Allspice or pimenta is a fragrant culture from the Caribbean islands. Allspice peas collected the smell of 3 plants: cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
Allspice is often used in dishes, as it harmonizes with dishes of meat, fish and vegetables. Often aromatic seasoning is added to mulled wine, tea and coffee. According to the chefs’ recommendations, spices should be put at the beginning of cooking, as it needs to open up to give off taste and aroma.
The Difference Between Allspice and Black Pepper
Fragrant has no kinship with sweet and hot pepper. Since it is the dried fruits of the myrtle tree. Very often it is confused with black pepper peas. These are 2 different cultures. Black pepper — belongs to the pepper family. The fruits of the plant are black, small and look wrinkled, the taste is sharp with bitterness. In dishes, allspice is added more often than black. It differs in: smell, size, taste and useful properties.
How to Choose and How to Store Allspice?
Sweet peas are used in a ground and whole form. A high-quality product has a diameter of 6-9 mm, a dense, solid, brown shell. To verify the authenticity of the product, the peas are placed in a glass and filled with water. If they haven’t surfaced, then the spice is real. The shelf life is 24 months. Ground allspice quickly loses its flavor. Therefore, you need to grind the peas before cooking. If ground spice is purchased on the market, it is poured into a glass jar and stored for no more than 60 days.
How to Cook with Allspice
Cooks called pimenta peas a unique spice that is used in its whole or powdered state. It is added to cold and hot dishes, canned food, sauces and confectionery.
The finished seasoning is used in the following cases:
– To add a piquant note to meat and poultry.
– It is part of the spices for kharcho and curry sauce.
– To saturate the aroma of marinades, apple sauce, compotes and pastries.
– It will be a good addition to barbecue and tomato paste.
What Spices are Combined with?
To make the dish fragrant, you need to know which herbs are combined with each other. To impress guests with your culinary masterpieces, you need to know how to choose the right spices:
– Suitable for meat — pimenta, cumin, thyme, peppermint, oregano, black and hot pepper, onion and turmeric.
– For fish — allspice, bay leaf, ginger, onion, dill, mustard seeds, thyme.
– Baking and drinks are flavored with allspice, orange or lemon zest, anise, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom.
How to Replace Allspice
If there was no necessary spice at home, it can be replaced with ingredients with a similar taste:
– The best option is a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
– It can be replaced with cloves, but since it is very fragrant, it is added in small doses. If you need to take 1 tsp of pepper for cooking, it is replaced with ½ tsp of cloves.
Allspice has a strong aroma and can drown out taste buds. Therefore, cooks recommend adding 10 peas per 1 kg to cold dishes, 3 peas per the same volume to hot dishes. It is also necessary to take into account that the spice is part of many seasonings.
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