It's certainly not news that fresh spices give life to ho-hum leftovers or turn a simple pot of beans or rice into a fragrant treat. Certain spices remind me of my travels, others remind me of childhood. Do you have one particular spice that always sits up front in your cupboard?
I was at a friend's house last week and she was asking me what spice I use the most often in my cooking. We got into a long discussion because it's such a tough question to come up with a quick answer: there are so many qualifications. For example, if I'm baking breakfast pastries, I love cardamom and keep it at the front of my spice cupboard. For savory cooking, especially with vegetables, I use red chile flakes almost daily. With a little olive oil and flaky salt, they transform greens into a delicious mess I could eat for pretty much every meal. But I also love cumin for making beans and rice dishes, and have started to use thyme often in simple lunches of tuna fish salad or omelettes.
Related: Spice Cupboard Style: What Do Your Spices Reveal About You?
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for me, it's gotta be either fresh black pepper or cinnamon. i use cinnamon in everything from chili and other savory dishes to smoothies and baked goods. and good pepper is just SO. GOOD.
carrie
plums in the icebox: a food blog with a literary slant
Cumin! I love cumin and use it all the time.
garlic.
I go through a lot of cumin. Seems to be in almost everything I cook.
Cinnamon for me too! I love it in sweet and savory dishes.
Tie between garlic and cumin :) Awesome in scrambled eggs, rice, everything.
black pepper.
I thought it was weird that cumin was the first thing that came to mind, but I see I'm not alone! I love it. And I love fresh sage. It doesn't go with everything, but I love, love, love the smell of it.
Salt. (Although that's not technically a spice, it's a rock, but in that case, garlic is disqualified too). You literally can't live without it and we all eat it every day. Every single food mentioned above tastes better with a little bit of salt in it.
As long as you avoid processed foods, you are not taking in too much salt either, so it is perfectly alright to use.
Read up on it and you will find out how amazing it is.
Cinnamon, definitely. I put it in my oatmeal every morning and my yogurt for my afternoon snack,
This is more of a combination than a real spice, but I'm really in love with lemon pepper. I used to use the little shaker of it all the time, then last time I went to the store I found a grinder with a combination of black peppercorns, dried lemon zest, and sea salt. BEST seasoning EVER! I put it on everything.
Cinnamon for sweet, cumin for savoury. My cumin just ran out today in fact!
@Indigo lemon pepper sounds delicious. I haven't seen it over here in the UK..I'll have to do some investigation..
This tends to change but at the moment I'm crazy about Costco's Kirkland brand "Organic No-Salt Seasoning"... on anything.
Cumin! Also cayenne pepper. Any and all veggies taste good roasted with cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. :)
RED PEPPER FLAKES, yes, in all caps because it is just that important to me.
Spanish smoked paprika. Have to stop myself from using it every time I cook. I probably have 200 recipes with smoked paprika.
Another vote for cumin. First spice that came to my mind.
Cumin and Garlic. *swoon*
Paprika, cause I'm Portuguese and we 'put that s*** on everything...
It's actually an herb blend, but Herbes de Provence could save me on a desert island.
Red pepper flakes since I can use them in the widest variety of dishes.
I would say chili powder or garlic. I'm pretty new to the spice game.
Garlic salt has been the most recent favorite
Paprika. I adore paprika. It makes everything so much more flavourful.
Cinnamon and ginger. Salt for sure. And red pepper flakes, yes! Oh my goodness, I'm hungry.
Garlic Garni. Another spice blend, but seriously, we put this on practically everything we cook. It's amazing.
Red pepper flakes (with cumin following at a close second)
Another vote for cumin, but cayenne and other chili powders vying for the number one spot.
Cumin and cayenne. Followed by cinnamon, coriander, and garam masala. I couldn't choose just one.
Turkish seasoning from Penzey's.
Fresh thyme (smells like Portugal)! But like @babeworered, since I'm Portuguese and I adore paprika.
thyme for savory, cardamom for sweet. I used them so often that they never seem to make it back in the cupboard.
Cinnamon, then cumin, then thyme. I do love red pepper and cayanne, too.
Alliums.
I'm making rice? Eggs? Pasta? Lentils? Greens? Broccoli? Potatoes? Put a little onion or garlic on it.
The savory runner up is definitely California bay leaves.
Cardamom for sweet things.
Shichimi (seven-flavor chili pepper) is something I always stock up on when I go back home to Japan. Its good on cold tofu, hot udon noodles, soba in any form, stir-fries, miso soup, and anything that would benefit from sriracha sauce.
Cinnamon for sweet things.
Savory things get alliums of all kinds, but for meat and beans of all kinds I really love smoked Spanish paprika - it adds that certain je ne sais quois to anything that is remotely Southern or Mexican in flavor, which in my house, is a lot of food.
Fresh basil is also excellent in both sweet and savory things.
Yes, crushed RED PEPPER FLAKES...they ARE that important!!!!!!!!!
nutmeg in everything, especially with cheese sauce. It makes peppery things taste more peppery.
Cumin then coriander. Cumin is so delicious, but coriander is very versatile and tastes great in so many dishes. Allspice is also good in savoury and sweet dishes. Here in Australia we don't call as many flavourings spices as some of the posters. We would consider some of what has been mentioned (eg. Thyme) herbs. Over here spices are normally seeds or bark, but herbs are normally leaves.
Sambal oelek without a doubt! Few other spices can be used successfully in such a wide range of food themes
I'm big on curry powder and I love love love fennel seed
Definitively Herbs of Provence. If you have never used such spice, just get some, however, make sure the Herbs are packed in the traditional package used in the Provence area and not in the jars sold at supermarkets. Incidentally, supermarkets are not the places to buy spices.
Garlic gets used the most but I couldn't live without cumin either.
Cumin. Chicken tacos one night, fish curry the next, both redolent of cumin and yet they taste totally different. What a spice!
RED PEPPER FLAKES!
Melange. The spice must flow!
Piment d'Espelette is the one spice I cannot live without. It is a Basque paprika; not as smokey as most paprikas, and a little spicy. I have been using it for years. It use to be that you could only buy it in Europe, and it was a treat to come home with a couple containers of a mystery spice that no one used. Now, I can buy it on Amazon. It is wonderful on everything from salad dressings to eggs.
Herbes de Provence. But I also use a lot of coriander, garlic powder and galangal (which adds a floral note to poultry and Asian noodle soups). And Vietnamese cassia, of course, for my oatmeal.
Ground pepper is my most used flavoring.
For sweets, I'm in the same boat as everyone else with cinnamon.
My next up would be basil, it adds sweet and savory at the same time. :)
Garlic, ginger and black pepper. My kitchen must have at least 2 out of 3 of those.
I use a lot of spices when i cook but I think my top three would be cinnamon, chili powder and turmeric.
I think rosemary or sage. It just seems like a lot of recipes I make call for those.
Herbes de Provence. Gives everything a little bit of France. Also a big fan of Adobo seasoning.
Count me for cumin.... I love the smell.
I noticed two things with the last two jars that I bought: a slightly gritty texture in various dishes (like aloo gobi) and clumping when using the shaker top that comes on the jar. I have no problem with the taste of the finished product. The brand is "Mimi's", found in many discount stores in NY. I don't remember this happening with previous brands. Anyone else encounter these issues, or am I dealing with an inferior product?