Thank-you!
The spice for baking purposes, not the smelly cologne.
i have never seen it here in Lausanne
Look for "Piment". Many shops have it. Is there a Globus or Jelmoli grocery in Basel? They would certainly have it.
Also look here .
Do you mean "Mixed Spice"? If so, I haven't found it in any of the shops, but I have got it from britshop.ch
It's called piment in German and you can find it either in Coop or in Globus
No, Allspice is a single spice that tastes a bit like many spices.
They have it here.
If you mean mixed spice as used in Christmas cooking there is some in Globus
Or any good Organic shop / Reformhaus / Bioladen.
Looking at coopathome.ch, piment is in the "Fine Food" department.
So only the bigger stores will carry it.
For all those who like me have never heard about this stuff, here the Wiki description :
Allspice , also called Jamaica pepper , kurundu , myrtle pepper , pimenta , [[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allspice#cite_note-0) or newspice is a spice which is the dried unripe fruit ("berries") of Pimenta dioica , a mid-canopy tree native to the Greater Antilles , southern Mexico and Central America , now cultivated in many warm parts of the world. [[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allspice#cite_note-1) The name "allspice" was coined as early as 1621 by the English, who thought it combined the flavour of cinnamon , nutmeg and cloves . [[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allspice#cite_note-2)
Several unrelated fragrant shrubs are called "Carolina allspice" ( Calycanthus floridus ), "Japanese allspice" ( Chimonathus fragrans ) or "Wild allspice" ( Lindera benzoin ). Allspice is also sometimes used to refer to the herb Costmary ( Tanacetum balsamita ).
in German it is described as follows
Zutateninfo: Allspice
Zutatentyp: Gewürze
Beschreibung Bei uns bekannt als Piment oder Nelkenpfeffer. Die unreife, getrocknete Frucht des Nelkenpfeffer-Baumes. Er ist in Süd- und Mittelamerika sowie in der Karibik heimisch. Das beste Piment stammt aus Jamaika. Piment wird gemahlen oder als ganze Körner angeboten, sein Aroma erinnert an Nelke, Zimt und Muskat. Piment kommt in vielen Gewürzmischungen vor. Es wird zum Würzen von Wurst, Weihnachtsbackwaren und in Beizen verwendet.
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And this means that it is on sale in Coop (possibly also in Migros) simply as Nelken
... and for those who wonder what the heck we use it for it's a very traditional ingredient of Christmas Cake.
Traditionally made last weekend (stir-up Sunday) when each family member takes it in turn to stir the mixture and make a wish (where is my aston martin).
How you Swiss can put up with that stange, dry spongey affair when something like this is available is beyond me . Some Brits ruin it by covering it's yumminess in marizipan and icing but we have it as god intended. This year there's about half a bottle of brandy in it .
Bit confusing post here - is it allspice or mixed spice?
Allspice is as several people said - one spice - called piment here. I've only ever used that in savoury dishes.....
Mixed spice is what you put in Christmas cakes - and this is a mixture of several spices. Although you can't get exactly that you can get a very close approximation by using Lebkuchengewurz which is in every coop. It's basically a very similar mixture of cinamon, cloves, nutmeg and star anis. I've always used it instead anyway.
Mixed spice is the substitute for allspice. Real christmas cake has allspice .
No, Nelken is not the same as Nelkenpfeffer/Allspice. They may have a similar flavour but its not the same spice.
That's definitely right. Nelken is called cloves in English.
I looked everywhere for allspice, including in Globus where they even had a British Christmas food special last year. I couldn't find anything like the little pots of allspice you can get in any British supermarket. In the end I decided to do without and added a couple of extra bits of spice which I thought might be substitutes. The resulting cake seemed (to those who ate some) to be the same as any British Christmas cake. My conclusion is that the brandy (quite a lot of it) compensates for the lack of truly authentic ingredients.
Actually I think probably the main "christmassy" taste in christmas cake is cinnamon and cloves (and brandy) I think you could probably get away with using just those. I've always used only mixed spice - and that's with my grandmother's recipe.
Mixed spice is also difficult to find here but the ingrediants to make it are easy enough to find to make your own.
Well, not exactly - as I said before - mixed spice is almost exactly the same ingredients as Lebkuchengewurz anyway - which you can get in all coops. I always use it in all mixed spice recipes and you really won't tell the difference.
So just to sum up then, from what I understand (i.e. what's written in my spices book - maybe I should have read it before answering ):
Allspice is a berry, has a taste very similar to very mild cloves. Is one of the ingredients in English "mixed spice". If you can't get it my book says to use half the amount of ground cloves (nelken). Mixed spice is a pre-made mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, sometimes also ginger. My book says that mixed spice used to be called "pudding spice" because of it's use in Christmas puds. The Lebkuchengewurz on my shelf is a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, star anis and ginger. So, really, pretty close to mixed spice. If you make a christmas cake/pud using allspice, you'll need to anyway also add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg..... so it's basically the same as using mixed spice anyway. sooo.... maybe in the end we're all right and it doesn't really matter what you use!
[I had fun looking it up anyway! I know - I'm sad, I have no life.... I'm going to be 40 very soon after all.]
For the Americans out there, here's what's in our version of "mixed spice":
Apple Pie Spice: Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cardamom
Pumpkin Pie Spice: Ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice
(I'm reading the sides of the spice jars as I pack them along with the allspice and the ground cumin.) I have been unable to find ground cumin in CH. Everybody keeps pointing me to the ground coriander, which is not the same thing.