Chinese 5 Spice

A_Sober_Paddy

So was making chow mein earlier, but used a different blend of 5 spice...

Normal blend is schwartz http://www.schwartz.co.uk/products/seasonings-and-blends/perfect-shake/special-blends-for-world-flavours/chinese-5-spice

New one was Tesco http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=251620642

I just found that the dish was overly spicing despite everything being the exact same quantities...

Are those blend overly different?

Faith

Look at the ingredients for your answer . They're listed on the links you gave.

Tesco:

Star Anise,Cinnamon ,Fennel ,Black Pepper ,Clove

Schwartz:

Sugar, Salt, Onion Granules, Star Anise (10%), Dried Garlic (8%), Black Pepper (6%), Fennel Seed, Ginger, Ground Cinnamon (Cassia)(2%), Cloves.

A_Sober_Paddy

Faith wrote: »

Look at the ingredients for your answer . They're listed on the links you gave.

Tesco:



Schwartz:

sorry my post was missing a bit at the end...

is one of these blends much spicer than the other?

has anyone else tried both before is what i was getting at?

Taboola

Did you think one was spicer than the other? If so, then there's your answer. Just looking at the ingredients i'd assume the Tesco one would be spicer as it doesn't have garlic, ginger or onions.

Subcomandante Marcos

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

sorry my post was missing a bit at the end...

is one of these blends much spicer than the other?

has anyone else tried both before is what i was getting at?

Well reading the ingredients in Faith's post only one of them was actually Five spice, the Tesco one. The Schwartz had all sorts of extra crap in it.


From looking at the bottles it seems to confirm this.

The Tesco version is a spice blend that you use as an ingredient, the other is a meant as a seasoning shake to add to foods after you cook them like a condiment.

Faith

Not to mention the main component of the Schwartz one is sugar, so of course it would be sweeter and less spicy than the pure spice one. The onion and garlic in the Schwartz mix would also mellow the spice.

Alun

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

The Tesco version is a spice blend that you use as an ingredient, the other is a meant as a seasoning shake to add to foods after you cook them like a condiment.

This is it in a nutshell, they're two entirely different things.

A_Sober_Paddy

Thanks guys I hadn't noticed all the sugar in the original one...next time just half the spice blend with the trsco one

RJohnG

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Thanks guys I hadn't noticed all the sugar in the original one...next time just half the spice blend with the trsco one

There should be no sugar in Chinese 5 spice that I know of. Ingredients can vary a little. But no sugar.

rubadub

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

Thanks guys I hadn't noticed all the sugar in the original one...next time just half the spice blend with the trsco one

I would use less than half, more could be added later if it needs it. You can try and figure out what a mixture is. Ingredients are listed in order of greatest first.

Ingredients

Sugar, Salt, Onion Granules, Star Anise (10%), Dried Garlic (8%), Black Pepper (6%), Fennel Seed, Ginger, Ground Cinnamon (Cassia)(2%), Cloves.

Nutritional Information

Typical Values Per 100g
(as sold) Per serving
Energy: 1144kJ/271kcal 57kJ/14kcal
Protein: 4.6g 0.2g
Carbohydrates: 54.2g 2.7g
of which sugars: 34.2g 1.7g
Fat: 1.6g 0.0g
of which saturates: 0.3g 0.0g
Fibre: 10.7g 0.5g
Sodium: 9.35g 0.47g
Salt (based on Sodium): 23.38g 1.17g

The onion granules must be over 10% or they would be listed after the star anise. The salt is declared as 23% in the nutritional info. The sugar is listed as 34% in that info too. There may be some naturally occurring sugars in the other ingredients which would be adding to that, but not a lot. So there is over 67% of "filler" in the first 3 alone.