What is your favorite spice?

You’ve probably guessed that mine is cardamom (although some of you still think I’m the mother of some kid named Karda).

Now that we’re well into the holiday cooking season, I was wondering what spices you guys like to use. The reason I love cardamom so much, is first, it has a very lovely seductive scent, and then secondly it is somewhat versatile, being used extensively in Indian cooking, and Swedish baking, two rather disparate cuisines, but so tasty in both.

I had the pleasure of visiting a spice store last week and they not only let you smell the spices, they let you taste them as well. That was really enjoyable. I probably sampled 100 spices, or spice blends. They had one station that was dedicated just to different kinds of chili powders, from hot to mild, to sweet, to smoked and some from all over the world. They also had another station dedicated just to curry blends from countries around the globe, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, India and Ethiopia. I was in curry heaven.

Apparently they have these Savory Spice Shops all over the place, and you can also shop online.

So Jellies, what’s your favorite spice?