I’ve got:
- Svanetian salt
- khmeli suneli
- blue fenugreek
- marigold powder
- malic acid
- tartaric acid
- sodium citrate
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I’ve got mahlep, mastic, tapioca, German salad seasoning, Nigella seeds, black sesame, amba seasoning, a fish rub from Moose Jaw, blueberry powder, Greek grape molasses (Petimezi), Sour cherry glyko (spoon sweets), juniper berries.
I threw out my packet of Khmeli Suneli. I decided 6 years old was not fresh enough for a blend.
I have some baker’s ammonia but I haven’t used it yet.
I want to buy some food grade lye for pretzels.
“Unusual” depends on your baseline cooking culture, I guess.
Unusual for my own baseline are a pretty full pantry of east, southeast, and west asian ingredients, as well as central and eastern european ingredients.
Not unusual for me but likely unusual to others are ingredients like kokum / garcinia indica, dagadphool / black stone flower, javintri / mace, and more.
I use these on and off, but they might be unusual in other kitchens: xanthan gum, psyllium husk, agar agar, cassava and tapioca flours, several types each of rice, millet, and lentil flours, etc.
What Georgian dishes do you like to cook with the first four?
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I had mastic decades ago. Can’t remember what I bought it for. I had that ammonia-smelling leavening for some Greek Christmas pastry.
Juniper berries are pretty standard if you cook German recipes. I have nigella but again can’t remember for what.
I had or have kokum and kudampuli from when I was exploring Keralan cooking. What a great cuisine.
Georgian I’ve made mostly pkhali. I wish someone would open a good Georgian restaurant in a convenient location.
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So far, I have made khinkali, lobio satsivi, khachapuri, and kharcho.
I mostly use mastic and mahlepi in Tsoureki, Greek Easter Bread. The mahlepi goes rancid quickly, so I buy a fresh packet each spring.
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I think I used the mastic to make milk pudding or ice cream.
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Everything is probably “usual” to someone. Here’s some of the stuff I got for some specific reason that is hanging out in my cabinets or freezer, being not all that useful - at least so far!
- baking soda flavored with saffron (gift from a Ukrainian friend)
- black lava salt & herb salt (Iceland trip)
- crab paste, very large bag of star anise, fermented tofu (restaurant closing sale)
- torch ginger, dried galangal, tamarind paste (laksa project)
- very large bag of nonfat milk powder (chocolate chip cookie project)
- very large bag of yellow mustard seeds (on sale)
- matzoh cake meal (has to be Passover cookies, but damned if I can remember)
- squeeze packs of wine coolers (next door neighbor foisted them on me)
And here’s the stuff that might seem unusual, but I use it pretty often
- green bean starch
- kombu
- shrimp paste
- lime leaves, curry leaves
- furikake
- togarishi
- absinthe
- bonito flakes
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What do you do with green bean starch?
Sichuan mung bean jelly noodles. And I use it in place of corn starch - works good.
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where do you obtain these?
Any good size Chinese grocery would have it. I go to New Kam Man on Canal Street in Manhattan. Or you could just order it from Walmart!
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I am making an all pork version of these tonight
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