Useless (or semi-useless) spices?

[Aiōn]

I'm sure it has it's uses but I have had to throw away 2 jars of asafoetida that were almost full because they had expired.

Also cassia (chinese) cinnamon, it's bitter and cheaper than ceylon cinnamon which is much sweeter and more delicate.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

Paprika has very mild spice, alright on eggs. Spicy paprika is better.

Go for Hungarian Paprika, it’s actually hot.

 

[Just don't like em.]

No wonder I dislike Greek food so much, hate anything with olives anyway.

Olives are amazing. I could live off of toasted pita bread with kalamata olives, humus/baba ganoush, and pancetta.

 

[Bunny Wigglesworth]

Cream of Tartar. It’s sat in the rack for years, never once needed it. I’m sure it’s useful for something but I’ve yet to have a recipe calling for it.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Cream of Tartar. It’s sat in the rack for years, never once needed it. I’m sure it’s useful for something but I’ve yet to have a recipe calling for it.

It's pretty much required for snickerdoodles or meringue. If you don't bake things like that often then it's not worth buying until you need it.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Fenugreek (dried pulverized seeds?). I've thrown it into rice and curries before, but it's not that satisfying. I don't remember why I bought it.

 

[innocent jogger]

Cream of Tartar.

My ex gf had that in her spice collection but she was into baking sweets. So it's useful if that's your thing, I've never used it myself.

Fenugreek (dried pulverized seeds?). I've thrown it into rice and curries before, but it's not that satisfying. I don't remember why I bought it.

I have come across recipes calling for pretty much every spice people can name at some point but never fenugreek. I even had a bottle of it once (it came with a gifted spice rack).

From the Wiki article you linked:

In the same way in Turkish cuisine fenugreek seed powder, called 'çemen', is used to make a paste with paprika powder and garlic to cover dried and cured beef in making pastirma/basturma. (Its name comes from the Turkish verb 'bastırmak', meaning 'to press').

[Insert Beavis and Butthead laughter here]

 

[kosmikulduzbok]

Breakfast potatoes, also referred to as home fries, are a popular breakfast or brunch dish. They are typically diced potatoes that are parboiled and then pan-fried with vegetables like peppers and onions. Home fries are a way to differentiate between diced potatoes and French fries, which are usually sliced and fried.

 

[HyperboreanRightsActivist]

Grains of paradise. So useless that the white man stopped using it for 300 years

 

[Afinepickle]

For all the people saying sweet paprika is tasteless if you actually want sweet paprika you can taste and you don't live in Eastern Europe or the Balkans your only real option is to order it online or dry your own peppers and make it yourself. That storebought 'Paprika' you see everywhere is completely flavorless though.

 

[High Level Rad Waste]

The most useless herbs are some of the dried equivalents of fresh ones. Fresh parsley is delicious and underrated, but dried parsley is flavorless and adds nothing to a dish. Even for the aesthetics fresh parsley looks better.

My other contenders are dried cilantro, dried basil, dried epazote, and dried rosemary.

give dried green spices a grind in a mortar, it works for bringing back the flavors. They're exclusively good for soups, sauces, and other wet dishes. The only spices that really works as a dry rub are paprika, garlic and various peppers.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

99% of what I own.
Buy a spice for one recipe only for it to never come up again.

 

[Thé au lait]

Thread tax: whatever the pajeet spice it is that makes their curries taste like heartburn/acid reflux and imparts no flavor besides "jeet"

It's good to sprinkle over certain Asian dishes ("five-spice" is better) in moderation. I could never see myself using a whole container at home in my lifetime.

Star anise is always in five spice (some others can be swapped out or substituted). I'd recommend infusing oil with it and using it in soups/stews/sauces rather than trying to sprinkle it onto stuff, in most cases.

I'm always confused by White pepper. Does anyone use it for anything?

I think it goes better with meat than black pepper does, it's got a duller taste

Not a spice. Whatever. That one black bean paste that's almost exclusively used for jajangmyeon(noodles covered in a black bean paste). Amazing noodle dish, but how the hell do I use the whole jar? I tried using it to make a lazy version of jajangmyeon. Still couldn't go through the stuff before it expired.

I can find uses for almost any spice, herb, or sauce by just making some instant ramen or rice. This? It's so single use it shouldn't be sold in anything but small containers.

