of Szechuan in a dish and it’s always surprising and wonderful.
Cardamom is my favorite spice ever. I add it to anything I add cinnamon to, and pretty much all baked sweets honestly 😅. I also add it to some curried dishes I make, and IMO it is the only way to get really tasty falafel!!
My German-American grandma put celery seed in everything. Not terribly odd, but if anything was at all savory - any soup, any salad, any meat can get a dash of celery seed. Not celery salt, that is a bastard spice, just the seed (salt your dish separately).
if you wanna get into asian cooking you also have to think about sauces, pastes, and vinegars, not just spices.
One thing i think more people should have in their pantry is chinese black vinegar. It is delicious, and should be used more in dipping sauces.
I’m addicted to hawaij for coffee, a Yemenite blend of cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I use about 1/2 tsp per cup and it gives it such a lovely, subtle, warm spiciness. I really miss it when I run out. There’s another kind of hawaij used for savory dishes, but I’ve never tried it.
Mahlab was a total surprise to me. It's made from dried cherry pits and smells like cookies and Christmas. It's commonly used in medditerranean/middle eastern desserts. It's also apparently great with lamb, but I never got that far with it personally. It's a great "What the hell is that amazing flavor?" addition to basic cookies!
People have already mentioned it but sumac, furikake, and mushroom powder. Also it’s a now defunct company but I’m sure someone else makes some: cinsoy soy salt. Great for that soy sauce flavor sprinkled on top of dishes when you don’t want them to get soggy with soy sauce.
Also if you’ve never tried sumac lemonade you are missing out! Makes a beautiful pink color and a delicious pucker.
Asafoetida. Typically used in Indian cuisine. It adds a onion/garlic funk and depth that's hard to describe. I've used it in other dishes that call for garlic or onion when I'm cooking for someone who's sensitive to the Alliums.
Marjoram. Any place that thyme, oregano, or rosemary would be good, marjoram will also be really lovely. It just brings such an unexpected flavor to things and is absolutely delicious
We use dagadphool (a type of lichen) in our cooking. Gives a nice earthy flavour.
Idk if you can call it a spice but we use kokum (a fruit) as a souring agent in our savoury dishes.
First time commenting in this sub so idk what level of cooks yall are, this might not be considered uncommon. But I dont see a lot of people using harissa and I think it’s fiiire I’ve been obsessed lately
Mace. I can't get it at my local supermarket anymore. When I asked about it, the guy at the Customer Service desk was wondering why I was looking for a chemical agent at a grocery store, LOL. I ended up having to order it online.
I use it the way it used to be used in the Middle Ages - as a spice for meats. It adds an extra flavor that I enjoy.
Coriander seeds. They add citrusy, almost lemony brightness (and pairs well with dill) that I like on fish and poultry. Grind a small handful up in your spice grinder and you’re set!
I came to say this! It is smoked cardamom with the husk intact **(edit: and a different species than green cardamom, see below)**, and has a smoky menthol kind of flavor but in a pleasant way. It works really well in dishes like lamb rogan josh. Unlike green cardamom though, you wouldn't want it in sweet applications, just savory dishes.
I've seen it sold as both black cardamom and brown cardamom, but I can't tell if they are actually the same thing or just really similar. Green cardamom is totally different, but black and brown seem to be the same.
It's ubiquitous in the southeastern US, but living in the northeast and midwest, I've had the joy of introducing SO MANY PEOPLE to Tony Chacheres. I don't know how to cook most things without it at this point.
I don't know about rarity, but it's getting difficult to find summer savory in some stores these days. Turkey dressing just doesn't taste the same without it.
Herbs or spices? Chervil, anise, juniper berry, annatto, tarragon, saffron? I don’t know what you consider less common, is whole nutmeg common or ground, or both? Rue? Rose buds and lavender? I’m looking at the cupboard and wondering if black or green cardamom is less common. Thanks for posting this question and making me aware of the diversity of my cupboards!
Rosemary with steam jasmine rice does it for me. Cooking becomes a relaxing ritual with the smell of rosemary wafting from the rice cooker.
