# Turn me on to some obscure spices



## Godslayer (Aug 18, 2015)

So i recently moved to Jasper in Alberta and rarely have access to any "fun" ingredients now. So I was browsing some online sites and came across the silk road. I quickly realized i only know 70% of the spices there. So tmr im going to order a few to play with. Any recommendations on less available or less well known spices. Open to any ethnic origin, just want to fool around on my days off and make something ive never tasted before. Sorry for the weird request.


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## Dardeau (Aug 18, 2015)

Which ones have you never heard of? Someone here will have at least heard of it, and will probably have a recipe.


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## Godslayer (Aug 18, 2015)

Urfa Biber is one that im super interested in. Tonka beans(seems to be a sexified vanilla). annatto seeds also look cool. Few others as well.


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## JohnF (Aug 18, 2015)

Urfa Biber is a mild in spice red pepper used in Turkish cuisine. It is very subtlety smokey and has almost a sweetness to it. It can be used on nearly any protein, vegetable or grain, either during the cooking process or a finisher. You need quite a lot of it for the flavors to show...much more than you would expect typical red pepper. Just be careful not to use on any direct heat as it burns very easily. 

Tonka I haven't used much, only for dessert purposes. It is more subtle than vanilla but has more of a complex, red berry flavor with it. I have heard of people finely slicing it and using it as a finisher for savory prep but haven't tried.

Annatto seeds is basically just used for achiote paste (blended with cumin seeds, allspice, etc). I haven't found a good use for the seeds themselves other than coloring. They can be extremely bitter (resembling fresh bay leaves) so use sparingly.

Have you tried any of the pollens? Wild fennel or dill? Both have a very complex depth of flavor for finishing dishes. Might want to look at cubeb berry, marash chile, pimenton de espelette, curry leaves, dill seed. Those are all really versatile spices I use often.


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## Godslayer (Aug 18, 2015)

Cubeb berry looks interesting. I have curry leaves and dill seed on hand. Thank you very much for the intro im looking forward to fooling around with some of these.


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## ThEoRy (Aug 19, 2015)

Grains of Paradise.


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## spoiledbroth (Aug 19, 2015)

uh why are you buying spices off the silk road...


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## Dardeau (Aug 19, 2015)

Annato seeds are more versatile than that. They are used pretty extensively in Latin America as well as providing the yellow color to most cheddar cheese.

I like pepper powders like the espelette or urfa beiber a lot.


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## MontezumaBoy (Aug 19, 2015)

A couple of recent ones for me anyway - Ajwain and Alepeppo ... also have been lightly smoking peppercorns with different woods (along the same line of smoked salts which I really like as well but a little goes a LONG way) - easy to do yourself but you can purchase as well.


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## Mucho Bocho (Aug 20, 2015)

Great suggestions, although not really exotic, long peppers have a unique floral aroma. I use them crushed up to coat pancetta. It's not really a pepper at all.


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## knyfeknerd (Aug 20, 2015)

Have you tried Buzz Buttons? aka Jambu aka Szechuan buttons? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acmella_oleracea
Not really a traditional spice per se, but I think everyone MUST try them out. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UWU9KQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## sharptools (Aug 22, 2015)

Since we're on the Szechuan, also try Szechuan peppercorns. They make spicy food taste even better.


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## ecchef (Aug 22, 2015)

knyfeknerd said:


> Have you tried Buzz Buttons? aka Jambu aka Szechuan buttons? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acmella_oleracea
> Not really a traditional spice per se, but I think everyone MUST try them out. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UWU9KQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20



Yup... We used to keep a small supply on hand for those waiters that used to like to pick off the passing trays. 
Oh, the fun we had!


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