[Sca-cooks] Question on Cubebs

[Alex Clark]

At 12:20 AM 10/17/2003 -0400, Serena da Riva wrote:
>I have come across some one else providing a suggestion for a Cubeb
>substitution. They said that a combination of black pepper and allspice
>would be a good substitute.
>. . .
>I know allspice isn't period, but in a crunch this might be useful.

Having just bitten a whole cubeb and a whole allspice berry, I don't think 
they're all that similar (other than in size, shape, and color). Cubebs 
taste at least about as much like caraway seeds as like allspice.

I suspect that this suggested substitution only works to the extent that 
allspice is similar to a lot of other spices, as its name suggests. Of 
course it's also different from each of the others, but often not as 
distinctively different as some other spices are. This makes it an obvious 
(though not always suitable) choice for many substitutions.

As a practical substitute, I'd suggest using a much smaller amount of 
freshly ground black pepper. The flavor is similar, though pepper is 
hotter. But the ideal solution would be to keep up a supply of cubebs. :-)

Henry of Maldon/Alex Clark