Essential spices for college students

What are the essential spices for college going students and for a person who plan to live alone in new city. let’s discuss! I have a very fresh memory when I set up my kitchen for the first time. I can say by experience that it’s quite overwhelming experience. Because when you set your mind for kitchen. you reach the grocery store or supermarket and you saw a range of spices on the shelf. Where your mind starts thinking that what should I buy ?

At last, you may end up with the spices that you are only going to use once in a month. That is why it’s important to know which essential spices you may need as college students. You can buy many spices if you love cooking and like to prepare new dishes every day. But if you are someone who is looking for basic spices then you may not need to buy many spices.

Few essential spices that work for most of the recipes are salt, black pepper, turmeric, red pepper flakes, oregano, garlic powder, ginger powder, cumin powder, ground cinnamon and nutmeg powder. It will give you a range of taste palate for various recipes.

List of essential spices for college students: 

Salt

The basic composition of salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). It’s one of the most important ingredients to prepare most of the savoury recipes. If you like eating simple stir-fried vegetable then you just not to sprinkle a small quantity of salt on the dish and then tossed vegetable a few times.

The major source of salt is seawater although most foods contain salt naturally such as vegetables, meats and fruits. But the quantity of salt in these food items time is very less. Salt not only adds salty note but also added as a preservative in some food items such as pickles. Salt enhances the overall taste of the product by suppressing the bitterness of food.

Black pepper

The name of black pepper plant is Piper nigrum, which belongs to Piperaceae family. Black pepper grows as a fruit known as a peppercorn. The spicy note of black pepper is similar to capsaicin. It mainly because of chemical compound piperine.

Black pepper used in many forms such as dried, ground and cooked forms. It’s known for its unique flavour and traditional mediational properties. You can add black pepper to soup, curry, steak, sauce, fish, meat, yoghurt, mashed potato and fruit salads et.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a flowering plant, Curcuma Longa belongs to ginger family Zingiberaceae Family. The roots of this plant used for cooking purpose. It’s roots further ground into powdered form.

Turmeric has warm, bitter, earthy and pepper notes with mustard-like aroma. You can use it in many dishes to add colour and flavours. It gives yellowish colour to any recipe. Apart from its use in food it also has many mediational properties such as reducing inflammation, pain and many other benefits.

You can use turmeric in curries, veggies, rice, soup and turmeric milk (quite popular to improve immunity) etc.

Red pepper flakes/Chilli pepper flakes

Red pepper is the fruit of a plant genus Capsicum, which has very spicy and pungent notes. This plant belongs to the Solanaceae family. If you like spicy food then it’s a must ingredient for your kitchen.

Red pepper used widely in many recipes to add heat and spiciness. It’s also a basic ingredient of red Chilli paste and hot Chilli sauce. And the best part is you can even grow this plant at your home.

Oregano

It’s a herb from the mint family (Lamiaceae). The leaves of oregano have light to dark green colour. It has a slightly bitter aroma, pungent flavour, earthy green note and mint note.

Oregano is a kind of ingredient that can be used in any recipe, it adds Mexican flavours to your recipes. You can use oregano in Italian cuisines such as pasta, pizza, spaghetti sauces, tomato-based sauces and it can be added to flavour home-baked bread. As a dry seasoning you can use oregano flakes on roasted, fried, grilled vegetables, meat and fish etc.

Garlic powder

Garlic powder is prepared by fine grinding of dehydrated garlic cloves. Allium Sativum is the name of the plant which produce garlic. This powder has garlic notes but not as vibrant as fresh chopped garlic and it also has a slightly sweet taste.

It is used to season vegetables and meat recipes, it can be added to bread to make tasty garlic bread, bruschetta and garlic toast. Also, you add garlic powder to prepare the sauce for salads, pickles and many Asian curries recipes.

When you live alone you might not care to buy small ingredients like garlic and ginger. These powders have quite a good shelf life hence you can store them for a longer period.

Ginger powder

Ginger is the root of a plant. Ginger extensively used in both forms fresh and dried. The dried ginger is further fine ground to produce the ginger powder. It has a strong aroma and pungent flavour. The dried powder of ginger can be store for one year.

Dry ginger is generally used in the kitchen to add flavours and aroma and it has many mediational benefits. If you have a cold you can prepare ginger tea for yourself. It’s also used in spices and gravies base preparation. You can use it in curries, soup, stews and also to prepare flavoured and herbal teas.

Cumin powder

Cumin is a flowering plant of Apiaceae family and plant name is Cuminum cyminum. Cumin is seeds of this plant. Cumin used in both forms whole and ground forms. it has a warm and earthy flavour. These seeds produce enhanced flavour when roasted.

Cumin is a staple ingredient for most of the Indian curries. It usually added to savoury recipes such as stews, meat, fish and vegetables. Roasted cumin powder used to add a nutty flavour to curd.

Ground cinnamon

Cinnamon is obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from genus Cinnamomum. Cinnamon has a distinctly sweet aroma which is derived from its essential oil and the principal component of this oil is cinnamaldehyde and few other constituent’s including eugenol.

It is used as a condiment and flavouring ingredient for a variety of cuisines, it goes well in savoury as sweet dishes. You can simply add ground cinnamon powder in breakfast cereal, smoothies, teas and apple pies etc.

Nutmeg powder

Nutmeg is the seed of several species of genus Myristica fragrans.  Nutmeg powder has a distinct pungent fragrance and warm sweet note. It’s used to flavour many sweets food items such as baked goods, pudding, breakfast cereal, potatoes and in confectionery. Also, nutmeg powder can be used in vegetables, sauces and sausages etc.

Nutmeg powder may produce some allergic reaction hence buy this powder only if you are not allergic to nutmeg powder.

If you buy these few spices then you will have everything to start cooking in your kitchen. With these spices, you can prepare both savoury and sweet recipes. Let us know if you find the article helpful.