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
Cantonese cuisine in contrast with their liberal use in other cuisines such as Sichuanese, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai and European. Garlic chives and coriander leaves are notable exceptions, although the former are often used as a vegetable and the latter are usually used as mere garnish in most dishes. In Cantonese cuisine, a number of ingredients such as sugar, salt, soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, vinegar, scallion and sesame oil, suffice to enhance flavour, although garlic is heavily used in some dishes, especially those in which internal organs, such as entrails, may emit unpleasant odours. Ginger, chili peppers, five-spice powder, powdered black pepper,