Thank you to everyone who participated in Flavor of The Week last week.
As always, the purpose of this thread is to gather the community to explore a flavor and its many uses. And it's also to have FUN!
Post recipes containing this week's Flavor of the Week, as the star or in a supporting role, with or without development notes. Talk about other people's recipes that use it. Compare and contrast different manufacturers' versions of the FOTW. Ask for help using that flavor in general or to achieve something specific, offer advice, brainstorm ideas, consider substitutions, suggest pairings... really anything at all as long as it's on topic. And if this week's flavor doesn't interest you, take this opportunity to suggest one for the week after next that does (or send me a PM to do that).
This week's flavor is: SPICES
We'll give cinnamon and vanilla their own spotlight later, for now let's focus on less commonly used spices such as nutmeg, ginger, clove, spice blends, cardamom, pepper, anise, saffron, and such.
Past FOTW posts can be found here.
Prepare yourselves, next week's FOTW will be: CRANBERRY.
One more spice mix: Saffron and Lemongrass in my thai pudding, พระอาทิตย์ตกดิน (Thai Sunset)
Most people think this is a gag recipe, but it really is a sweet, savory and tasty introduction to these flavors. People bold enough to try it tend to like it.
Can you describe what FA Saffron tastes like without using the word "saffron?"
Like a flowery gasoline. Like scented plastic dissolved in industrial solvents. But in a delicious way.
Good call on the Lemongrass mention. It's a pretty complex lemon type (in food form as well as vape form). Flavorah really nailed it. Sweet, bitter, spicy, floral, citrusy/lemony, aromatic, and (like most citrus flavors) very strong. One drop in a 30ml batch can potentially overpower any recipe. Speaking of, have you tried diluting it? I was considering it to make it more versatile and friendly to use. But, yeah, I'd say anyone who's into citrus vapes, particularly lemon, this is a must have.
Since I seem to use spice flavors with a higher frequency than most, let me include my Teleos One inspired, corn-candy / frosted flakes sort of crowdpleaser, Flakey 17.
It uses Anise to smooth out and increase overall creaminess of the recipe. Unless you're looking for it, you may not even know it's there. This one is odd, because it's mostly stuff you would add to a recipe - Acetyl Pyrazine, marshmallow, meringue...
I love the Flakey mixes you have made and released from 1 to 8 to 17. I would have to say that Flakey 8 was the best for my palette, very good mix that isn't another fruity cream.
If you happen to have FA Cardamom in your collection and are looking for something to do with it, I highly recommend /u/queuetue's sweet biscuit recipe, Dumbo Ears: 2% FA Joy, 1% each INW Biscuit and FA Meringue, and 0.5% FA Cardamom.
I do love that take on /u/Botboy141 's recipe, glad to see you do too.
Cardamom!? I thought thats what clerks are supposed to do when teen moms try to buy Bombies!
Im just passing through , but damn that recipe sounds/looks delectable, I'll have to give it a go/see myself out.
RemindMe! 3 weeks "Order FA Cardamom"
I think this is a great topic for this week since we're coming in to autumn, and this is one of the heavier "spice" seasons. I love all the spices, and have noticed that they need to be used at much smaller %s than a lot of things, and often even diluted (recently used FA Clove @ 0.125% and it was too strong, same with FA Cardamom). Dabbling with FW Pumpkin Spice, this seems like the clove you want to use especially with pies and drinks we seem to associate with the season since it's a much more smooth and less aggressive clove.
FA I feel does a really good job of capturing the essence of the spices, but almost too realistic if that makes sense.
I have worked a bit with TFA Holiday Spice, which is basically Nutmeg. It's not particularly strong or overpowering, but since it's such a noticeable note, it's still one you want to bring lower (in the 0.25-0.5% range). This is one of my favorite spices and I'm really looking forward including this in a recipe I've been working on for some time.
I'm also a big fan of Anise, although I've only got one recipe that used it. It used FA Anise @ 2%. That may seem high to some especially considering FA's normal spice concentration, but it's not quite as strong as some of their other spice concentrates, and let's face it, if you like anise you really like anise. I do see a lot of people using anise to sort of lift up bright fruit notes, I think they use FA Anise @ 0.5% range but am not sure and would love if someone can confirm that in a reply to this comment or to the main post.
I don't care for anise much myself but I bought one to try for a spiced poached pear and I think I picked the wrong brand. CAP Anise tastes like Good & Plenty candy.
~~Since TFA Holiday Spice is nutmeg overkill and I've seen TFA Pumpkin Spice described as "death by nutmeg," I'm hoping someone can come along who has tried them both and shed some light on the differences between those to.~~ Edit: I misremembered that. Holiday Spice is death by nutmeg, Pumpkin Spice is death by clove.
LA Pumpkin is a strong pumpkin spice flavor that I like because unlike TFA Holiday Spice which is so heavily nutmeggy that I really can't taste anything else in there, it actually tastes like a blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and ginger. It's also one that needs a light touch. In my Pumpkindoodle Cookie recipe, 0.5% was way too much but 0.25% worked for the pinch of pumpkin spice added to the cinnamon-sugar used to make pumpkin-infused snickerdoodles.