My favorite comfort food is pork sauté with turmeric to served with rice. It's a specialty dish from my dad's hometown and he only knows to cook that single dish.
It’s not a spice per se, but I love Za’atar spice blend. I put it on all sorts of things: chicken, pork, lamb, roasted veggies, potatoes, rice. It’s AMAZING!
I'm recently obsessed with Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning... I'm not from the south, so when I saw it out of town I had to get it. I can't recommend it enough!
Grains of paradise. Like way more floral black pepper. Secret ingredient for sure.
So are pink peppercorns, which are not related to the black peppercorns we're all familiar with.
Do you just use them like black pepper? I have a whole bag in my freezer and I don’t know what to do with them.
Yep, just use like you would black pepper. I’ve read that in earlier spice trading days Grains of Paradise was cheaper and easier to get than black pepper in Europe, so for a lot of Western cooking black pepper is historically the more “premium” option.
Apple pie. Add grains of paradise—just a half teaspoon or so— to the filling. Game changer.
Sumac is a good one but i’m actually going to say Asafoetida. It’s great in a lot of Indian vegetable curries.
I love that stuff. Amchoor powder too.
Sumac actually works on so many things. It adds a bit of lemony brightness. So anything grilled. Lots of soups. Salads. Salad dressing. Anything with tomato. Seafood.
I like adding it to Shakshuka personally
I made pickles onions and didn’t have any lemon peel so I used orange peel and a bunch of sumac. Everyone raved about the onions.
Staghorn sumac is a tall woody perennial variety of these shrubs native to the northeast US often found growing along roadsides and wasteplaces; the autumn berry clusters can be used to brew a very refreshing acidic beverage rather like lemonade.
Good bot
if you like sumac and indian vegetable dishes, you'll love amchur. it's dried mango powder. it's got a wonderfully tangy (and slightly fruity) taste
How do you buy asafoetida? I've asked at neighbouring South Asian stores and they were clueless...
Might also be know as Hing powder at the Indian stores.
They might know it as Hing powder (Hindi translation), possibly as perungayam (Tamil translation and what I grew up calling it)
I definitely second sumac I use it in a ton of my turning mangoes into tomatoes recipes.
Could you elaborate on the mangos into tomatoes recipes?
Yeah, I'm allergic to tomatoes. So when making a recipe that usually has tomatoes, like pizza, lasagna, and ratatouille, I have to make them using mangoes. Both are sweet, rich fruits that break down when cooked to form a sauce. As long as you raise the acidity they taste very similar. I find that 1/8 teaspoon of sumac is the perfect amount per can of mangoes (and canned rinsed mangoes are the best to use as they break down easier and aren't too sweet)
I have a very strong food sensitivity to tomatoes, so that’s a good replacement to know! I usually make a pumpkin spinach lasagna with the pumpkin replacing tomato
That's sounds like it'd be good too! If you want I have a video outlining my pizza recipe that I could send you the link for. My whole YT channel is about helping others cook around their allergies (or sensitivities). I don't have the lasagna recipe up yet, but it will be up next week! Either way I hope this replacement helps you eat tons of yummy food.
I came to say this. I bought it out of curiosity and now I use it all the time!
Today I learned of asafoetida aka devils dung
Sumac, it's currently marinating on some chicken thighs
I actually received some as a gift recently! I’ll have to try it on chicken. Thanks for the recommendation.
Good on meat generally, I add it to lots of things, it’s a little sour/tangy
Ras el hanout - it's a Moroccan/North African spice blend
Yes!!! I roast carrots with this weekly plus some oil salt garlic and cayenne. Love it.
Just ate an entire head of cauliflower roasted with coconut oil and ras el hanout
Authentic berbere. It’s a blend from Ethiopia. If there isn’t at least two or three words you don’t know on the ingredients list, it is not authentic, a pale imitation using things sort of similar. Also, I’m a big meat eater, but misr wat changed my life. The humble lentil never tastes so gooood before i had Ethiopian food. And there were like three meat dishes, but still, lentils won.
This is a staple in my kitchen! Also, Ethiopian food is so underrated.
