List of herbs, spices, oils, fats and ingredients for seasoning and flavoring

List of herbs, spices and ingredients for seasoning and flavoring

Recoding all my commonly used herbs, spices and ingredients for seasoning and flavoring when cooking, to add extra aromatic fragrance and taste to the food.

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Leaves

  • Mint leaves
  • Peppermint leaves
  • Parsley / 香芹 / 香菜
  • Coriander leaves / Chinese parsley / 芫荽 (yán suī) / daun parsli
  • Pandan leaves
    • Very aromatic but bitter in taste
  • Oregano leaves
  • Bay leaves
    • biryani leaves (leaves used in biryani)
  • Rosemary leaves / 迷迭香叶 / daun rosemary
    • Very bitter taste in boiled water
    • Nice and smooth flower aromatic
  • Thyme leaves / 百里香菜 / daun thyme

Fruits

  • Black pepper
  • Nutmeg
  • Tamarind
    • Slices, powder
  • Chili
  • Cayenne Pepper
  • Paprika
  • Tomato
    • One of the food to add an extra acidity to increase the appetite when eating
  • Tangerine peel (powder)
    • Homemade recipe: Blended dried tangerine
    • Nice citrus aromatic and appetizing fragrance, but taste a little bit bitter
  • Lemon peel (powder)
    • Nice citrus aromatic and appetizing fragrance, but taste a little bit bitter
  • Star anise / 八角
    • Taste sour with slight sweetness in boiling water
    • Taste sweet in star anise alcohol extract
    • Super aromatic with sweet hint

Seeds

  • White pepper
  • Cumin seeds / 孜然
    • Nice fragrance for spicy food, taste bitter
  • Fennel seeds
    • Nice fragrance, taste a little bit sweet and bitter
  • Coriander seeds / 芫荽籽 (yán suī )
    • Nice slightly zesty aroma
    • Taste: Non bitter, can be made into tea with a slightly citrus hint
  • Mustard seeds
  • Fenugreek seeds
    • Raw: smells like medicine
  • Coconut flour

Fermented seeds

  • Coffee beans
    • Instant freeze dried coffee powder
    • Bitter taste, aromatic
  • Cacao beans
    • Cacao nibs, cacao mass, cacao powder, cacao butter
    • Bitter taste, aromatic, high fat

Bulbs

  • Garlic
  • Onions
  • Shallots
    • Similar to onions, smaller than onions
  • Chives

Roots

  • Ginger
    • Spicy taste
  • Turmeric
    • Super bitter taste, strong aroma for curry
  • Dang quai / female ginseng / Angelica sinensis / 当归
    • Strong aroma, taste a little bit bitter and sweet
    • Powdered form doesn’t dissolve in water
  • Root of dang shen / Codonopsis pilosula / 党参
    • Sweet taste, before and after cooking smells different
  • Root of licorice / liquorice / 甘草
    • Sweet taste and slightly aromatic
    • Honey fried licorice root / 炙甘草 (Zhì gān cǎo) / Glycyrrhizae radix preparata
      • Heated licorice with honey
    • Scientific name: Glycyrrhiza glabra
      • Chinese licorice: Glycyrrhiza uralensis

Flowers

  • Roselle 👍
    • Appetizing aroma with a little bit sour in taste
  • Chrysanthemum
    • Nice fragrance, bitter in taste
  • Apple flower
    • Raw: (5/5) Nice sweet aroma;
    • Tea: (3/5) Ok; Smells: (2/5) not as great as raw; Taste: (3/5) Nice light apple aroma

Flower buds

  • Cloves / bunga cengkih
    • Smell: (5/5) Super aromatic (raw, cooked); Taste: (2/5) slightly bitter

Bark

  • Cinnamon
    • Whole stick cinnamon, cinnamon powder
    • Inner bark, sweet and spicy taste

Fungi / Fungus

  • Mushroom
    • Mushroom extract
      • Smell: (5/5); Taste: (5/5)
      • Comes with sea salt
  • 白虫草 / 广西虫草 / Guang Xi cordyceps
    • Smell: (4/5) sharpness when opened, slight smell; Taste (4/5): crunchy, tasteless, slightly sour slight
    • Add in boiling water: (4/5) crunchy, slightly sour
  • Cordyceps
    • Raw, cooked: not very nice aroma
    • Taste: doesn’t taste good

Special

  • Yeast extract / nutritional yeast
  • Salted egg yolk powder
    • Homemade recipe: dehydrated and blended [salted] egg yolk
  • Ajinomoto
  • Cheese
    • Cheese powder
      • Homemade recipe: Dehydrated and blended cheese
  • Sour cream powder
    • Homemade recipe: Dehydrated and blended sour cream
  • Cream cheese powder
    • Homemade recipe: Dehydrated and blended cream cheese

Sauces

  • Soy sauce / tamari (wheat free / gluten free)
  • Fermented shrimp paste / cincalok / belacan
    • With added salt
  • Tamarind paste / Asam Jawa
  • Sour cream
  • Cream cheese
  • Yoghurt

Liquids

  • Lemon juice
  • Lime juice
  • Vinegars
    • Apple cider vinegar
    • Red wine vinegar
    • Plum vinegar
    • Rice vinegar
    • Black vinegar
  • Wines
    • Red wine
  • Okinawa Shikuwasa juice
  • Anchovy fish juice
    • Ingredients: Anchovy, salt, water

Nuts

  • Almonds
    • Powder, diced, slices
  • Cashews
  • Peanuts

Animal fats

  • Butter
  • Ghee
  • Lard
  • Beef tallow
  • Duck fat
  • Goose fat

Vegetable oils

Fruit oils

  • Palm oil
  • Olive oil
  • Avocado oil

Nut oils

  • Peanut oil
  • Hazelnut oil
  • Walnut oil
  • Almond oil

Nut seed oils

  • Coconut oil
  • Macadamia oil

Seed oils

  • Palm kernel oil
  • Sunflower oil
  • Canola oil
  • Corn oil
  • Sesame oil
  • Rapeseed oil
  • Flaxseed oil / Linseed oil
  • Apricot kernel oil
  • Mustard oil
  • Hemp oil
  • Safflower oil
  • Castor oil

Sweeteners

  • Sugar / brown sugar
    • Not keto friendly
  • Honey
    • Not keto friendly
  • Coconut flower nectar (liquid / powder)
    • Not keto friendly
  • Stevia powder
    • Sweet, unique fragrance
  • Lakanto
    • Monk fruit sweetener + erythritol
    • Sweet taste, no smell
    • For sweetness, more quantity is required compared with stevia powder 
  • Monk fruit sweetener powder
    • Sweet, no smell
  • Erythritol
    • Cold, no smell

Extracts

  • Vanilla extract
    • Infused in alcohol
    • Aromatic, taste a little bit like detergent
  • Lime extract
    • Infused in alcohol
    • Super appetizing aroma
  • Peppermint extract
    • Distillation
    • Very powerful even with 1 drop, irritate eyes, overtake other aroma easily
  • Lemon extract
    • Cold pressed
    • Aromatic
  • Lemongrass extract
    • Strong aroma

Discussion

Feel free to leave a comment below, share with us your opinion and experience, or ask a question if you have any doubt regarding my commonly used herbs and spices for cooking. Thanks for reading.

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