Chinese Five Spice Powder

Five Spice Powder Five-spice powder is a convenient seasoning in Chinese cuisine. It incorporates the five basic flavors of Chinese cooking — sweet, sour, bitter, savory, and salty. It consists of Chinese Tung Hing cinnamon (actually a type of cassia), powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of huajiao (Sichuan pepper), bajiao (star anise), rougui (cassia), cloves, and fennel seeds. The formulae are based on the Chinese philosophy of balancing the yin and yang in food.

There are so many "recipes" for five spice blends on the Internet, most of which concentrate on five kinds of spice: star anise, sichuan peppercorns, cassia (a type of Asian cinnamon, you can substitute regular cinnamon), and fennel. It seems that people take the "five" in "Five Spice" to mean a blend of five different spices. This is not entirely correct. The "five" in Five Spice actually refers to the balance of five basic elements: earth, fire, water, air, and metal. The Five Spice powder was originally used in Chinese medicine to restore the balance of the five elements in the Chi or the life energy in our bodies. So, besides the five basic spices, Five Spice powder may contain other spices such as coriandar seeds, cumin or anise seeds (instead of fennel seeds), black or green cardamom, and even nutmeg.

Traditional Five Spice Powder Recipe

2 teaspoons of Szechuan peppercorns
8 star anise
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds

In a dry skillet, roast the Szechuan peppercorns by shaking the pan over low to medium heat until the aroma of the peppercorns is released (about three minutes).
Grind the roasted peppercorns and star anise in a blender or pepper mill.
Strain the blended seasonings.
Mix in the ground cloves, ground cinnamon ground fennel seeds.
Grind the seasonings until very fine.
Store in an airtight container.

Use five-spice powder sparingly, as it can be quite pungent

Chez Pim's Five Spice Powder

"In my own Five Spice blend, I started out with equal amount, by weight, of the five basic spices, though recently I've been using cumin seeds instead fennel seeds. I found that the mix of star anise, cassia and fennel seeds, all providing strong anise-y notes, became a little overpowering, so I opted for cumin seeds, which are very similar to fennel seeds but a little less anise-y and a bit more earthy. I also cut down the amount of clove by half and added coriandar seeds and (sometimes) black cardamom to my blend, following the advice of a spice maker I knew in Bangkok's Chinatown."

30g (1oz) star anise
30g (1oz) cassia (or cinnamon)
30g (1oz or 5 tbsp) sichuan peppercorn
30g (1oz) cumin seeds
15g (0.5oz) clove
7g (0.25oz) coriandar seeds
black cardamom (to taste, optional)

On a dry pan over medium heat, roast each spice separately until just fragrant. They roast at different time so the easiest and safest thing to do is use a small pan and roast each one separately. Let the spices come back close to room temperature before grinding.

Depending on the size of your grinder, you might need to grind the spices in batches. In this case, it helps to grind each one separately as well. Blend all the ground spices together well in a large bowl before transferring to spice jars.