McCormick Chili Powder

What spices are in chili powder? Glad you asked. Other than the titular pepper, there's (according to McC's website): garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt. And maybe other "spices" left to the reader's imagination. The Q&A person on their website actually did a wonderful job answering the many submitted ingredient Qs (including when someone asked if there was paprika in and they said (paraphrasing): "so. paprika is a chili pepper. and there are chili peppers in here"), thus I know there isn't mustard (yay), and also not mace, or annatto, or corn, or tomato, or gluten. I really do appreciate that they answered the Qs publicly, but like....why not just write the actual spice names on the ingredient list????? My kingdom for transparent ingredient lists. Maybe in the 2030s. 

Anyway, other than mustard, anise, and fenugreek, I'm not really allergic to any "spices", but cumin stresses me because of its past peanut-containing scandalos. So I was worried about this even though I've definitely eaten chili and its powder many times. Naturally, it didn't kill me. Had a darker flavor than spicy - despite not containing onion, it did present with some sort of oniony? garliccy? vibe. I don't know, really. Anyway, I ate this, and you can too. (unless you are allergic to pepper!) 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10 

McCormick Garlic Powder

Out of actual food to review... back to the spice cabinet!

This is garlic powder. It is in a lot of (savory) recipes, like pasta and meat. It is more convenient than garlic, but not as delicious. A little goes a lot way. My store was out of the normal size so I got this giant size instead. The holes are way bigger so I will probably use it equally fast because of repeated "oh no that's way too much" instances. (In terms of taste it's not too much, but in terms of heartburn, you bet your bippy it is!) 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10 

McCormick Cream of Tartar

A pretty unappealing name, but appealing as a baking aid to tart-en things up a bit. It's an acid that comes from winemaking, so we have no choice but to celebrate it. I'm tempted to taste a little, un-baked, but that way lies madness, plus what if it's like flour and could be toxic? So we don't really know how it tastes, but it does the job in blondies, etc.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [5.50$]
Taste: 5/10 

McCormick Smoked Paprika

I think I go through this stuff even faster than salt or pepper or vanilla! That's because it's one of the meat-adjacent seasonings I'm deffo not allergic to, it's pretty cheap, and my migraine recipe lady seems to be obsessed with it (which is fine by me because I like it too). Is it just cooked peppers? I guess so. But it's sweeter than your everyday red pepper seasoning. Also, one time I accidentally used the teaspoon I used for oil in the container and I had to buy a new one. I never used to make stupid mistakes like that before my brain exploded! But at least I remember it now. Lol. Flashbulb memories, am I right?

Overall
Cost: 6/10 
Taste: 6/10

McCormick Black Peppercorn Grinder

Peppercorn is a cute name. So I finally finished off my preground black pepper (with the correct number of holes), and am happy to move on to this grind-it-yourself version. Very fresh pepper taste, and fun too. The reviews of this one are still somewhat bad, mainly regarding the ease of opening, controlling the grind fineness (I just leave things as the default so I can't speak to this), and recycling the inner grinder. Very niche concerns, which means I guess they got the hole size right here. Jolly good.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10 

McCormick Sea Salt Grinder

Although people say a lot of weird stuff to me, I also say a lot of weird stuff to people. My hope was that, by eating salt, I will be less woozy and less likely to say weird stuff. I ate this whole salt and it did not have the desired effect. Even so, this was a nice shaker with an appropriate number of holes. It makes food taste much better, too. I am pretty sure salt is either something I need way more of or way less of, but since I have no idea which one it is, I will probably buy another one of these bad boys. Thanks, salt!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

McCormick Coarse Ground Black Pepper

Humble black pepper is my most used spice, both historically and presently. It is the only spice I've ever used up before the expiration date. I probably use one container a year, so it's not like I'm doing anything totally wacky. It tastes like black pepper. Maybe good for sneezin'. I prefer the pepper grinder to this pre-ground stuff (for both Fun and Freshness), but at my most recent buying this is all that was available. 

I come to you today in a slightly happy mood, because the reviews on the McCormick website for this stuff are absurdly low (like 2 stars), whereas they are 5 stars everywhere else. What is the nature of the consumer complaint? Is it the lack of freshly ground pepper? No no, nothing about flavor. Instead it is the Holes. People are mad about the size and number of cap holes. People are so good. And they are right to complain -- I use an 11 hole lid and it works great, but I can see how a 5-holer would mess up my whole life. So now I have an additional, previously unknown thing to be grateful for! 

 

 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
Holes: 11/10

McCormick Turmeric Ground

From the cinnamon ground to the turmeric ground. It's been probably 10 years since I learned about the spelling of turmeric, but it's still surprising to me. I guess the spelling critical period sets in around age 16 or so. Anyway, turmeric isn't my favorite spice. It's bright yellow. I do like that. But the taste is very "savory soup". I do like soup, but not as a spice. That might be my fault for only using turmeric in non-savory drinks. The image on the container makes me realise that this stuff is in the ginger family, often paired with ginger, and yet (to me) tastes very little like ginger. Anyway, I'm not allergic to it, so I'll probably keep using it because it is a common ingredient. Did you know there's a massive mustard recall in the UK because there's peanut contamination in the mustard supply? McCormick would never. That is why they are my trusted brand. (Don't make me look foolish for saying this, McCormick!!)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

McCormick Cinnamon

Some of my best friends are Cinnamon Ground! This is a weird word order on the label. But the product is good. I recognize reviewing cinnamon is somewhat strange, but it's made up a much larger amount of my diet in recent months than ever before. You can put this on oatmeal, sweet potatoes, in weird wellness drinks, you name it. It's got a nice sweet, distinct, pleasant flavor, I'm not allergic to it, and it's a pretty big container. It's also appropriate for the season. I am happy to sleep on the cinnamon ground for the time being.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

McCormick Gourmet Organic Italian Seasoning

Are seasonings food? I mean, the FDA says so, and you eat them, but they don't really feel like food. Just practicing for semantics class here. 

