[Sca-cooks] [SCA-Cooks] Top 20 Multiuse Herbs and Spices plus Salt

[Lilinah]

Sharon Gordon wrote:
>If you could have only 20 cooking herbs and spices (plus salt as the 
>21st item) and wanted at least half of them to be multiuse, what 
>would you choose?

See my list below...

>Would you focus on spices of a particular cuisine or select a core 
>group that works for many cuisines and maybe a few for specific 
>cuisines?

Well, i like to make a few cuisines, but i've focused on Medieval 
Near and Middle Eastern. I'd want to include even more, since i cook 
modern Moroccan, modern Indian, modern Thai, modern Indonesian food. 
I'll try to stick to what i use most when cooking "SCA-period" food. 
So i'm missing paprika and powdered chili and some spices used in 
South and Southeast Asian cuisines, not to mention a number used in 
more northerly European...

>Would you stick to herbs and spices that can be grown in your area 
>or would you choose the world as your garden?

The World is my garden!

OK, OK, so i've got 22 herbs and spices - minus the salt - i just 
couldn't pick two more to eliminate - i already had to skip quite a 
few i've got in my pantry.

Also i'm considering garlic a vegetable, along with its relatives 
chives, garlic greens, scallion, onions, and leeks.

SPICES
--------
Caraway
Cinnamon: i prefer Ceylon/True
Coriander seed
Cubeb
Cumin
Galangal
Ginger
Grains of Paradise
Gum Mastic
Mustard: White or Black
Nigella
Peppercorns
Saffron
Sumac

HERBS
-------
Celery Leaves
Cilantro / Green Coriander
Citron (or other citrus) Leaves
Fennel Leaves
Lavender
Mint: apparently Spearmint was the kind used
Parsley: flat-leaf
Zaatar (the herb, not the blend - or my own substitute blend of 
thyme, marjoram, and what else smells right - possibilities include 
savory and hyssop)

Whew! I just read Sharon's most recent post... since she's allowing 
both coriander seeds and coriander greens to count as one plant i've 
only got 21 now :-)
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita