Five-spice powder Five-spice powder Five-spice powder is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine and also used less commonly in other Asian and Arabic cuisines. Five-spice powder is used for cocktails as well. While there are many variants, a common mix is: Other recipes may contain anise seed, ginger root, nutmeg, turmeric, "Amomum villosum" pods (砂仁), "Amomum cardamomum" pods (白豆蔻), licorice, Mandarin orange peel or galangal. In Southern China, "Cinnamomum loureiroi" and Mandarin orange peel are commonly used as substitutes for "Cinnamomum cassia" and cloves respectively, producing a slightly different flavour profile for southern
Spice on a per-serving basis. A fresh spice, such as ginger, is usually more flavorful than its dried form, but fresh spices are more expensive and have a much shorter shelf life. Some spices are not always available either fresh or whole, for example turmeric, and often must be purchased in ground form. Small seeds, such as fennel and mustard seeds, are often used both whole and in powder form. To grind a whole spice, the classic tool is mortar and pestle. Less labor-intensive tools are more common now: a microplane or fine grater can be used to grind small amounts;