What Spice Blends Do You Love to Use?
8It certainly doesn’t have to be Penzey’s but I know there are fans here. What are some spice blends you really USE – that aren’t just cluttering up the cabinet or ‘fridge door? Curry? Herbes de Provence? Jamaican jerk? Garam Masala? Sriracha? Za’ater? Shichimi togarashi ? Gochujang? Khmeli suneli? And what do you do with ‘em?
And what turned out to be a flash in the pan? 
- 13 comments, 28 replies
- Comment
Other than random penzey’s blends, one of my favorites was this Rachel Ray bump up your burger blend in a grinder top. I used it for burgers and it was very tasty. It didn’t last long on the market though.
Of my random Penzey’s I like the banking spice blend cause it’s got it all and is good to shake in like oatmeal and stuff.
Taco seasoning doesn’t count, lol
The three I use most are all from Penzeys:
Northwoods (salt, paprika, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, garlic, chipotle) is a long-time favorite for adding to vegetable or chicken/vegetable soups.
Northwoods Fire (salt, chipotle pepper, paprika, garlic, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, cayenne) goes in red cabbage soups and egg dishes.
Newly discovered Arizona Dreaming (ancho, onion, garlic, paprika, citric acid, lemon peel, chipotle pepper, red pepper, jalapeno, cocoa, smoke flavor) makes a great Southwest omelet.
I also use an apple spice blend (various brands) made from cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, on fruit or in fruit pies. Everything else is mostly single spices like paprika and black pepper.
Weavers Dutch Country
Farm Dust is our favorite, which is why it’s gone. Closest store is 2hs away and I don’t drive that way anymore.
@ybmuG - Farm Dust Spicy or regular? What do (did) you use it on?
@aetris Regular. We used it on eggs, vegetables, popcorn, corn on the cob, just about anything you’d put salt and pepper on. I know i can get it on the zon, but it’s more than twice what I was paying at the Amish store. But i may just have to bite the bullet. I do see you can get a large 20oz refill. Might just do that!
@ybmuG :https://weaversseasonings.com/store/
@bee1doll ooooh! Thanks! I’ll have to place an order. That’s about the prices I’d pay at the store. Just have to come up with $50 worth for free shipping. Probably won’t be hard…
I use Penzey’s Mitchell Street and Chicago Steak Seasonings on beef and chicken. (Steaks usually in my carbon steel pan on the stovetop and chicken usually broiled in my toaster oven.) Their Zataar seasonsing is good on a grilled cheese and their Florida Seasoned Pepper is great on eggs. i just tried Fox Point Seasoning on roasted asparagus and liked it a lot. Oh, the Zataar is also nice mixed with a good light extra virgin olive oil for dipping fresh bread into.
@ItalianScallion I use Penzey’s Quebec Beef Spice on steaks and burgers. I wonder if it’s much different than Chicago.
I love the California garlic that krogers has at the meat market. I always ask them to give me some in a container bc they don’t sell it and it can’t kind it anywhere. Penzeys has one that’s kinda similar but not quite it’s called California seasoned pepper
@Star2236 interesting, i use the California pepper and do not find it very garlicky. shrug, who knows
@Cerridwyn @Star2236 Try the Kinder’s Blend I mentioned below - it’s salt, black pepper, and garlic and you definitely taste the garlic.
@Cerridwyn @Kyeh
It’s the red and green pepper and onion that’s in both that makes them taste similar, along with the garlic.
My default go-to is still Italian seasoning from the bulk bins at my local Winco and Lawry’s seasoned salt, which was purchased in 2+ pound containers from Woot.
I suppose it’s also because I still have a lot of it.
/image seasoning from bulk containers
The one I use on almost everything is The Blend, from Kinder’s. My sister got me to try it and suggested putting it into a grinder because it’s kind of coarse.
They make other blends too, but the original is my favorite. The Penzey’s I like best is this Greek Seasoning; it’s great on sandwiches.
Japanese furikake is good on rice.
@Kyeh Yeah, I’d put it in a grinder.
@ItalianScallion That looks great
@Kyeh I didn’t make it.