This was the only Italian seasoning I could find that listed all the ingredients and none of the ingredients were onion powder. Most of the included herbs are what you'd expect (rosemary, thyme, etc) but it also has "savory", which, despite my 30+ years on this earth, I had never heard of before. Or maybe more likely, I've heard of it but assumed it was a modifier and not the name of an herb. But it is the name of an herb! Genus Satureja. Has 'excellent culinary and medicinal uses'. What are those uses? Is there a supplement I can get my hands on? Questions for another time. I can't really pick out individual flavors here, it's not like skittles. But it has a nice strong herby taste and didn't kill me. Reminds me of the Subway Italian Herbs and Cheese bread (which I haven't had in like, 10+ years), so I guess it's a distinctive and pleasant flavor profile. Would sprinkle on sandwich, wrap, or bread again.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Spice World Minced Garlic

My store was out of normal human garlic, so I ended up getting this. It seems very convenient -- no peeling! no cutting! And it lasts so long! But when I opened it, it smelled very bad and not even garlicy. Of course, I used it anyway, and it was fine, but it was so weird that I don't think I'd get it again if I had a choice. I don't know if mine went bad somehow (there's no safety pop lid!) or if it's just supposed to be like that -- more weird pickle liquid than garlic?

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blends - Poultry Magic

This seems fine, I used it a few times on combos of chicken & veg (peppers, tomatoes, etc). There are definitely herbs in there (parsley? oregano?) plus the usual spice mix flavors (garlic, salt). There's no MSG, not that I really care about that. I thought it tasted fine; nothing earth-shattering but surely better to have this seasoning then to have no seasoning. It went down pretty easy and wasn't too overwhelming. Plus the guy on the front randomly reminds me of a guy from Survivor, so I like that.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Homebrew Pickle Mix - Snappy Apple

So, it doesn't look like this pickle mix is even made anymore, which is a blessing in my opinion. Here's the situation: I don't really like vinegar or pickles, even though I've been trying my best to acclimate to them. But more than that, I really really dislike sweet/savory mixes. Pick one, food! And this was a pickle (ick, so savory ... but also apple (sweet?) so it was very offputting to me. The product itself is fun though, you just put some fruit in a jar and boil the packet with water, vinegar and sugar and then refrigerate it all for at least a day.

It was a super easy process and it seemed to go off without a hitch. The problem I have is more with the idea of pickled apple in the first place. They taste like a sweet and spicy pickle, except also an apple with a little cinnamon/clove added. Pickle + apple pie is not a combo that interests me. So now I have a lot of apple pickles left which I will try to foist on unsuspecting visitors. But at least I tried something new! Bad news: I still have a pineapple and onion pack left, both of which I am dreading. Maybe if I can come up with a larger dish that could incorporate them??? Is there such a thing?? Advice welcome.



Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 3/10

Bell's Seasoning

This is turkey seasoning, which I imagine would be jolly good on turkey (real turkey, not Jenny-O's dumb soy-filled "turkey loin"), or stuffing too. But last night I used it on some chicken breast with a tiny bit of oil, and that was really nice too! I used a pretty hefty amount, because I just shook it out of the box (the packaging seems like it could be improved...), and I was worried it would be way too much, but it wasn't strong at all. Just a nice pleasant "poultry seasoning" flavor. Plus no salt, my boy friends will like that. And the box is cute, and it lasts 1+ year, so that's all good.




Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 6/10

The Spice Hunter - Coriander Lime Global Fusion Rub

This smells REALLY good, like a delicious milky curry. It contains coriander, lime (duh), garlic, cumin, a little salt and sugar, and that's basically it. I applied this liberally to some rice/veg/pork, and it was nice, but maybe I didn't put enough on because it wasn't nearly as strong as I expected. (I used like 2TBSP though!). The flavor I did get was mainly lime and a little bit of garlic and coriander, but nowhere near the intensity you get from smelling it in the jar. Even when cooking, it smelled vaguely good but not that strong. Anyway, if you need a seasoning for some generic meats or something, this is a nice choice, even if it didn't have as much of a pop as I expected. Warning: the container has a scary peanut recipe on it, but there are no nut ingredients in the spice mix!


Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin Spice Rub

I overall enjoyed this seasoning - I used it on some pork chops and linguine and it was pretty tasty, although nothing especially remarkable -- tastes a lot like the seasoning I'd normally use on pork chops, anyway. It was very convenient and cooked well, a nice amount of sweetness and not too overwhelming. I might buy this again, even though I sprinkled pretty liberally and so it wouldn't last that long. Nevertheless, it could be the impetus for a good meal!


Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 7/10