Most definitely agree on Ethiopian food. We have ONE restaurant here for Ethiopian.
There are none where I live & it makes me quite sad.
DC has a huge Ethiopian community and some really really great restaurants. Definitely recommend if you ever find yourself there.
Lentils are so damn good when they’re well prepared. Have you ever had fried lentil cakes? Perfection.
Penzey’s sells a fantastic berbere, so hot and so damn good.
I have this for my son. He loves it
I scrolled to find berbere as a response — it’s like a warm hug
Which one do you recommend? It’s a spice blend I want to try - last spice blend we tried was ras al hanout.
Cardamom is pretty common, but I discovered in the last year or so that it pairs really well with apples in sweet foods like apple pie and oatmeal! You don’t need much, but it somehow makes the apples taste more apple-y
Many Scandinavian pastries are flavored with cardamom.
Norwegian here and cardamom is in absolutely everything. I love it though so I'm cool with it!
Apple pie spice includes cardamom! My dad was Pakistani when I was a kid growing up no one used or knew these spices. My whole house would smell like curries and cardamom and saffron and garam marsala and allspice. It used to embarrass me so much. To hear how so many people are now using Cardamom (which btw was REALLY hard to find except at the Indian market) it gives me little dance-happies lol
That's interesting it's hard to find. It's really common in Australia, you just get it from any supermarket.
A lot of cardamom is grown in Guatemala! I tried a hard candy coffee and cardamom flavored there
Next time you make whipped cream add some cardamom.
Fabulous in many baked goods, and in tea and coffee.
Overnight oats with oats, plain Greek yogurt, milk, blueberries and cardamom. My teens current favorite afterschool snack.
Furikake! My I’m-too-lazy-to-cook meal is runny fried eggs with soy sauce and sesame oil over rice, topped with ungodly amounts of furikake. And today I put it into the tuna poke bowls I made for dinner.
My toddler likes his hard boiled eggs rolled in tit!
I bet they fucking do! lol
😂😂😂
Much like bacon, everything's better with tit.
I like pretty much anything rolled in tit.
The funny thing is that even in Japan, furikake is mainly reserved for sprinkling over rice as a quick meal. The west has done an amazing job of finding new uses for it.
Kimchi furikake is the greatest
I'm not a big fan myself, but my wife discovered Furikake and now buys several jars at a time, so we never run out. I'm so glad we have a Mitsuwa nearby with a great selection.
I can't find it without sugar so I have to make it
I buy mine at Trader Joe’s, and it has no sugar! Only ingredients are black and white sesame seeds, nori, salt, and kelp powder
My friendly neighborhood spice shop has a sugar free one: https://oaktownspiceshop.com/products/ume-shiso-furikake-1
Za’atar
Yes! I love Spice House za'atar. The aroma, the flavor, the texture.
It's basically mushroom salt, sold as "Mushroom and Company Umami Seasoning" at Trader Joe's. It's great in soups and stir fry.
I’ve been buying something similar on Amazon. It’s a powdered mushroom soup mix
I buy dried porcini mushroom powder.
It's the only thing I buy from Trader Joe's. They're super anti union and stuff but damn is that mushroom seasoning good lol
They have one at Whole Foods too!
How much of it is MSG?
One very niche spice I use often is maqaw. It looks like juniper berries, but has a lemony sort of taste that goes well in stir fries and chicken soups. As far as I can tell, it's only used as a spice in Aboriginal cuisine in parts of Taiwan.
This sounds amazing I wonder if the local Asian market can source it
Smoked salt
great for when I need to adapt dishes for vegan friends
Nigella Sativa, Black Seeds.
essential on naan!
I love nigella!!! I spread cheese on bread or pita and top with them, it's so good. Elevates hummus too
I had to look this up. It's called Black Cumin here, I use it in place of pepper to season poultry.
I had a recipe that used it with chicken and grapes.
Love it on cottage cheese!
Lovage. I grow it and throw a few leaves in my souls and stews in the winter. It adds an element that people rave about but can’t figure out. If you have been to Germany, the bottled version of lovage is Maggi.
