Recently I have been writing about South Asian cuisines at the multiculinary Australian table. Spices are a key element in them, giving dishes their characteristic flavour. I felt it was time to explore their place at the Australian table.
Where to start? Jacqui Newling in Eat Your History gives a list of spices commonly used in colonial Australia: ‘Old World Classics such as caraway, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and mace (also from the nutmeg tree), mustard and black pepper and white pepper, and New World allspice (Jamaican pepper or pimento), and cayenne (chilli) powder). Other more ‘exotic’ or less frequently used spices, such as cardamom, cumin and turmeric, could be purchased from speciality import merchants and chemists.
