Allspice

[tancowgirl2000]

I'm baking Pumkin cookies today and was wondering, can I get away with using just all spice in place of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger, or can I just add some in. I ask this cause I apparently dont have ground cloves like I thought....or can i just omit the cloves?

Anything is better than nothing....

Thanks
Tanis

[jennyema]

Allspice isn't "all spice" as in a spice mix, if that is your question. It is a berry that is ground up or used whole. It tastes nothing like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger, but rather has its own distinct flavor.

If the issue is not having any cloves but having the other spices, you could omit the cloves, sure. It would taste a bit different without them, but unless you love cloves, you might not notice.

[tancowgirl2000]

I ended up doing a search on Allspice, and found that its really not what I thought it was, but decided that I would just omit the cloves. Tastes just fine.....thanks

[Konditor]

Allspice – usually known as pimento outside the USA – is the dried unripe berry of a tree native to the West Indies & Latin America. It is the only major spice grown, on a commercial scale, exclusively in the Western Hemisphere. The name is due to its flavor, which resemebles a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I always substitute allspice for cloves in recipes. The mere scent of cloves alone is something I regard as absolutely intolerable. (Peppermint is perhaps the only other flavor to which I have deep-seated antipathy.)

I recall a day in cooking school in which one of my classmates dispensed gifts: Bay leaves, cardamom pods, nutmegs with the mace blades, and whole allspice berries that had been brought to her by her sister. All of the items were grown on their family’s property in Granada.

Three of my favorite uses for allspice: In plum chutney, tomato marmalade, and on the sweet side, in a custard to serve with dried Mission figs.

[jkath]

Allspice has been a godsend to our family -
whenever my sister is visiting, I omit cinnamon in recipes, as she is quite allergic to it, and replace it with allspice.

Konditor, do you have a favorite holiday cookie recipe you would share with us? Your recipes are always so remarkable. Thank you.

[WayneT]

I have been known to be wrong, well once anyway, but after gleaning through "tancowgirl2000's" Post and the replies, I would not be surprised if instead of ALLSPICE she actually meant Mixed Spice.

[debthecook]

Many think Allspice is all spices. I love that berry, I can't get enough in a Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken recipe I have that is overwhelmed with the berries.

[WayneT]

Originally Posted by debthecook

Many think Allspice is all spices. I love that berry, I can't get enough in a Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken recipe I have that is overwhelmed with the berries.

Hey, deb, Don't tantalise the old tastebuds like that. Have you posted that Jamaican Stew recipe yet?

[Konditor]

Konditor, do you have a favorite holiday cookie recipe you would share with us?

Jkath: Your request has opened a huge cookie-jar of possibilities! I’ve been hoping to contribute an article on "Holiday Cookies" to the eGullet.com site (to which I contribute frequently); but so far this month my time is quite crunched – and, what’s more discouraging – I am nearly going out of what’s left of my mind searching for some recipes that should be filed in my international cookie collection. “That’s the way the cookie crumbles� has acquired a sad new meaning!

A cookie I really enjoy (in a “guilty pleasure� sense – that is, eating them brushed with homemade pear or plum jam while no one else is around) would be Hazelnut Shortbread. Happiness in every tasty bite. And Fresh-Ginger Cookies also have a real comforting quality to them. My favorite Christmas-season bar cookies are probably spicy Chocolate Lebkuchen (which must always be made imperatively for Dad when I visit my parents during the Holidays) and seasonally habit-forming Pecan-Fruit Bars, Pumpkin-Date Bars, Marshmallow "Winter" Squares, Coconut-Cherry Macaroons, Spice Drops with Cider Icing, and Chocolate-Orange Sandwich Cookies (the latter being one of my interpretations of Oreos).

Several traditional European specialties which keep me hovering at the sweets tray: Austrian Jam Rings, Bruna Flarn (Swedish Yule lace cookies), Makronstaenger (Danish Macaroon Bars), Kongevifter (Norwegian Royal Fans), Lemon-Lime Madeleines and Dutch Zebras.

Plus: Panforte – the Italian confection that’s a cross between candy & cake. And, also from the Italian repertoire, Anise Cookies.

[tancowgirl2000]

No no no WayneT....I know the difference between the two before, But I also knoew that all spice was used in Pumpkin pie. I just thought after reading about it, because it says it has the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg, ect, I just thoght maybe I could use just the Allspice. But for future needs I believe I should add the "mixed spice" to my cubboard. Just to find out what the equivilants would be.

Thanks for all your input guys. It helped me quite a bit!