Is Bina Insane | Imamother

poelmamosh

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:09 am

Raisin wrote:

Am I the only person who thinks thyme tastes of mould? Both me and my husband don't like the taste, so I always skip it and replace with an italian herb blend.

Wow, you all have sophisticated spice cupboards. I have a fair amount of spices but nothing like some of you.

I use a lot of cumin and turmeric and curry powder. Also love the pereg shwarma mix.

Whenever I cook for my extended family, I have to skip any thyme and rosemary, or I get complaints...I usually replace with marjoram, which is sweet and kinda mild.

PinkFridge

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:10 am

Raisin wrote:

Hey, for those of us who grew up with spices that could be counted on one hand, this is sophisticated.
And re your feelings about thyme, we all have our tastes. I don't care much for curry. Maybe in small amounts. I once had a salad from The Silver Palette (not Platter) that has it, and I liked it so I bought it, and have used it rarely since.

JoyInTheMorning

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:19 am

I started out a very basic set of herbs and spices. All we had in my home growing up for cooking was salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and bay leaf. For baking we had cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and various extracts. But it wasn't until I started cooking in high school that I convinced my mom to get basil, oregano, and various other Italian seasonings. And it wasn't until I moved out that I started experimenting with cumin and the more exotic spies. And using some of the "baking" spices for cooking.

I still don't know what the Bina recipe had that was so exotic. I don't think I've ever seen a copy of Bina or Ami.

gp2.0

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:30 am

Raisin wrote:

Apparently there's a gene linking people who say coriander tastes like soap and it's common among ashkenazi Jews. Maybe this is similar?

https://blog.23andme.com/23and.....rait/

etky

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:37 am

Raisin wrote:

I love thyme. I especially love pairing it with onions, in onion soup and quiche. However I've noticed that not everyone is in love with it. Two spices that don't do it for me are dried mint, which I've encountered in Turkish dishes like stuffed grape leaves and anise.
I have a very extensive spice cupboard but over the years I've forced myself to cut down a bit, especially on those spices that I would end up using like once or twice a year. There's a limit to how much I can store and ultimately end up wasting. So I bid goodbye to seldom used seasonings like Madras curry, Ras el-hanout (baharat will have to do instead), celery seed, poultry seasoning (I can blend my own), apple pie + pumpkin pie seasonings (ditto), mace (not so different from nutmeg) and a few others. I still have too many but I'm going to wait till Pesach for my next purge.

etky

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 11:44 am

gp2.0 wrote:

Apparently there's a gene linking people who say coriander tastes like soap and it's common among ashkenazi Jews. Maybe this is similar?

https://blog.23andme.com/23and.....rait/

I've often heard that too but I wonder.
When I first came to Israel decades ago, I almost threw up when I tasted cilantro for the first time. After a while though I was able to tolerate it in about two or three dishes. Then I didn't mind it in whatever dishes it happened to appear. Now it's one of my favorite herbs and I use it abundantly in my cooking.

ra_mom

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 12:06 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

Apparently there's a gene linking people who say coriander tastes like soap and it's common among ashkenazi Jews. Maybe this is similar?

https://blog.23andme.com/23and.....rait/

I like coriander, the dried ground seeds of cilantro. But cilantro leaves... Mouthful of soap. Yuck.

amother

Copper

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:25 pm

amother wrote:

According to the chofetz chaim it assur what you just wrote as you will cause bina to lose business. The proper way to do it, is to email Bina and give them over the message that you feel that their articles /ingredients are not practical. Tell them how they can make it better.
I am sure if you were selling a product you wouldn't want people talking bad about it.

There's talking bad and there's speaking her personal experience. Op's post did not come across as ''bad'' talk. It came across as a sharing of her personal experience.

greenfire

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:27 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

It is the sap of giant fennel (which really isn't fennel). It smells a bit weird but its lovely in some Indian foods, when cooked it tastes a bit like leeks. It's great in lentils and it reduces flatulence. ( I use a pinch in all my bean dishes.)

well this explains it ~ I don't eat/like beans

now when can I come visit & try out your other spices Wink

Raisin

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:32 pm

poelmamosh wrote:

Whenever I cook for my extended family, I have to skip any thyme and rosemary, or I get complaints...I usually replace with marjoram, which is sweet and kinda mild.

We LOVE rosemary.

I find fresh and dried of some spices taste vastly different. eg basil. Don't love it dried but fresh is amazing

MagentaYenta

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:40 pm

greenfire wrote:

well this explains it ~ I don't eat/like beans

now when can I come visit & try out your other spices Wink

Anytime Greenie. I was cooking a lamb shank today and thinking about this thread when I was deciding what direction it would go. I finally settled on Middle Eastern since there was a stub of fresh turmeric in the fridge and a bit of rose petals left in the freezer. So I mixed up a batch of ras el hanout and now the house smells wonderful.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:43 pm

Hey, I've never been interested in Bina, but now I might be. I'm always looking for exotic recipes. Wink

Ra-mom and MagentaYenta, I'm so excited that you have asafoetida too. Very Happy

I used to despise cilantro, but I developed a taste for it, and now I absolutely love it. I never did like any type of licorice flavor, though. My sephardi synagogue was always trying to get me to drink arak, but I just couldn't do it. Make mine a vodka, please!

I always feel sorry for people who only have salt, pepper, onion soup mix, and maybe paprika. For me, spice is the variety of life.

(If you take the KSA heksher, Rami brand Indian spices are very fresh and flavorful. Amazon sells them, or you can find them at an Indian grocery store.)

poelmamosh

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 2:52 pm

Raisin wrote:

We LOVE rosemary.

I find fresh and dried of some spices taste vastly different. eg basil. Don't love it dried but fresh is amazing

(Like parsley flakes?!)
IME, quality of dried herbs varies a lot by brand. I also used to buy only fresh in what is available or easily checkable.But since my kids started cooking, I caved in. Still prefer the frozen cubes over dried, but DD just wants what's easiest.

etky

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 3:00 pm

Raisin wrote:

We LOVE rosemary.

I find fresh and dried of some spices taste vastly different. eg basil. Don't love it dried but fresh is amazing

I think that the woodier herbs like rosemary, thyme and oregano retain more of their original flavor when dried than the softer herbs like basil, parsley and mint.

allthingsblue

Tue, Jan 17 2017, 4:52 pm

Thyme and cilantro both remind me of soap. I dislike both of them (although I sometimes use thyme in very small quantities for certain dishes where the taste is barely distinguishable. Or I substitute with rosemary, which is also earthy but more palatable to me and my husband.)