Chinese 5 Spice Powder??

Question

We are going to make some Asian BBQ Marinade and one of the ingredients is Chinese 5 spice powder. We looked at the store and could not find it. Can we make our own?? What are the 5 spices?? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Umm Yeah, what Anthony and Zoltan said.  I've also seen the star anise at some of the Trader Joe's if you have them in your area.

Answer 2

The ingredients are: star anise, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and black pepper. Often, garlic, salt and fennel are added to this mixture but the '5 spices' are the ones above. Just mix fairly equal amounts of all 5 spices together if you have them and can't find 5 spice powder. The star anise is the most important flavouring but the other 4 work well without it as an interesting mix of flavours on their own...you can call it Chinese 4-spice mix!

Answer 3

what anthony said...best to buy fresh spices at  chinesse or indian  food stores..they have them too. you can also buy a motar and pestle ..to break them down makes the job easier and keeps the flavour wholesome ..you can use a electrical grider but it spoils the flavour..another thing you can do prior to griding them down is to heat up a wok and just for a minutes or 2 stir and toos the spices to realease thier full flavour...