five spice

Five-spice powder (Chinese: 五香粉; pinyin: wǔxiāng fěn) is a spice mixture of five or more spices—commonly star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds—used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine. The five flavors of the spices reflect the five traditional Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water) and flavors (sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and savory). The addition of eight other spices creates thirteen-spice powder (十三香), which is used less commonly.

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