Quatre epices for Xmas Hampers

[achookwoman]

This is the first item in the goodies that I am making for Xmas Hampers

Quatre epices based on a recipe by Mark Best

This spice mix is mostly used in French cooking , but is also found in Middle Eastern Kitchens.
It is used to flavor Soups ,Stews, Vegetables. and added to Pates and Terrines.

10g of each, cloves,cinnamon,nutmeg,ginger and 20g white pepper.

It is best to use whole spices, as ground spices often have an anti caking powder added.

Add to TMX bowl and grind to a fine powder. Store in an air tight container.
Posted by

[Mary Brown]

Fantastic idea achookwoman.... looks great. What a lovely Xmas present...

[achookwoman]

Mary,  so easy in the TMX.  The aroma is amazing.  Looking for something to try it in.

[Mary Brown]

I can almost smell it from here 

[Bedlam]

I can almost smell it from here 

Me too, smells like Christmas

[judydawn]

Good one Chookie, have you come up with any recipes yet?

[achookwoman]

No Judy, but for some reason I keep thinking of sausages. Usually make Pate as gifts for Xmas, so this is there also.  Love a good terrine also.  Thinking, thinking.

Have also just made a sugar, Dutch Coco and ginger mix.  Very interesting.  Thought I might add it to a brown sug Pav.  Thinking thinking.  Any ideas welcome.



 

Good one Chookie, have you come up with any recipes yet?

[cookie1]

Would this be like a Christmas gingerbread smell Chookie?

[achookwoman]

Cookie,  it is more chocolate than ginger.  However I could add more ginger.  It is ........
2 tablespoons of Dutch cocoa
4   "               of demerara sug.
1 1/2   " of   ginger powder.

Could use it on top of hot chocolate or in hot choc pud or in a crumble.

[cookie1]

Yum

[johnro]

I was thinking dutch panckaes with a maple syrup cream Chookie or a spiced pumpkin cocoa -  when we spent a Christmas in San Francisco when the girls were quite young, we had many a cup of that delicious drink in the freezing cold it was lovely. From memory it was based on those flavours - so delicious!!!   

[achookwoman]

johnro,  sounds interesting.  You are taking my thoughts in a different direction.  Thanks

[andiesenji]

This is the basis of the traditional Shaker pumpkin pie spice  and apple butter spice, some time with the addition of mace in addition to the nutmeg.

I have a large collection of medieval and Elizabethan recipes and people are often surprised at how much pepper was used in sweets back then, and indeed up until the latter part of the 19th century.   It seemed to fall out of favor as the French master chefs had more and more influence on cooking and baking.  They favored more subtle flavors in sweets.
The Shaker communities had communal kitchens and collected and developed standardized recipes that could be relied upon to work every time, resurrecting some of the recipes from earlier centuries. 

The Shakers were a Christian sect that believed in gender equality (in 1780) and celibacy for all members (tough to sustain a community with no offspring) and were noted for their food, gardening, inventions (a Shaker invented the mechanical apple peeler) and their extensive herbal knowledge.
They were also conservationists long before it was even thought of in the rest of society.

[fundj&e]

The Shakers were a Christian sect that believed in gender equality (in 1780) and celibacy for all members (tough to sustain a community with no offspring)

you got me thinking how they did it

The Shakers did not believe in procreation and therefore had to adopt children or allow converts into their community. The adopted children were given a choice at age 21 whether to remain with the Shaker community or go their way into the world
thanks goolgle