Chinese five-spice powder

An essential spice mix used in Chinese cooking. Although it varies from region to region and maker to maker, it is characteristically highly aromatic with a well-balanced aroma and flavour. According to Barbara Tropp in her tome The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, the concoction exemplifies the five flavours essential to the balance of the palate: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and pungent.

Chines