Warm Spices

You know a warm spice when you meet one, whether you smell it wafting through the kitchen or taste it in a stew. That deep aroma and strong taste makes any dish richer. You’ll often find warm spices — such as ginger, allspice, cardamom, cloves, and coriander — partnering in recipes and spice blends such as garam masala and curry powder. They’re used extensively in sweets (pumpkin pies, gingerbread, spice cookies) but are important in savory dishes, too. In fact, warm spices can play a starring role in a wide array of dishes from, well, soup to nuts. Here are some suggestions for using these spices to enhance your cooking:

• Use to spice beverages, such as tea, coffee, eggnog, or hot cocoa. Add to warm milk for an evening toddy. Or use to make mulled beverages (wine, cider, juice).
• Add to puddings (rice pudding, tapioca, vanilla, and chocolate).
• Sprinkle in French toast batter.
• Add to eggplant recipes (as in moussaka, a classic Greek dish).
• Sprinkle on oatmeal or in granola.
• Add to sweet potatoes before mashing.
• Include in any recipe for baked fruits (pears, apples apricots).
• Sprinkle on lamb chops while cooking.
• Mix into meatloaf or chorizio ingredients before cooking.
• Sprinkle on popcorn (and add a sweetener, such as maple syrup or brown sugar).
• Add to cooked vegetables such as squash, cauliflower, red cabbage and sweet potatoes.
• Include in batter for quick breads (banana or pumpkin, for example) or yeast breads (such as raisin or egg bread).
• Fold into batter for bean or grain patties (chickpea or quinoa, for example).
• Toss with raw nuts (cashews, walnuts) and roast.
• Add to potpies (chicken, beef, or veggie).
• Stir into cream sauces, especially for use on pasta or seafood.
• Add to soups and stews, such as tomato, carrot, lentil, bean, or beef.

Any warm spice can be used individually as suggested above, but since they partner so well, consider combining. For example: Add cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg to sweet potatoes while mashing. (Include a little maple syrup or agave nectar, too!)

There are many more warm spices, of course. In ayurvedic cooking, for example, chiles, black peppercorns, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, cloves, coriander and cumin seeds are considered the warm spices. Mustard, cayenne, garlic, and horseradish are also warming.