Mexico
SEASONINGS
The chile pepper is the cornerstone of Mexican seasoning – fresh, cooked, dried, smoked, ground with salt and lime. Mexicans use cilantro, cumin, cinnamon, peppercorn, cloves, garlic, and onion extensively. Also, some native, often regional, ingredients:
- Epazote, a strong and earthy herb for beans and quesadillas
- Mexican oregano with more citrus and licorice notes than the regular;
- Papalo, an exotic herb which tastes somewhere between arugula, cilantro, and rue;
- Achiote/annatto, peppery spice, and reddish-brown coloring agent.
Some traditional spice blends include:
TAJIN – dehydrated lime, salt, dried ground chilies – used in fruits, vegetables, and snacks for a spicy and tangy kick. Used to sprinkle fruits, veggies, toppings for popcorn, nuts, chips, and aguas frescas.
MOLE SPICE BLEND – dried chilies, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cumin, allspice, cacao.
BARBACOA SEASONING – Used in traditional barbacoa, a mixture of guajillo chiles, cumin, cloves, black pepper, and bay leaves is common, sometimes blended with vinegar and other spices to marinate lamb or goat.
SAUCES
Mexican cooking embraces the concept of recado or seasoning pastes, where spices and chilies are ground together to create complex flavor bases.
MOLE SAUCES is a complex category of thick, rich sauces made of 20-30 ingredients and can take days to prepare properly. Key components are chiles, nuts or seeds like almonds, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, spices like cinnamon, cloves, cumin, anise, and something sweet, like chocolate, fruit, and sugar. The main ones are sweet and spicy, chocolaty mole poblano, complex and bitter mole negro, lighter and fresher green mole verde, herby, and tangy yellow mole amarillo. Moles are considered a Mexican dish in sauce form, commonly served over meats, with eggs or enchiladas.
GUACAMOLE – both a sauce and a dish made with mashed avocados, lime juice, cilantro, onions, tomatoes, and chilies.
ADOBO is a marinade-style sauce made with dried chiles, vinegar, garlic, paprika, tomatoes, onion, cumin, Mexican oregano, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Adobada is Spanish is ‘marinated’, and it can refer to different types of meat as well as al pastor (spit roast) marinade.
SALSA ROJA is a classic red table sauce of red tomatoes and chiles, onion, and garlic that can be served raw, like pico de gallo, or roasted. Used in many dishes and as a table condiment, represents essential heat in Mexican cuisine.
SALSA VERDE – is a tomatillo, serrano or jalapeño, cilantro, onion, and lime juice sauce, fundamental to everyday cooking, used both raw and cooked for tacos, enchiladas, and as a table sauce.
PIPIÁN SAUCE – made from ground pumpkin seeds, tomatillos, and chilies such as poblano, serrano and jalapeño. Similar to mole, but lighter, served with carnitas, as an enchilada sauce, with roasted poultry.
ACHIOTE PASTE / RECADO ROJO – achiote/ annatto seeds, oregano, cumin, black pepper, garlic, cloves, cinnamon. Frequently used in Yucatan cuisine to marinate meats and fish, and flavor rice dishes.
Syrian Arab Republic
SEASONINGS
Syrian food is fragrant, colorful, spiced, and moderately heated. Mint, parsley, and cilantro are used extensively, and thyme, in dried form, features a popular za’atar mix. Spices are used even more generously than herbs – cumin, sumac, coriander, paprika, allspice, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, mahlab, and mastic are staples. Fragrance comes from rose petals, orange blossoms, and saffron.
Syrians like their food tart, so they heavily use citrus, sumac, and fruit molasses – a thick, concentrated syrup, particularly from pomegranates.
One of the star spices in Syrian kitchens is Aleppo pepper – sun-dried, coarsely ground, and packed with character. Its popularity stretches well beyond Syria, finding a place in Turkey, Lebanon, and across the Mediterranean and Middle East. Peppers themselves came a long way before becoming a Syrian staple. Native to the Americas, they traveled through Spain and North Africa, eventually arriving in the Ottoman territories. Along the way, new varieties emerged, and one of the most celebrated was the Halaby pepper – Aleppo. As a major hub of the trade, Aleppo was popular. Today, though, the original Aleppo pepper has become harder to source due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, and much of what’s available now is grown in neighboring Turkey.
What makes it special is its balance: a deep, smoky flavor with natural saltiness and earthiness, plus a gentle kick of heat – milder than cayenne but hotter than jalapeño. Instead of blasting you with spice, it layers in complexity and depth. Toward the end of the pepper season, farmers and home cooks in Aleppo turn their surplus into a rich red paste known as debs flefleh, or ‘pepper molasses.’
In Syrian cooking, a few spice mixes show up everywhere—like za’atar, baharat, and the Aleppo seven-spice blend.
ZA’ATAR spice mix – thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds, and salt.
BAHARAT / 7 SPICE MIX, a complex Arabic spice blend that can include black pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, and sometimes paprika.
ALEPPO SEVEN-SPICE local Syrian variation, whose constituents may vary but usually consist of allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves, all ground into fine powder.
SAUCES
MUHAMMARA – roasted red peppers, walnuts, Aleppo pepper, garlic, olive oil, breadcrumbs, and pomegranate molasses.
TARATOR – sauce made from tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and water. It’s used as a dip or a sauce for falafel or fish.
SHATTAH – A hot sauce made from red chili peppers, garlic, and salt. It’s similar to North African harissa but with its own Syrian character.
TOUM – A strong garlic sauce made by emulsifying garlic with oil, lemon juice, and salt.
