Essential herbs and spices

lightisfading

The ones we use regularly are basil, oregano, rosemary, paprika, chilli powder, cayenne pepper, cinammon, whole nutmegs (not much work to grate and taste way better), ginger, curry powder and garam masala.

lil_me

I would look through recipes you like the idea of and buy the ones you need. That's what I did this week or I'd have spent a fortune on herbs and spices, some of which I may never use.

researcher

I've so many different spices - but the one I use most is cumin seeds. I use it whole sprinkled over roasted veges - I add it to soups, particularly butternut squash. I dry roast it and grind it to add in curries and and spicy food.

Another I use a lot is cinnamon. I buy it whole. This I use it savoury and sweet dishes - whole in curries, savoury rice. Sweet rice pudding - whole. Ground in meat dishes - (anything Greeky usually has it in). Dry roasted and ground it's added to cakes, sprinkled liberally over fruit (peaches, pears, plumbs, pineapple, apples etc) and then baked.

I like mint as a herb. It has numerous uses - try any beany/pea based soup with added mint. Sprinkle it in your salads too - make tasiki.

Parsley I couldn't live without! But mostly I use fresh.

On a limited budget I'd always advise buying whole spices and grinding them yourself - ground ones loose their potency quickly. Try to buy from asian shops or loose rather than the supermarket, where prices seem very much higher.

Plum_Pie

Rosemary and sage are the only dried herbs I use. I hate the taste of dried oregano and I find all the others taste so weak compared to fresh that I don't bother (or I fork out for fresh on special occasions. I don't have any room to grow my own.) Nigel Slater reckons that dried herbs need more cooking and should be added at the 'frying onions' stage (i.e. early on).

Plum_Pie

Ooo - forgot - whole nutmegs are really cheap and taste great. I like to add to roast chicken and almost every pudding - fruit or chocolate

stevenshell

Rosemary is essential in my house - but we've got a couple of rosemary buses growing in the garden which is great.
I also have a small stock of spices which I bought for various dishes -
corriander (ground and seeds)
cumin (ground and seeds)
bayleaves
oregano - I have heard that if you have no other herb, at least have this one!
curry powder
chilli powder
Chinese 5 spice powder
nutmeg
cinnamon
tumeric
garam masala
ginger

organic_wanabe

And remember if you buy fresh herbs from supermarkets (e.g. basil, parsely, etc.) straight away divide them into about 4 clumps and repot them. The supermarket ones contain too many plants (so that they look good enough to buy, but quickly die because they have no room to survive). This way the herb last much longer and you have 3 or 4 pots instead of one!

redmel1621

I want to build up a collection but which ones should I get first which ones do you find most useful........

I've never used them before so am a bit naive sorry:o

Mel

Sola

I'm presuming you're talking about dried herbs as opposed to freshly-grown ones?

For dried herbs/spices I use sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, bay leaves, dill, asaffron, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, tamarind (paste), cumin, turmeric, cardamom, vanilla pods, cloves (whole and ground), cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, celery salt, minced garlic, mint, paprika, ginger, coriander seeds, black mustard seeds, chervil, hyssop, lovage, savory, tarragon, star anise, capers, cayenne, chillies, galangal. One I don't use is asafoetida - very stinky.

Some of those are bought, some homegrown; I grow other stuff like basil, chives, lemon balm and coriander seasonally. I also buy mixes like herbes de Provence, fines herbes, Italian seasoning.

If I were starting out half a dozen, I'd go for oregano, caraway seeds, rosemary, cumin, nutmeg (gorgeous in cauliflower cheese), Chinese 5 spice powder.

pounds_and_pensive

Funnily enough, I was sorting mine out the another night, and was going to ask on here what everyone else thought of as an essential. My collection is varied and does need a bit of a boost/ some gaps filling, but the ones I'm never without are basil, oregano and majoram (I use this lot in Italian style tomato or pasta dishes), chilli, dill (used in fish dishes, particularly when turning small-ish pieces of Asda yellow-stickered salmon into big fish pies), and cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mixed spice and mixed herbs. I've also usually got some form of garlic powder in, but prefer to use fresh.

I keep all my herbs and spices in a big plastic basket in the cupboard (I had wall-hung racks years ago, but got fed up with dusting them), and have spent the last three days in a state of herby/spicey organized ecstasy after finally seeing the wisdom in labelling the TOPS of the jars too, so that I can find what I want without first emptying half the basket. This also means that a quick glance over the top of the basket will tell me whether I really DO need to be adding that herb or spice to the shopping list - hopefully, the other night will now be the last time that I find I've actually got three jars of ginger in stock