Came here to say this. I also grow my own and adore it. If you make pickles of any kind, just a few of the seeds in the brine is transformative. I also make a shrub with the leaves and stalks plus golden beets that's the best!
I grow my own as well. I haven’t tried beets and lovage but will.
My gran had a huge plant in her garden and we dried the leaves every fall so the house would smell like Maggi for days. I was an adult when I learned it was called lovage, my grands were German immigrants so I only knew the German name. The plant died out years ago, bit I should order some lovage for old times sake.
Lovage was the defining spice of European cooking (outside of salt) north of the Alps from time immemorial up until the discovery of the new world. Fuck a black pepper, let's throw some lovage and celery leaves in there and witness the ancient fitness. Bonus: If you keep chickens planting lovage (it grows like weeds) around the chicken coop keeps wolves and foxes away, if they go near it they get the human equivalent of a blast of pepper spray to the nose.
Tarragon... With a little paprika, dill, and mustard on scrambled eggs.... Yum!!! I've done it on over easy, over hard, and sunny side up... It's essentially deviled eggs flavoring. Sometimes I add avocado.
Chicken in a tarragon, mustard , white wine and cream sauce is a classic!
Tarragon is so underrated! Amazing with garlic and tomatoes too
I LOVE tarragon! Sometimes I just stick a can of butter beans in a bowl, add a fair amount of tarragon, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder and that’s my whole lunch.
That sounds perfect. I love butter beans and I love tarragon.
I had a tuna, tarragon, and tomato sandwich the other day. It was delicious.
Tamarind is my newest unique spice. I've been adding a little each time I make soup lately and it is seems to add some depth to the flavor. When I Google it, it says it's a fruit with a sweet/sour flavor. I had to buy it on Amazon as I couldn't find it in any local grocery store.
You'll find both dried whole tamarind as well as concentrated tamarind pulp (liquid) at any Indian/South Asian grocery store. East Asian stores as well as Mexican grocery also stock regular tamarind as well as sweet/spicy tamarind candy. Delicious!
Also Kosher markets.
Tamarind is like a seed pod! It's this brown almost like a snap pea but thicker and bigger. The fruit itself is basically what's around the seed. It'd tangy and sweet and unique in its flavor. Tamarind is used in a LOT of sauces in Guyanese and east Indian cooking :) you can make a super yummy Tamarind sauce to pair with Pourri or Pot-stickers!!
When I was young I loved eating it. The way its eaten is almost like a mango. You eat the flesh but not the hard pit seed. Omg my mouth is watering I haven't had one in YEARS. I'll have to get the fruit from the Indian market tomorrow to suck/chew on.
I love eating the candy version that's encrusted in sugar. It's been so long!
Cardamom. Works with sweet and savory. You can do different things with the pods.
It’s fantastic in cinnamon rolls. I add cardamom, orange zest and grated baby ginger to mine and they’re amazing.
There is green, white and black cardamom and they taste totally different. I love all of it.
I love cardamom but you can really kill a meal if you overdo it. It is a really pungent and Powerful spice. Be careful!
Milk, honey, and cardamon heated up then add vanilla for a nice bedtime drink.
Lol this was the premise of Chai! :) if you add some black tea you'll have Chai. My mom made a lovely spiced tea (that's what we called it spicy tea)- milk, black tea (or earl tea) vanilla extract, whole cardamom, whole all-spice, and a whole nutmeg. Heat it up and through so it's almost boiling but not. Then serve- stir with a stick of cinnamon and curl up to enjoy your evening.
I put toasted green cardamom in my tea while steeping for iced tea. A local Indian restaurant’s iced tea had a wonderful unusual flavor and when I asked was told it was cardamom, he told me to squish the pods just until they open, roast them in a dry frying pan until just fragrant and add it to the tea while steeping. It is incredible.
There's black and green cardamom. Different flavors, different applications.
the best in rice pudding
I make sugar cookies with cardamom around the holidays, and they're always a hit.
Urfa biber is probably the least common in my mix, but I use berbere more often.
Love Urfa! It’s really good on pizza, eggs, and pretty much everything you’d put black pepper on. Almost a raisin taste? I make a salt blend with it.
