Which spices can stand in for each other?

Spice substitution works when you think about what the spice is contributing rather than trying to match its flavour exactly, which is rarely possible.

Step by step

1. Group them by what they do.Warm and sweet — cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves. Earthy — cumin, coriander seed, turmeric. Hot — chilli, black pepper, cayenne. Aromatic — cardamom, fennel, star anise. Sour — sumac, amchoor, tamarind.
2. Swap within a group, not across.Allspice for cinnamon works because both are warm. Cumin for cinnamon does not, because they are doing completely different jobs.
3. Adjust for strength.Cloves and cardamom are powerful; coriander seed and paprika are mild. Use roughly a third as much of a strong spice standing in for a mild one, and taste as you go.
4. Know the reliable swaps.Allspice for cinnamon and cloves together. Coriander seed for a milder cumin. Cayenne for chilli powder in smaller amounts. Smoked paprika for sweet paprika plus a smoky note.
5. Use a blend as a base.Garam masala, ras el hanout, curry powder and mixed spice each stand in for several individual warm spices. A teaspoon of a blend is often a better substitute than one lone spice.
6. Accept the ones with no substitute.Saffron, asafoetida, fenugreek leaves, sumac and true cinnamon each have a distinctive character. Turmeric gives saffron's colour but not its flavour. Omitting is usually better than a poor stand-in.
7. Convert whole to ground carefully.Roughly one teaspoon of ground for one and a half teaspoons of whole seed, though it varies. Ground releases faster and fades faster, so add it later in the cooking.
8. Substitute fresh for dried by tripling.For herbs, roughly three times as much fresh as dried. Add fresh at the end and dried earlier, since dried needs heat and time to release.
9. Toast whole spices before grinding.A dry pan until fragrant. It transforms a mediocre spice and often makes a substitute taste far closer to what you intended.
10. Check the age of what you have.Ground spices lose most of their character within a year. A substitution problem is often really a stale spice problem — if it smells of nothing, it will taste of nothing.
11. Bloom them in fat.Frying spices briefly in oil or butter before adding liquid releases far more flavour than stirring them into a wet dish. It makes a smaller quantity go further.
12. Add gradually and taste.You can always add more; you cannot take it out. With substitutions especially, go in at half and build.

Tips

• Swap within the flavour group. Warm for warm, earthy for earthy — never across groups.
• If a spice smells of nothing in the jar, it will do nothing in the dish. Age is the most common problem.
• Toast and bloom. It makes a substitute taste much closer to the original than the raw powder would.

Common mistakes

• Substituting turmeric for saffron — It supplies the colour and none of the flavour, and in quantity it tastes earthy and slightly bitter. Better to leave saffron out than to imitate it.
• Swapping strong spices in equal quantity — Cloves and cardamom are several times stronger than coriander or paprika. An equal swap overwhelms the dish.

If it doesn't work