Regional Items in your Pantry/Kitchen

SatNavSaysStraightOn

SatNavSaysStraightOn

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When I answered a question about what Bush Tucker Dukkah is, I was thinking about the items I have that are pretty Australian, which got me thinking about a new thread idea...

So what items (not just herbs or spices) do you have in your pantry/kitchen that are not that well known outside of your country/area?

I’ve got wattleseed, mountain pepperberry, Kakadu plum, dried bush tomato and quandong tucked in with the spices. Pretty sure they're not standard issue outside Australia, but what are they and what can you use them for?
 
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So I will go first:

Wattleseed
Roasted, nutty, slightly chocolate-coffee flavour. Traditionally from various Acacia seeds.
Use: Brilliant in baking (bread, biscuits, muffins), ice cream, panna cotta, porridge, or as a sprinkle in coffee/hot chocolate. Works like a toasty, earthy flavour booster.

Mountain Pepperberry
Native pepper with a fruity, slightly floral start and a pretty strong pepper bite on the finish.
Use: Anywhere you’d use black pepper—meat rubs, roast veg, stews, marinades. It colours things slightly purple when ground fine, which is fun or alarming depending on the dish.

Mountain Pepperberry Leaves
Aromatic dried leaves from the same plant, with a herbal, eucalyptus note and a mild pepper heat. Get hotter the longer you cook them.
Use: Add like a bay leaf to soups, stews, stocks, or slow cooks and remove before serving. Crushed, they work in rubs and savoury breads for gentle peppery depth.

Kakadu Plum
Super tart, citrusy, high in vitamin C. Usually dried or powdered.
Use: Think of it like a native lemon boost. Add to dressings, sauces, yoghurt, seafood seasoning, or sprinkle over grilled fish or chicken. A tiny bit goes a long way.

Dried Bush Tomato
Small desert fruit with a savoury, slightly caramel-tomato flavour once dried. Sometimes described as “sun-dried tomato meets tamarillo”.
Use: Crushed into spice blends, dukkah, sauces, meat rubs, bread dough, or sprinkled over eggs. Great umami hit in casseroles and mince dishes.

Quandong
Tangy, slightly peach-plum flavour. Often sold dried or frozen.
Use: Rehydrate and use in chutneys, jams, pies, sauces, or pair with game meats. Good sweet–sour note for desserts or savoury glazes.
 
Nothing I can really think of.
Local ingredients are mainly fresh and mieliemeal and semp (maize flour and dried maize resp), but I don't store it.

I do have "odd" ingredients but they are mainly SE Asian and Indian.

Biltong & droëwors might be ones of the local ones but are not pantry items and never lasts (as they are far too addictive)
 
Barriehie said:
First thing that comes to mind is fish sauce. Around here that gets a "fish what???"
Click to expand...
The question is the other way around from how you answered it*. Its about ingredients from your region which are not well known outside your area.

*Well, unless, that is you have a regional fish sauce from Georgia which is little known elsewhere.
 
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This is very difficult to answer as most pantry items in the UK which are produced locally or regionally are well known elsewhere. I can't think of anything.

I do have items I have which are from elsewhere and little known though! But they will be little known in my region too.

Can you clarify the question SatNavSaysStraightOn?
 
Morning Glory said:
Can you clarify the question @SatNavSaysStraightOn?
Click to expand...
I don't understand what needs clarifying.
I've given examples. I'm try another.

If I was in the UK, and in Staffordshire then an obvious one for us as a family would be (Staffordshire) oatcakes which are like a UK pancake made with oatmeal, flour and yeast. You serve savoury items in them, serve them hot. They used to be so common you could buy them from houses serving them through a hole in the wall which led into there kitchen. Almost all of those are now gone but there are a couple of oatcakes shops still around.

Staffordshire oatcake - Wikipedia
 
Another example from Glasgow would be dumpling and square sausage.

The fruit dumpling or clootie is a fruit bread served fried usually with square sausage, fried egg and tatty scones (potato cakes) for breakfast.

Square sausage was exactly that, no casing, about 2-3 inches square and sliced, then fried.

Google Search - fruit dumpling vs clootie
 
Our Pennsylvania Dutch heritage (not Dutch at all, but "dirty German") includes pork and sauerkraut (pork and fermented cabbage, traditionally served on New Years Day), and scrapple (a fried pork scrap and cornmeal mush breakfast food) that I'm not a fan of. We also have honkey eggs, that I like, which include ham and are not unlike a Western omelette. Polish keilbasy, I also very much like, but I have to drive an hour to get the best from a store in an old coal mining town that has been around for 100 years. I also live at the heart of the chocolate capital of the planet, but I simply don't have a sweet tooth to go nuts over it. Likewise, being located central to Lebanon bologna (which smells wonderful in the air), but I don't go nuts over. Yuengling and Troegs beer are both made very near to me, and so I guess I'm fortunate to be a Pennsylvanian in that regard. 😉
 
A few things that are only found in Venezuela and not anywhere else (to my knowledge).
The first is aji dulce or sweet chile. It probably morphed from the habanero, or scotch bonnet chile (which are really hot), but it has no (or very little) heat.
The second would be casabe: a wafer thin bread made from yucca.
 
Twas me that asked about the bush tucker dukkah, so thx for listing the ingredients and starting the thread SNSSO.

I'm in an area that has extraordinary regional ingredients, many of which are well known elsewhere and several which aren't. Very local food items and ingredients that aren't very known include several ways that corn is prepared, stored and used, various wild herbs and teas and of course the unique dishes that are made with them.

A very notable local corn ingredient is roasted blue cornmeal which is as finely ground as wheat flour. The kernels are usually roasted before grinding, and used in a large number of dishes including piki that use only that particular flour.
 
Some of the samples are not really pantry items, so I will add my local "specialities"
Pumpkin leaves & sweet potato leaves & young amaranthus. Used like spinach.
Then there is kapenta, fresh and dried (very small fresh water fish).

I already mentioned mieliemeal
 
I don’t see Staffordshire oatcakes or square sausage as a pantry item, more like regional recipes 🤷‍♀️
The pantry part would be oats and the square sausage (I’m guessing Lorne) is also made from common ingredients, the bulk part of which (the meat) wouldn’t be stored in the pantry.

I’m with MG on this one and don’t have anything to offer because most of the regional products in England have been exported worldwide.
Cider, well it’s certainly regional but is known worldwide, cheddar (I live next to cheddar) also known worldwide, Cornish pasty (I’m stretching now as Cornwall is in the West Country but still quite a drive) another well known thing, clotted cream fairly well known. Maybe Gloucester Old Spot Pork? Again like some of the things I’ve mentioned not a pantry item 🤷‍♀️
 
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