Chinese Five Spice Powder
Have you ever heard of 5 spice powder? What is five spice powder anyways? In simple words – it is a Chinese spice. It is said that the Chinese wanted to come up with the 5-spice powder that would stimulate all the five taste buds - sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and spicy. It is not known how the spice originated. What is 5 spice powder made of? There are few versions of Chinese 5 spice powder recipes, but the common mixture consists of: star anise, Szechuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, cloves and Chinese cinnamon. There are still many people who do not know what is 5 spice powder or what’s in Chinese five spice powder, but there are also those who are perfectly aware of the 5 spice powder properties.
Once we know what is Chinese 5 spice powder, we can start using this amazing spice mixture in our cooking endeavors. Making five spice powder is quite easy. The Chinese 5 spice powder’s ingredients can definitely contribute a lot to most dishes. Once we know what is in Chinese five spice powder, we may learn how to use five spice powder. There are plenty of interesting recipes using five spice powder. This terrific spice can be used for pork, duck, chicken or even seafood.
What is Five Spice Powder Made of?
What is in five spice powder? Or should we actually ask – what’s in Chinese 5 spice powder - since the mixture derives from China. You can make a homemade Chinese five spice powder. We know an easy recipe for five spice powder, so you may have this amazing blend of ground spices ready within minutes. Chinese 5 spice powder ingredients are: star anise, Szechuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, cloves and Chinese cinnamon. If you like to experiment in the kitchen with the Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, then you definitely need to have five spice powder in your pantry.
Five Spice Powder Recipe
Chinese 5 spice powder is a common ingredient in many Chinese dishes. Is there a dominant five spice powder ingredient? Nope – all of them are core ingredients. How to make Chinese five spice powder? It is quite easy. You can make 5 spice powder in few simple steps! Once you get all the necessary Chinese 5 spice powder ingredients, you may start making the spice mixture.
You will need:
- 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tbsp ground Chinese cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 5 to 6 whole star anise
- 1 tbsp ground fennel seeds
How to make five spice powder? It is easy! Let us take a closer look at this 5-spice powder recipe and make a homemade five spice powder mixture.
Toast the Sichuan peppercorns. Grind the toasted peppercorns and star anise in coffee or spice grinder. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Add ground cloves, ground fennel seeds and ground cinnamon. Put the spice blend back into the coffee grinder and grind the spices again. Store your freshly made five spice powder in a sealed container.
There are also other 5 spice powder recipes available online. Some might have slightly different proportions, but most five spice powder recipes are usually quite similar. A classic Chinese 5 spice powder recipe will definitely have the ingredients listed above. Once you learn how to make 5 spice powder mixture, you can start experimenting with some dishes from a Chinese cuisine!
Five Spice Powder Uses
We know what is Chinese five spice powder and its ingredients, and we have covered a Chinese five spice powder recipe. What about its uses? Pork, duck, chicken or even Chinese beef stew and seafood! What’s in five spice powder? All the taste and aroma!
And if you feel like trying different cuisines as well, we recommend checking out bacon wrapped stuffed chicken recipe that will let you make the best bacon wrapped stuffed chicken. Or view the best beef fajita recipe which will show you a really easy beef fajita recipe. You may also learn how to cook beef stew meat in oven and surprise your family members with delicious oven beef stew. Cooking can be fun! You just need the right recipe.
