The black sesame seed looking things could be nigella.
Yes. From what I remember about my two weeks in Uzbekistan back in 2002, nigella seeds were quite popular at the spice markets. This would be my guess, too, for the black sesame looking seed.
I’m pretty sure it’s not, unless it’s some kind of local name (like the yam and sweet potato conflation)- they’re both fruit that have a similar kind of lemony flavour, but barberry is from the genus Berberis and sumac is Rhus, they’re not even in the same plant order.
To be clear, I’m not just interested in what these spices are, but also how to use them. Ultimately, I know, that’s going to come down to “taste them and decide what I think of them”, but I’m not even sure what sorts of dishes some of these would work well in.
Could I use the “green tree” in the same way as rosemary?
Evergreen needles:
and
The late Euell Gibbons: “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible!”
Evergreen needle recipes:
I was just reading about a recipe that uses nigella seeds called Qizha.
Star anise can be used in a number of things. The first things that come to mind are in the broth for pho, and also as part of the spice mixture for Indian curry-type dishes. It’s also one of the components in five spice powder.
You can even put a little bit of it in your spaghetti sauce, if you’d like. Basically, anything where you like that fennel/anise type of taste. And it works with plenty of desserts, too.
Possibly onion powder. The company seemed to come to the conclusion years ago that customers like onion in their mustard, but not on their labels. (They repeatedly relabeled their “Onion Bits” mustard, trying to determine how well hidden the word “onion” had to be.)
Well, the person who told me that owned a Persian restaurant, so I kind of took his word for it. I have no clue about the botany side of things.
Yeah, they’re two different things, although both are used in Middle Eastern cooking, so I could see them easily being conflated.
No. Sumacis sumac. Dried barberries are much "fruitier"than sumac. More like tarter cranberries than sumac’s lemony notes.