I used to have a jar of berebere that I made myself a long time ago. The empty (and hand-labeled) jar remains but the spice has long gone. It's too easy to over-use because it really lights up the taste of things. No surprise I did not save the recipe but vaguely remembered that some components of it were roasted and others were not. After some looking around found one that sounded about right. Thinking back to the time about when I had first made this spice mix, brought back memories of the events leading up. There was a kid I knew at the time whose boyfriend had made a lovely dish involving berebere. That was the first time I had tasted it as a distinct spice used like pepper to season a dish that was already prepared and ready to serve. Everyone at the table enjoyed the meal and like me they all learned about the spice that was the star of the show. I have since forgotten what the dish was exactly, but I recall how I looked up a recipe soon after and made my own.
There is always the first time for the taste of a very memorable spice-mix. Miss M's aunt's dhansak spice mix - one that no one could replicate because the old lady never thought to write up her recipe and she seemed immortal when she was alive. L's sambar powder with its strong cinnamon top note that blended in ever so smoothly with the freshly grated coconut she always added to her sambar. I wanted to stay in that kitchen just to smell the dish come together in stages until it was time to eat. There are any number of sambars I have tasted but L's is the one that defines the baseline taste of what I am aspiring for when I cook my own. Then there was this semi-sweet mashed pumpkin dish R used to make when I was a kid. She always saved some for me knowing how much I loved it. All of these people are no longer in my life - one of them deceased. But the tastes keep them alive in my memory forever.
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