I love cooking, and I cook every day for me and my wife (home office since 2008 helps there), and I love hearing about new things. I have the book “The Science of Cooking” which was fascinating.

  • Interesting, never heard of rue. Translated it to German and never heard of Weinraute either :D I’ll have a look at the store the next time. And I’ll also give sumac a try.

    Caraway is very commonly used in Germany, but my South African wife does not like it, so I very rarely use it.

    I must say I’m a bit lazy with herbs, and I just buy “italian herb mix”.

    For other spices, I always have chili (we love hot), pepper, salt, tumeric, all-spice, one hot curry madras mix, and nutmeg.

    Depending on the recipe, I also have a lot of different dried chilies, and usually some standard fresh ones (jalapeños and habaneros)

    One thing I’d like to recommend you: toasted ground coriander seeds. Toast them carefully over low heat until they release oil, grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. Use for most meat dishes, but also goes into some salads. Widely used in South Africa, especially in their traditional Boerewors, which is why I stock it.

    •  memfree   ( @memfree@beehaw.org ) 
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      28 months ago

      Oh, I bought it as a live plant. We’ve had it in the ground for several years now. Even when the rosemary bush died in the cold, the rue lived on. Our thai hot pepper plant is in a pot and has to come in before it frosts. Of course we always have to buy new basil and cilantro seedlings each year. You can’t stop mint from coming back – same goes for perilla. Anyway, sample links to seeds: earthcareseeds and/or seedneeds.

      • I’ve had a cactus die from lack of water, my wife is the green thumb person and only grows chili plants ;) we only have a balcony, so not that much space. According to Wikipedia, rue is European, so I still have hopes of seeing it at the store.