chinese five spice blend

Amys Gluten Free Pantry

I love discovering spice blends and making up my own. My 20-year old Braun spice/coffee grinder finally gave out and I just bought a new one, a little Krups that is wholly dedicated to spices. You can buy Chinese Five Spice in the store, which is fine.Williams Sonoma has a lovely blend that contains all of the ingredients below, or order your own at Amazon. Or better yet, splurge on the twenty bucks it takes to buy a spice grinder and go wild. You’ll be so glad you did.

I’ve found a few different iterations of this mix. Some have ginger, some have cloves, but I like the classic. Intended to incorporate the five main flavors of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent, it provides an interesting balance and complexity especially for those of us with nightshade allergy.

I’m posting this recipe now because I’ve recently used this blend in a number of recipes. Roasted Pork Chops with a demi-glace and chutney to follow along with Butternut Squash-Pumpkin soup.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes
Special equipment: spice grinder

equal amounts of:

roasted and ground fennel seeds
roasted and ground pink peppercorns
ground star anise
ground cloves
ground cinnamon

  1. Place fennel seeds into heated sauté pan over medium heat and roast for 30 seconds until they begin to brown. Remove and grind. Set aside
  2. Place pink peppercorns into same hot sauté pan and roast for 30 seconds until they begin to brown. Remove and grind. Set aside.
  3. Grind star anise and cloves, separately.
  4. Combine equal amounts of all ground spices. Store in airtight jar.

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