This recipe provides the home chef with the information needed to make a pickling spice at home. It is sometimes used for flavor when brining beef to make corned beef. It can also be used to flavor cucumbers to make pickles.

If the contents are ground in a device like a Magic Bullet® into a powder then it can be used as a rub on raw cured meat right before putting the meat inside a "boil-in" vacuum sealed bag and cooking it.

This spice mixture can also be added in small quantity to a pot of water used to cook cured but raw corned beef.

As shown, the recipe lists the minimum amounts of each ingredient to make a small batch of pickling spice. If you have a suitable sealable plastic bottle or glass jar you can easily scale up the amount you make for numerous uses in the future.

You will certainly have a nice spice combination and save a lot of money by avoiding the small jars found in supermarkets. I suggest you order each spice via the Internet in either eight ounce or one pound quantities as that is the most economical yet practical way to have and use the spices.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. of whole allspice berries

1 tbsp. of whole mustard seeds

1 tbsp. of coriander seeds

1 tsp. of red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. of whole black peppercorns

1 tsp. of whole cloves

9 green cardamom pods

6 large bay leaves, crumbled

2 tsp. of dried ginger root

1 tsp. of anise seeds

Directions:

If you want to make a rub, simply put all ingredients into a Magic Bullet® and run it for two to three minutes. Check the state of the powdered spices. If they are not all in a fine powder then mix them for an additional minute. Bag the mixture to keep it fresh.

You can also store the ingredients as a simple mixture of what is shown in the ingredient list. That is the typical form in which pickling spices are bought and used.