Food History

Today is an ingredients post. It’s been too long since I’ve done one of these, so I’m making up for it with the number of ingredients covered in one simple idea.

Think mixed spices.

For as long as there has been cooking and people have had spices to mix, I rather suspect cooks have mixed spices to achieve the best possible end result. In the Middle Ages you could buy poudre fort, or poudre douce, or even poudre marchant. Poudre marchant wasn’t powdered salesperson; it was the spiceseller’s own blend - think of all the current purveyors of fine food who tell us about their secret herbs and spices: there’s nothing new under the sun.

Also not new is the thought that the spelling of the name of a spice mix varies according to what language it appears in. To me, the names of spice mixes are the equivalent of Elizabethan spelling: a source of endless charm and ocasional logic. (Actually, there is a logic in the names - but I’m too lazy to explain vowel and consonant shift in words borrowed from other languages.)

Anyhow, here’s my home list of spice mixes that are called ‘five’. It isn’t everything in the world. In fact, it isn’t nearly everything. It’s the mixes I came across during a year-long period when it entertained me to write them down - almost all of them are straight from the kitchens of various friends. If generous souls give me more recipes, I will add to the list and resissue it some day.

1. Panch phorum - Indian Five Spice Powder -a standard mix will often include cumin seeds, fennel seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, and fenugreek seeds.
2. Chinese lo sueh liew - ginger, anise, cinnamon, coriander etc - I don’t remember what etc was, but this spice mix is great in a winter stew.
3. Yemenite. This mix goes very nicely with vegies: - grind all spices before measuring. 2 tbs cardamom, 5 tbs cumin, 5 tsp black pepper, 3 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp coriander.
4. “English” mixed spices (for cakes rather than curries) - Australians buy these from a packet, so I lack a recipe (alas).
5. Spice mix for punch (as opposed to panch phorum): cinnamon, allspice, several cloves, the merest trace of ginger, a skerrick of nutmeg.
6. Sri Lankan curry powder - not 5 spices, but one of the most versatile powders round - I really need to do a special post on this one day, so I’ll leave your need for a recipe unfulfilled.
7. Bulgarian - chili, mustard, coriander, savory and marjoram.
8. This one is really six herb powder “herbes de Provence� - rosemary, marjoram, savory, sage, thyme and oregano
9. An Iraqi version (which has a lot more than five spices) has allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger and rose petals in about the following ratios (I feel arithmetical): 32:8:8:8:1:1:1:1.

Panch Phorum slow-cooked with cabbage

An Indian friend and I invented this when I had to keep salt intake low and was missing pickles. It tastes a lot like sauerkraut.

Chop a white cabbage finely. Add 15 g (you can change the quantities to taste) panch phorum. Cook in a slow cooker until it’s soft and sauerkrauty.

ingredients, food history, spice powder, mixed spices, five spice