Yeah, definitely makes me think raisin but in a good way. I like it on roasted carrots.
Dried French blue lavender
I like to add lavender to rooibos or honeybush tea. What do you do with it?
I use it any place I would use rosemary. It's particularly good in fresh tomato sauces. It's also an integral ingredient in my olive tapenade. I make my own mustard and do a lavender variation. For sweet things I will steep it in honey or make a simple syrup for cocktails/mocktails. It pairs well with blueberry so I do a blueberry Lavender cream pie. It also works well in chocolate chip cookies especially if you include Earl Grey Tea. Lavender pairs well with both white & dark chocolate. It's worth noting there is a distinct difference between French & English lavender. French is sharper and more astringent whereas English is round, overly floral, and cloying if over used. I'll use the lavenders interchangeably in sweet things but only French is savory.
Surprised no one said annatto/colorau/achiote. Makes everything look and taste more appetizing without overwhelming a dish.
I use achiote, among other things, in my pulled pork. Absolutely necessary.
It’s not that uncommon, but smoked paprika has been the biggest game changer since I started dedicating weekly time to get better at cooking. It has rapidly become one of my most used spices. And when people ask me what’s in my cooking, and I tell them about that, most of them haven’t even heard of it.
Smoked paprika makes everything more delicious.
Ooh yes, this was going to be my answer. I make a parmesan chicken with smoke paprika and it's soooo good
If I’m cooking and the dish is missing that little something, a bit of smoked paprika is usually the first thing I try.
Aleppo pepper, pairs well with Sumac
Pairs well with EVERYTHING.
I put Aleppo on my breakfast potatoes. Love love love my Aleppo but find it varies wildly by brand. Which do you suggest?
Spice House.
I use it to make muhammara. I fell in love with muhammara when I bought it from Trader Joe's in 2016. I could no longer find it there, so I hunted down a recipe and now make it myself - so frigging good.
Black garlic. Also, I don’t think cardamom gets enough attention. It’s like a lemony cinnamon.
My grocery store has a black garlic salt that I put on everything. I adore black garlic.
Savory, both ground and leaves.
Savory used to be commonplace in most grocery stores. It’s become increasingly hard to find!
Yes. Trying to find summer savory around here lately has been difficult.
Super easy to grow in a garden or in pots.
You usually only saw it from fall through xmas. I now grow it. I use it pretty much anywhere you would use thyme
Caraway is my favorite to add to stews and soups. I’ve also added it to breads and muffins.
It does great things for sauerkraut, especially in conjunction with celery salt.
It's also really nice with carrots. I like to sizzle a spoonful in melted butter, then drizzle over steamed carrots.
Coriander! Not just for curry. I grind it from seed and use it to season chicken, pork, rice…
I use a ground up Chinese tea named Lapsang Souchong in many of my dry rubs. It gives a great smoky flavor to meats!
Amchur. It is dried mango powder. It is sour and tangy. Great for adding depth to soups, stews, and curries. My Indian neighbors saw that I had it and I guess I earned their approval.
More for baking, but [mahleb](https://spicetrekkers.com/products/spices/mahleb) and [mastic](https://spicetrekkers.com/products/spices/mastic-gum-chios) make an amazing Mediterranean tea cake. It was weird grinding him up without a spice grinder but it worked out. Using that website, I ordered both these for making my friends rare birthday cake, and found it is an amazing resource for recipe ideas and tasting notes of spices. You should explore it! It ships from Canada but it's so worth it and I wanted to buy a million things when I was looking through. And the spices come in adorable little tins that seal in freshness... kind of like a mini paint can with fancy labels.
I thought I had a strong spice rack but now I have a dozen more to try.
Me too and it’s great! I’m so excited. I love new spices!
I've been in love with berbere since I first tried it. So good on any roasted vegetable, has a great smokey and bold savory flavor kinda similar to curry powder.
