Categories: Spice Blends, Salt-Free Blends

Cuisines: Chinese/East Asian

Chinese Five-Spice Powder is a traditional Chinese seasoning that goes wonderfully with vegetables, pork and fatty meats like duck. Its flavour is dominated by the sweetness of star anise and cinnamon, with a spicy undertone courtesy of Szechuan peppercorns.

We have a confession to make, though: our five-spice powder has six spices in it. But this isn’t as uncommon as it seems. Apart from the usual five spices – star anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel and Szechuan pepper – some chefs also add a small amount of ginger. We follow their lead, since ginger adds extra depth and a bit more bite to the mix. We use five-spice powder quite often sprinkled on asparagus that is pan-fried in butter. It makes a super-quick and impressive side-dish.

Ingredients: star anise, fennel, Indonesian cinnamon, Vietnamese cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorns, cloves, ginger.