What's your favourite herb/spice?

[Quackpot]

I keep finding myself using the same ones over and over. So what is your favourite herb or spice (or herb/spice blend) and why do you like it? Inspire me 🙂

Fresh coriander is my favourite. So bright and fresh. Coriander chutney is my favourite condiment.

I also love smoked paprika.

Couldn’t live without chilli or coriander, but my other fave is ground cumin. I airways put it in burritos or fajitas.
Ooh and garlic… couldn’t live without.

Garlic would be the most used in this house.
But we got a set of middle eastern spice mixes at Christmas, and loving the blends in there.

I can't pick just one. I love freshly grated nutmeg with spinach or mushrooms, and in bechamel (along with bayleaf). Decades ago I bought a jar of whole nutmegs with a tiny little grater included, and I've been using the grater ever since.

Cumin is wonderful, especially on roast cauliflower (along with paprika, smoked or otherwise). Oregano and basil for anything Italian/including a lot of tomato. Garlic in lots of things. Fresh parsley, especially in combination with lemon juice.

I grind black pepper and seasalt onto most savoury things as a matter of course. I'd miss salt and pepper more than anything else, I think.

I couldn't pick just one. I do always try to keep a pot of fresh basil growing but I'm also never without at least two bulbs of garlic in the kitchen. Then there's my chillis and paprikas. Oregano goes wherever basil does a lot of the time. It's too hard to decide.
I have a number of spice racks and the kids like to come and have a sniff of different ones to figure out what would go with what meal that night. I get DH on it too even though he can't cook at all.

Tarragon is amazing with chicken and fish.

Nutmeg is my favourite spice. I love it in savoury and sweet dishes. It smells amazing too.

For herbs it has to be fresh basil.

I'm using lots of coriander seeds. Tend to go sparingly on cumin as it can be overpowering. Cardamom, especially for rice dishes like pilaf. Fenugreek or Georgian blue fenugreek is fantastic and can be ordered online. It's also a component in the Georgian spice mix khmeli surely which is great as a meat rub or in stews.

Impossible to choose! But if literally just one, I choose cinnamon. Great in cakes, porridge, and I love it in tomato soup, and some other tomato based stews etc. And poached pears. And on custard...

I could never live with just one herb or spice. My all time favourite flavour is probably fennel seeds and i use them a LOT. But I use loads of garlic and ginger,, thyme, chilli and rosemary fresh. IN summer I love fresh parsley. I like fresh coriander but tend not to have it in. Fresh basil in summer too. If I could use mint in everything I would but DH and DS hate mint so I don't.

And then my herb and spice rack ingredients that get used the most are cinnamon, chilli, paprika, oregano, cumin, coriander. But I also love cloves, star anise, chinese five spice, nutmeg, turmeric, curry powder.... The list feels long.

Dill
Oregano
Parsley

Smoked paprika, it is SO GOOD. Especially the one you get in the pretty red tins.

I am a food grower so it is really hard to say.

They all have their places in different meals.

Fresh basil, coriander, bay, mint [Tashkent and Moroccan are amazing], fennel, oregano, parsley are all excellent and really only take a small amount in food to make a huge difference.

My favourite to grow though is Lemon Verbena. On my goodness the day is brightened just by running your hands through the leaves and inhaling the scent straight in.

Holy Basil/Tulsi is also such a wonderful scent, and exceptionally good for you. I sit with the tomatoes just stroking it in the summer.

I could go on and on but if you've never grown herbs just for your own mental wellbeing - Lemon Verbena and Tulsi will change your life.

I find the most versatile ones I use are garlic and lemon juice (not a herb/spice I know).

Aromat savoury seasoning perks up pretty much anything.

My favourite though is smoked paprika (the sweet one not the hot one for me), like @rbe78 says, SO GOOD.

Couldn't choose but my most used are

Smoked paprika
Chilli flakes
Ground cumin
Garam Masala

I could go on forever, I have about 60 jars!

Garlic and cinnamon

What I use depends on what I'm making but I use a lot of herbs and spices and don't really have a favourite. Looking into my spice cupboard I can visually tell I use a lot of - cumin (ground and whole), coriander (ground), dried fenugreek leaves, garam masala (I blend my own), paprika, fresh coriander, garlic, ginger, chilli powder, green chillies, oregano and thyme.

To a lesser extent I also use cloves, back cardamom, cinnamon (sticks and powder) and basil.

For home remedies and teas I use green cardamom, carom seeds and fennel seeds.

Also turmeric.

Ooh yes @TwentinQuarantino and Tandoori Masala.

I love fresh coriander, I put piles of it in curries/stir fries.

Spice wise I'm a big fan of smoked paprika and use it in lots of dishes.

Cumin and herbes de Provence would be the ones I would use most

Black pepper I use the most, but my favourite is fennel seeds.

Fresh coriander! I just love it so much.

Then dried oregano.

That's a good question but a hard one to answer. I use herbs and spices in pretty much everything and have a huge selection. My most used are probably:

Smoked paprika, the one in the red tin
Thyme, both dried and fresh
Ground coriander
Ground cumin
Tumeric, especially in scrambled egg

Smoked paprika for me too, just love it.