[Sca-cooks] Whole to ground spice equivalents

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Avraham wrote:
>I don't think you can substitute ground for whole spices - they
>generally get used so differently. Putting whole spices into something
>generally gives a fairly subtle flavor, so you'd only want a tiny amount
>of ground to achieve the same effect.

Hmmm, i substitute frequently. I've cooked a number of recipes both
ways. While there are differences in flavor,they are not really
striking, and varying the amount of an ingredient (such as, not using
the equivalent amount but rather more or less) could account for the
difference.

Still hoping someone will take a shot at the cinnamon (stick vs. spoon)

>Note on galingale - this rhizome
>is very similar to ginger, and powdered ginger doesn't really substitute
>for fresh at all.

Yes. I'm always encouraging folks to get actual galangal, if they
have to order it on-line, as ginger is NO substitute even if they're
both zingiberacea.

I lived in Indonesia for a few years and they have a number of
rhizomes in the same family and, again, none tastes remotely like the
other. If i look a little bit, around here (SF Bay area) i can get
family members fresh turmeric and fresh galangal, as well as fresh
ginger which is everywhere. It's harder to find the roots known in
Indonesian as kentjur and kuntji, although sometimes Thai markets
have fresh kentjur.

I still unpacking (or rather, ought to be, as the apt. is a forest of
stacks of packing boxes). Otherwise, i'd powder up a cinnamon stick
and measure it, but i don't know where my spice grinder is. I'm sure
it will surface *some* day.

Anahita