Allspice
On the First Day of Spicemas
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the spices advent calendar. My past experiences with advent calendars has been when they were given to my children, and each day held a piece of chocolate, which was fun for them and me… I haven’t done one for years but when I saw the spice calendar at Adagio Teas I knew I had to try it.
The first day I opened in the morning, really looking forward to seeing what I’d gotten - it was so hard to guess what the condition of the spices would be, what form they would take. How exotic would they be (I guessed not very…)?
The little packet is well sealed. It contained 8 grams of ground spice, which is roughly a tablespoonful. At the rate Allspice is generally consumed, that is several recipes worth! I immediately thought of baked goods, perhaps a cake, and then realized I wanted to do something different with it. Something more unexpected.
Allspice is a classic ‘sweet’ spice, warming, fragrant, and generally combined with other spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in baked goods here in the US. However, there are other things you can do with it!
I used it in two ways today, but we’ll only eat one of them… today.
Allspice Pickled Eggs
First, hardboil a dozen eggs. I highly recommend the instantpot method if you can.
In a small saucepan, combine:
1 c water
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp salt
5-6 cloves of garlic (I sometimes use up the itty-bitty cloves in this, since you don’t have to peel them)
2 bay leaves
2 hot peppers (I used jalpeno)
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole allspice
6-7 green cardamom pods
1 tsp coriander
Bring this to a boil, remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly while you peel your eggs.
Place the peeled eggs into a jar which you can close tightly (I like a quart or larger mason jar with a wide mouth). Pour the pickling liquid over them. Refrigerate for a week before eating, turning the jar over daily to move the spices and ensure all eggs are immersed.
I also wanted to eat allspice today, and as dinner plans involved pesto chicken, I opted to pair that with roasted veggies.
Allspiced Veg
Preheat oven to 400F and have a heavy baking pan ready.
3 turnips, cubed
2 carrots, cut into roughly 1” sections
8 oz radishes, halved
8 oz mushrooms, halved
Put the prepared vegetables into a large bowl and toss to coat with:
Olive oil
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tsp salt
pepper
Drizzle a little more olive oil on the pan, then spread the veg out in an even layer. Bake for about an hour, until fork-tender, carefully stirring every fifteen to twenty minutes.
The sweetness of roasted vegetables plays very well with allspice, and the earthy notes of cumin with just a touch of cayenne heat all work nicely together. This is a very good mix for roasted root vegetables.
I did use some of the calendar spice, and it was fresh and fragrant to my nose. I opted to use whole berries from my own spice rack for the pickles, as they will do better in that application. I hope this has you considering allspice in a new light!
I will be blogging the spice calendar, due to popular demand when I asked on social media, but it may be more thoughts and musings, perhaps a delve into the cookbook collection. I’m unlikely to be able to cook up something every day, although this will be my daily art for December, so who knows! We do have to eat, after all.
I know how I'm roasting veggies now!