Impossible Seeds

Have you ever wondered why it's impossible to find paprika or curry seeds? Precisely because it is impossible. These commonly used spices do not come straight from a plant. They are, in fact, a mix of other spices. When a certain combination of spices is called for in different recipes it's convenient to blend these ingredients beforehand to eliminate the need for measuring each spice individually. 

One of the most widely-used spice blend is curry powder. Even though curry is commonly associated with Indian food the contemporary English use of the word curry is actually an invention that does not reflect any Indian food. Western curry is a standardized mixture close in flavor to the Indian sambar powder of dried red chiles, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, ground ginger, and ground turmeric.

Paprika is made of ground dried bell peppers or chili peppers, so it can range from mild to hot. Paprika is used as an ingredient in a broad variety of dishes not only to season but also to add color to rices, stews, and soups.

Dry rubs are mixed spices that are rubbed into meat before cooking. There is a wide range of them such as Old Bay, steak and BBQ seasonings, and chili powder (yeap, chili powder is also a spice blend, made of one or more varieties of chili pepper and usually blended with other spices including cumin, oregano, garlic, and salt). Chili powder is sometimes named after the type of pepper used, such as cayenne pepper. Salt is very important on dry rubs as it melts when in comes in contact with meat juices, electrons do their work and the salt, along with the other spices, gets through the meat.

A coffee grinder can be
used to mix spices.

There is a wide variety of other spice mixes such as taco seasoning (chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, cumin, salt), apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice) and Chinese five-spice powder (star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, fennel seeds). As mentioned before these are made for convenience but they also provides the opportunity to duplicate certain flavors more successfully.

If you have several spices on your garden and you are into doing the mixed spices yourself make sure to get an electric spice grinder. You can get one for about $25. A coffee grinder works too, just remember not to use the same grinder for spices and coffee, as the taste usually stays on the grinder and either your coffee will taste like spices or your spices will taste like coffee. (Editor's note: I'm pretty sure some people wouldn't mind having everything taste like coffee. Neither of us likes coffee very much though.)  

This is how a pepper should  look while
drying, notice it's all wrinkly.

Just for fun we tried making our own paprika and we failed. The first thing you need is some dried peppers. We grew some cubanelle peppers that resulted too hot to use on everyday dishes so we thought it would be a good idea to make paprika instead. Drying must be done in a dry (obviously, we are drying after all), dark place since sunlight bleaches color away and humidity is bad, I mean the enemy! Peppers in high humidity will get mold. Sadly that's what happened to our peppers. (Sniff sniff) We put the peppers in a brown paper bag and stuck them in the oven thinking they would be safe from the humidity. Not! Moldy peppers don't make for a good paprika. Now we are looking for a way to fight humidity in Puerto Rico as it is usually very very high. We've read that it helps if you use thin-walled peppers; thick peppers have too much moisture. We'll look into it and update with hopefully good news.

Go on, create your very own spice or mix and match for a great dry rub. Use your garden as your ally and do some experiments. Who knows, you might have the next chefs' favorite. Let us know about it, we always like good stories.