Mahleb
Prunus mahaleb · Spice
Top 10 pairings
Mahleb is an aromatic spice ground from the small, soft kernel that sits inside the stone of the St Lucie or mahaleb cherry, Prunus mahaleb — not from the cherry flesh itself. Pale cream and almond-shaped, the freshly ground seed smells of bitter almond and marzipan over cherry, with a sweet lift of rose, vanilla and new-mown hay. A pinch perfumes the festive sweet breads of the eastern Mediterranean — Greek tsoureki, Turkish çörek, Armenian choreg — and the date-filled cookie maamoul.
Picking a good onedrag
Just milled, loud and oilyFaded, dusty, smells of nothing
Whole in the jarEveryday bestWhole kernels hold a year kept dark, dry and airtight. Bake in pinches: the dose caution, pregnancy included, is on medicinal brews of the kernel, not a teaspoon in dough.
Crush one and smellAlmond-sweet, arriving a beat after you crack the kernel open
Whole or groundWhole kernels a year in the jar, still loud when you crack one
Look at the kernelsCream going faintly tan, a little loose dust in the jar
Press a kernelFirm but still yields, splitting rather than shattering