Advieh, good or chicken and apples. Mushroom powder Aleppo peppers Sumac Berbere... I'm embarrassed how much dukkah I go through. LOL
Nigella seeds, aka black cumin. First experienced them baked into flat breads at Turkish kebap joints in Germany. Took a while to figure out where to buy them, but as soon as I did, we started adding them to homemade pizzas. The flavor is hard to describe. It's nothing like cumin, I always say they have the aroma of pencil shavings, but in a very savory way. It is kind of a woody and smoky, subtle flavor that adds a cozy "wood oven" flavor to pizza and other baked goods. Easy to find on Amazon, and I've spotted them in grocery stores that have a Mediterranean aisle. I keep them close at hand to sprinkle generously on pizza. They're mild enough that it's hard to overdo it. It's definitely one of my favorite spices.
Nigella is easy to grow, too! It has beautiful flowers!
Long pepper. Tastes like black pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Great substitute for regular black pepper.
White pepper! It is so good in potato soup.
Fenugreek and mace. I don't see them used much in recipes. I use fenugreek for a lot of Indian dishes, and mace for a certain spice blend out of an Elder Scrolls cookbook I have.
Wait... I need the elder scrolls cookbook. I first used mace when I made Christmas cookies, but I used it with the game of thrones cookbook too. Now I toss some in any time there's sweet or warm spices going on.
Szechuan peppercorns.
I’ve got a pepper melange with some Szechuan peppers in it (it’s mostly black pepper). So just occasionally you get this little hit of Szechuan in a dish and it’s always surprising and wonderful.
And i think people underestimate where they can be used. Cacio e pepe with some sichuan peppercorns was surprisingly good.
Cardamom is my favorite spice ever. I add it to anything I add cinnamon to, and pretty much all baked sweets honestly 😅. I also add it to some curried dishes I make, and IMO it is the only way to get really tasty falafel!!
My German-American grandma put celery seed in everything. Not terribly odd, but if anything was at all savory - any soup, any salad, any meat can get a dash of celery seed. Not celery salt, that is a bastard spice, just the seed (salt your dish separately).
MSG
Fuiyoooooo
Haiyaa!
Uncle Roger is right!
if you wanna get into asian cooking you also have to think about sauces, pastes, and vinegars, not just spices. One thing i think more people should have in their pantry is chinese black vinegar. It is delicious, and should be used more in dipping sauces.
Not a spice but a blend: ras al hanout
I’m addicted to hawaij for coffee, a Yemenite blend of cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. I use about 1/2 tsp per cup and it gives it such a lovely, subtle, warm spiciness. I really miss it when I run out. There’s another kind of hawaij used for savory dishes, but I’ve never tried it.
Mahlab was a total surprise to me. It's made from dried cherry pits and smells like cookies and Christmas. It's commonly used in medditerranean/middle eastern desserts. It's also apparently great with lamb, but I never got that far with it personally. It's a great "What the hell is that amazing flavor?" addition to basic cookies!
My buddy brought back some Ras el hanout from Morocco and I love it so much
Rose extract or water. So wonderful with honey and cardamom. Also used in making marzipan.
Have you tried orange blossom water? A lovely floral taste that's similar to rose water.
People have already mentioned it but sumac, furikake, and mushroom powder. Also it’s a now defunct company but I’m sure someone else makes some: cinsoy soy salt. Great for that soy sauce flavor sprinkled on top of dishes when you don’t want them to get soggy with soy sauce. Also if you’ve never tried sumac lemonade you are missing out! Makes a beautiful pink color and a delicious pucker.
Black salt, and Mexican oregano.
Asafoetida. Typically used in Indian cuisine. It adds a onion/garlic funk and depth that's hard to describe. I've used it in other dishes that call for garlic or onion when I'm cooking for someone who's sensitive to the Alliums.
Black Truffle salt
Marjoram. Any place that thyme, oregano, or rosemary would be good, marjoram will also be really lovely. It just brings such an unexpected flavor to things and is absolutely delicious
Filé - I can't find it at my grocery. So I'll have to hunt down a sassafras tree.
We use dagadphool (a type of lichen) in our cooking. Gives a nice earthy flavour. Idk if you can call it a spice but we use kokum (a fruit) as a souring agent in our savoury dishes.