"Jajang" (Koreans trying to say "fried sauce" in Chinese) is mostly fermented wheat, the soybeans are primarily there so it doesn't just taste like thick disgusting slop (even though they make it taste exactly like that anyway).
The unfried version is called "sweet wheat sauce" (甜麵醬 if you're looking in a store) and it's mostly used in Beijing for duck meat (Peking duck especially), but it's also good for your health since it lowers your risk of cancer and osteoporosis.
I've also met people who eat it as a snack with green onions, for some reason.

 

[TETRABAX]

The only thing I have used in this drawer is the apple pie spice flavor

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

The only thing I have used in this drawer is the apple pie spice flavor

I gotchu fam:

Oregano - Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza.
Rosemary - Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza.
Salt Seasoned - I don't know what that is. If it's savory, put it on eggs or whatever. If it's like Pink Himalayan Uranium Salt, you can use it to make ghetto gatorade.
Sesame Seed - Put it on stir-fry or hummus. You could theoretically grind them to make tahini, which is a hummus ingredient.
Ginger - You can use it on some of the same things that you would use Apple/Pumpkin Pie Spice with, like various baked goods, and many other dishes. Put it in pies, fried rice, chicken, curry, etc.
Nutmeg - Make stroganoff with it. Also anything you would use Apple Pie Spice with.
Old Bay - Ask Null. I have been putting it on homemade french fries.
Onion Minced - Inferior to fresh onions, but you can find places to use it, like burgers, fried rice, or something.
Onion Powder - Easy to use with minimal effort. Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza.
Crushed Red Pepper - Papa John's gives you these. Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza. If you grind it, you have cayenne powder.
Cumin - Put it in chili, anything Mexican like.
Fennel - Many sausages have fennel seeds in them. You could use it like that without even needing the sausage. I have put it directly in pasta.
Garlic Minced/Powder/Salt - Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza or eggs or almost anything. You can figure this one out.
Basil - Sprinkle it on pasta or your frozen pizza.
Paprika - I also put this in stroganoff. Depending on the flavor, you could do a lot with it. Europeans will judge you.
Chili Powder and Chipotle - Put it on stuff you want to be spicy, such as your pasta or frozen pizza. Make taco meat or something IDK.
Cinnamon - Do the cinnamon challenge while drunk.
Cloves - Put it in baked stuff. Wassail recipes usually use whole cloves, sometimes ground. You can then add grain alcohol to your wassail.

Pumpkin pie spice is generally a blend of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and sometimes allspice. It can also be used as a seasoning in general cooking.

 

[innocent jogger]

Paprika - I also put this in stroganoff. Depending on the flavor, you could do a lot with it. Europeans will judge you.

Cinnamon - Do the cinnamon challenge while drunk.

Cloves - Put it in baked stuff. Wassail recipes usually use whole cloves, sometimes ground. You can then add grain alcohol to your wassail.

Those are all great answers.

 

[Agoodpotroast]

Most of the “pumpkin spice” spices. Besides cinnamon, and Cinnamon still counts, I very rarely have to use cloves, anise or nutmeg for anything in my regular culinary rotations.

And gumbo file. I know it has a function but I don’t make gumbo enough and don’t see a significant enough effect to justify buying it

 

[Agoodpotroast]

I'm always confused by White pepper. Does anyone use it for anything?

I don’t know the difference flavor wise but I’ve heard it can be used for aesthetics. Some people don’t like their mashed potatoes to have freckles, for example

 

[Absolutego]

Honest question:
Dried or fresh, what do I get from Marjoram that I don't get from any other herb?
Thyme, Oregano, Basil even, are all more versatile and useful than keeping marjoram stocked.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Most of the “pumpkin spice” spices. Besides cinnamon, and Cinnamon still counts, I very rarely have to use cloves, anise or nutmeg for anything in my regular culinary rotations.

And gumbo file. I know it has a function but I don’t make gumbo enough and don’t see a significant enough effect to justify buying it

I mostly use clove and nutmeg for Swedish meatballs when I'm not baking desserts that contain them during the holiday season. Even then only in very small increments at a time.

I'll be honest, my mom and I have made gumbo a lot but never bother with gumbo file. Maybe less thick without it, but if not having it is not a deal breaker for her, then it's not for me. Especially if you use okra along with the roux to thicken it.

Dried or fresh, what do I get from Marjoram that I don't get from any other herb?

Marjoram is related to mint but more citrusy and woody tasting. It's popular to use on lamb or in Herbes de Provence mixes