@ItalianScallion Awwww … (I didn’t really think you did.
)
@Kyeh I found it odd these are in the condiment isle, not the spice isle at sprouts
@Cerridwyn That IS odd. Maybe it’s because they also make BBQ sauces and they just wanted to keep all the items from that brand in one place?
@Kyeh no clue. But could be
Colombo (west indies curry)
@chienfou - You use that a lot?
@aetris
Brought some back when we were in St Lucia / Martinique / Guadeloupe for 3+ weeks from Christmas until mid january. Home for 2 weeks now I’m in Costa rica. Haven’t had a chance to play with it much since we brought it home, but looking forward to it. Had a chance to eat several dishes that were prepared with it while we’re in the west indies. It was delicious.
I’m hooked on Famous Dave’s line of seasonings! The Devil’s Spit is “The Bomb” with a real kick of heat
and flavor! Haven’t tried the Blue Ribbon or Cajun Spice ones yet but I’m gonna keep an eye out for them! 
Hawaij for soup! In the early '80’s my mother volunteered at an archaeological dig in Israel and made friends with a Yemenite family who introduced her to this spice blend. She brought home a baggie from the shuk and we’ve been using it ever since (obviously not the same bag, but we did stretch it out over several years). The one I have now is from an international grocery store, but I think the blends are all pretty similar. It’s cumin, turmeric, black pepper, cloves and cardamon. It’s good on many things, but it’s labeled for soup and that’s mostly what I use it in. We had a friend bring over a dish once, he was like, I found this spice blend at the grocery store and it said it’s for soup, but I thought it would be good in this. And I was like, NO. ONLY FOR SOUP. There is also a hawaij for coffee which sounds very much like a masala blend, but I’ve never used it. But check it out! Hawaij. For soup.
@mossygreen What kind of soup do you put it in?
@Kyeh My experience is that it is good in most soup, but maybe not something delicate it could overwhelm? It’s a strong flavor.
@mossygreen Good in bean and lentil soups, I bet.
I love Penzey’s spices! My favorites are Chicago Steak, Italian Blend, Herbs de Provance, Jerk for pork & Barbecue 3000! That just the top 5. Not counting the baking spices. We have an actual chef living upstairs (my daughter
) so we cook almost every night. FYI Penzeys is having a gift card sale $35 for $50 card! They have both online & brick/mortar stores. Large variety of spices. Good quality spices and reliable service.
@jkawaguchi I was just about to post this same thing about the gift card sale, but I’ll say this instead: if you’re a Penzey’s customer, you have to get on their email list to see special deals like this!
@ItalianScallion @jkawaguchi absolutely
and unless you (edited for wrong thread) you will enjoy them too (the emails that is)
My own taco spice mix, well not my own, I found it online but it is better than the mix you buy
@Dakini Recipe… ?
@Dakini I do often make my own blend too. For convenience sake, I do buy pre-mixed blend that Thrive Market (online) sells. It’s really good & about half the salt of the more commercial varieties we’re all used to.
@tohar1 Is Thrive really worth it? Their hard sell kind of turned me off.
@aetris I don’t disagree with you on the “hard sell” part, but I do like their products & have been a member & ordered from them for probably 6 years. Not sure where you live, but up until a couple years ago, we couldn’t get most of the “healthier” products where I reside. Now, just for the convenience of it all, I maintain my membership and order about once a month from them.
@Dakini @tohar1 FYI, the Penzeys Original Taco Seasoning contains paprika, salt, onions, lactose (milk), dextrose, corn flour (corn, lime), tomato powder, cumin, garlic, oregano, black pepper, cocoa powder, and allspice.
I LOVE me some spice, and found Flat Iron Pepper Company online several years back. Their tagline is “You’ll never go back to red pepper flakes” and they are 100% correct. A zillion times better flavor than the “old grey mare” you’ll find at your local pizza joint. They have a bunch of different blends & I haven’t had one that I didn’t care for! There’s 3 for sure that I’d say you’ll find in my spice cabinet literally all the time… “Hatch Valley Green”, “Four Pepper Blend” & “Dark & Smoky” (try the BBQ rub version of this one as well!)