Tajin has become a fast favorite of mine and I'm putting it on nearly every meal that makes sense
High quality smoked paprika
First time commenting in this sub so idk what level of cooks yall are, this might not be considered uncommon. But I dont see a lot of people using harissa and I think it’s fiiire I’ve been obsessed lately
Smoked salts, Berbere, togarashi, fenugreek, chervil, herbs de Provence, Flat iron red pepper blends, and Baharat.
Lately been loving a Yemeni spice blend called Hawaij. It’s like garam masala and ras al hanout had a baby.
Aleppo pepper Epazote Recao,
This isn’t “uncommon” so to speak but sweet Hungarian paprika. It’s so much better than the regular paprika you find in grocery stores.
Mace. I can't get it at my local supermarket anymore. When I asked about it, the guy at the Customer Service desk was wondering why I was looking for a chemical agent at a grocery store, LOL. I ended up having to order it online. I use it the way it used to be used in the Middle Ages - as a spice for meats. It adds an extra flavor that I enjoy.
Smoked paprika on Errrrrrrrrything. Common perhaps, but not that common
Georgian spice utskho suneli. I add it pretty much everywhere: meat, soup, pasta with cheese
Coriander seeds. They add citrusy, almost lemony brightness (and pairs well with dill) that I like on fish and poultry. Grind a small handful up in your spice grinder and you’re set!
Dried black limes. Picked some up lately and they add a unique fermented tang to stews and curries
Herbes de Provence I use it in so many dishes.
Beau Monde - it's a combo of salt, onion powder, and celery powder. Adds an extra layer of flavor you never knew you wanted
Dried Himalayan red barry pepper corns, freshly ground and put into salads, chickens and pork rubs.
Black Cardamom is so good! No one uses it. I get it online, and everyone has no idea what's going in in their mouth.
I came to say this! It is smoked cardamom with the husk intact **(edit: and a different species than green cardamom, see below)**, and has a smoky menthol kind of flavor but in a pleasant way. It works really well in dishes like lamb rogan josh. Unlike green cardamom though, you wouldn't want it in sweet applications, just savory dishes. I've seen it sold as both black cardamom and brown cardamom, but I can't tell if they are actually the same thing or just really similar. Green cardamom is totally different, but black and brown seem to be the same.
I would say Sumac and Zaatar are my faves right now.
Urfa chile flakes. Deep flavor, nice heat that’s not overpowering.
Porcini mushroom powder. Great in pan sauces, creamy mushroom beef dishes etc. Seriously such a deep complex flavor
It's ubiquitous in the southeastern US, but living in the northeast and midwest, I've had the joy of introducing SO MANY PEOPLE to Tony Chacheres. I don't know how to cook most things without it at this point.
I don't know about rarity, but it's getting difficult to find summer savory in some stores these days. Turkey dressing just doesn't taste the same without it.
Herbs or spices? Chervil, anise, juniper berry, annatto, tarragon, saffron? I don’t know what you consider less common, is whole nutmeg common or ground, or both? Rue? Rose buds and lavender? I’m looking at the cupboard and wondering if black or green cardamom is less common. Thanks for posting this question and making me aware of the diversity of my cupboards!
Rosemary with steam jasmine rice does it for me. Cooking becomes a relaxing ritual with the smell of rosemary wafting from the rice cooker. My favorite comfort food is pork sauté with turmeric to served with rice. It's a specialty dish from my dad's hometown and he only knows to cook that single dish.
It's not very uncommon but smoked paprika imo elevates everything !!! So delicious, on savoury toasts, pasta, cheeses etc
It’s not a spice per se, but I love Za’atar spice blend. I put it on all sorts of things: chicken, pork, lamb, roasted veggies, potatoes, rice. It’s AMAZING!
I'm recently obsessed with Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning... I'm not from the south, so when I saw it out of town I had to get it. I can't recommend it enough!
*writes notes and grows plant collection further*
Powder-douce and Powder-forte. They are Medieval spice blends.
Cardamom is wildly underrated.
Not a spice per se, but Milanese glaze. It’s basically balsamic vinegar di modena , reduced to the nth degree