My exposure to chinese five spice was limited to the time I spent in college and graduate school. Confusion building is what we called those times when the professors would go back and forth about the requirements for some exam or paper.
I’m not sure why we called it confusion building. Maybe because it was just like one of those riddle questions, where you know that the answer comes from two different sets of rules, and if you aren’t careful you might apply one rule instead of the other.
The reason this got so frustrating is that when you were doing it yourself, even if you had been introduced to both sets of rules, you couldn’t easily switch between them. In fact, I don’t think anyone could. It’s easy enough to say that you have to treat a paper like an essay, but actually doing it is something else again.
In practice we used a trick I now call reduction to absurdity. It consisted in asking whether a stupid solution would work. If the answer was yes, then we knew that our first solution wasn’t really a solution at all.
A lot of people are getting caught up in the confusion building. You might be one of them. It is not going to do you any good if you do not know everything about chinese five spice. This is a very common occurrence in these times. That’s why it’s so important that you read this article.
If you want to get a picture of how confused things can get, here’s a simple recipe for Chinese Five Spice. It’s made from Cinnamon, Cloves, Fennel Seed, Star Anise and Szechuan Pepper. That’s five ingredients. The recipe adds that all five spices should be used in equal amounts. Notice how this is different from the usual way of ordering spices: in the usual way, cinnamon is more common than cloves, and star anise is less common than fennel seed. The recipe seems to be saying that equal amounts of each of these five spices should be used. But if so, why is there not a sixth spice?
The recipe also says that these five spices are “preferred” but not absolutely necessary for Chinese Five Spice. Why are they preferred? Chinese Five Spice is supposed to be a blend of many different spices; why is it especially important that all of these spices be present? And what does “preferred” mean anyway?
So here’s another question: why did I write about this question? Because I think it might have been useful. If you have ever wondered whether chinese five spice was only an arbitrary combination of spices or whether it was particularly delicious, then maybe my blog will help you decide
My name is Greg, and I want to share with you a great product that I have found in the past few months. This is a spice mixture called chinese five spice, and it’s really fantastic. I’m sure you’ve heard of Chinese food before. It’s really popular, but a lot of people think the dishes are kind of bland because they don’t use much salt or pepper or other seasoning.
I’ve had chinese food before and didn’t think much of it. But there was one dish I really liked, and that was the beef and broccoli. The flavor was just perfect. It wasn’t too sweet or salty, it wasn’t greasy or oily, and it wasn’t bland like most of the other dishes I had tried before.
Well, after I tried this dish I did some research and found out that what made this dish taste so good was a spice mixture called chinese five spice. So if you’re a fan of chinese cuisine then you need to try this stuff!
As an article of food, chinese five spice is a relatively modern invention. It is a blend of traditional chinese herbs, but the taste is not as old as Chinese culture itself.
The story of how this particular spice came to be used by the people of China is interesting. The story has two parts, each equally important to the story.
The first part concerns the history of spices in China, where until recently spices were rare and prized. In ancient times only the king had access to them; most spices came from India, brought across the Himalayas.
In time China established its own trade with India, and gained access to spices through its own trade routes. But when China’s Emperor Qin Shi Huang seized power in 221 B.C., he ordered all books burned except for those that dealt with medicine and divination. This decree effectively halted China’s natural scientific progress for more than 2,000 years.**
Even after the decree was lifted, there was still little incentive to study science because most Chinese believed that man’s proper place was at the bottom of the universe; their gods lived in the sky and meddled with earthly affairs only rarely and then mostly to punish man for his hubris.”**
The second part concerns a legend about a
This spice is a blend of cinnamon, star anise, ginger, cloves and fennel seeds. It is supposed to be good for digestion and has a mild numbing effect. Traditional Chinese medicine uses it to treat arthritis, joint pain and rheumatism. It is also used as a flavoring in curries and other dishes.
Taste chinese five spice on its own and you will find it a bit overpowering because of the clove taste.
Chinese five spice is a traditional blend of spices used in Chinese cuisine. It typically consists of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper (hua jiao), and fennel seeds. The name comes from the five elements: earth (cloves), fire (chilli), water (fennel seeds), wood (cinnamon bark) and metal (star anise). In traditional Chinese medicine, it is used to treat indigestion, diarrhea and intestinal gas.
Cloves have been used for centuries as an anti-nausea treatment. Aromatherapists also use clove oil to relieve toothache pain.*
Fennel seeds are believed to freshen a person’s breath after eating. They are thought to give strength to those who consume them and may help in dealing with flatulence or bloating.*
Cinnamon bark contains eugenol, a chemical that gives it its distinct flavor and aroma. It has long been used in dentistry due to its antibacterial properties.*
Star anise contains anethole which has sedative properties, making this ingredient excellent for people suffering from insomnia or anxiety.*
Chinese five spice is believed by some cultures to improve circulation and the flow of blood*.”