That's interesting you say the TFA Pumpkin Spice is death by nutmeg, all I got from it was like an astringent unpleasant clove. So far from my experimentation with FW Pumpkin spice, it sounds like it might be similar to a less concentrated version of the LA Pumpkin without the ginger. More experimentation is needed, but I'm digging that one for a start to a "pumpkin spice" blend.
That Pumpkindoodle looks way good btw =) I'll probably never get LA Pumpkin though =( but who knows, it's a crazy world we live in.
Maybe it was death by clove and not nutmeg... I haven't tried TFA Pumpkin Spice, I just remember seeing many negative comments here and one of them was definitely "death by..."
Yep, I've only found LA Pumpkin at Wizard Labs, so no dropper bottles, and probably many people will never order it. I should pick up FW Pumpkin Spice so I can work out a Pumpkindoodle Cookie for the masses. But it will definitely need some kind of ginger flavor as well, because a pumpkin spice without ginger would be like Gilligan's Island without Ginger. Ooooh, maybe I could get a gingerbread flavor to give that ginger note? It wouldn't work in recipe where you don't want a bready note, but in a snickerdoodle cookie? FW Pumpkin Spice + CAP Gingerbread instead of LA Pumpkin, adjust some other percents to rebalance? Hmm....
Has anybody tried Kyle Cina's (centerfolds) pumpkin spice that he posted a while back on here?
Edit: can't seem to find it anymore, did anybody happen to save it?
Edit 2: after some creative searching.... here it is.... http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/345897/Centerfold+BB
I've got a ton of these. I've slept an entire 3 hours in the past 24 hours so be forgiving of any potential typos and poor grammar.
FA Black Pepper: Pretty handy flavor, if you're in to this sort of thing. A bit of woody back note that seems really close to FA Oakwood. Pepper isn't tangibly harsh if you keep it under 1%, can add a neat bit of spice to fruits.
FA Cardamom: Very authentic and true to it's name. It can make a home anywhere where cinnamon or ginger could fit as well. A great addition to holiday themed recipes, spiced teas, or just zesting up some bright berries. Best results at .5% or less IMO, but can still be good up to 1% if it's competing with some heavier flavors.
FA Anise: Very versatile in low percentages. Under .5% it can brighten fruits and add some sweetness without adding much actual Anise flavor. It has a mild cooling effect similar to Koolada but less invasive. Fairly true to the real world counterpart. A great addition to fruits or fruit themed bakeries.
CAP Anise: A candied version of FA. Still fairly authentic, but closer to Black licorice to me then actual anise due to the odd candy tones. Okay around 2%, but I really never touched it after I tested it.
TFA Holiday Spice: A great nutmeg but dangerously powerful. I dilute this to 10% before using it around 1%
TFA Pumpkin Spice: Much like TFA Holiday spice, this is a nice clove but it's terrifyingly strong. It can work up to .3 or .4% if it's in competition with other very strong bakeries, otherwise keep it down to .1%
TFA Chai Tea: Far more spice than tea. Another dangerously strong strong spice mix from TFA. I get clove and a bit of cinnamon/nutmeg as well. A bit weaker than the previous two, but I would still consider keeping this well under 1%. Needs at least two weeks steep.
FA Saffron: Terrifyingly strong. Like it's real world counterpart if you over use it by even a tiny amount it goes straight to pungent gasoline. Used in very low amounts (diluted 10% and under .5%) it adds a sort of indefinable savory note that's quite pleasant. I have all the stuff for /u/queuetue's Thai pudding so I may give that a whirl but I was never really able to find a home for this flavor.
FW Capsicum: Just don't. I bought this way back when /u/CWinthrop was posting about a bloody mary project he was working on. It's pure 100% hot pain, nasty throat hit. Brutal stuff. If someone has managed to make this work, they have incredible fortitude.
I am positive I'm forgetting some, but I'm exhausted.
FOTW request for the future: Herbs. Rosemary, basil, etc
Yep. FW Capsicum is bad. FW Jalapeno is identical, just slower. ANY juice I've used it in, after 8-15 hours, pure burning heat.
This is an incredible write-up, thank you for sharing it despite your sleep deprivation. With the FOTW posts now being collected on the wiki and organized, it should serve as a valuable resource for many, many mixers in the future. Comments like these are the very reason why I decided to resurrect FOTW.
Yeah, CAP Anise tastes like Good N Plenty candies. I definitely picked the wrong anise.
Committed to Plum next week but we'll do Herbs the week after next.
Glad to help out. I'll have some notes for Plum, and I'll try to get a head start on herbs. I still have like 15 NET reviews to finish this week and a bunch of other shit, but I think I can cram. Switching to graveyards leaves plenty of time to write.
Oh boy! I'm anticipating lots of good stuff from frugivores who have discovered INW Plum but I'm hoping someone will also come along and give those of us who have TFA Plum wasting space in their collections something good to do with that concentrate.
Expecting great things from your herbal notes!
If lavender counts, I love that one. It's actually my favorite shake and vape flavor. It's very smooth and sweet on its own.
There's a blurry line between what I'd call a "floral" flavor and what I'd call a "spice." Neither get discussed often enough. You're talking about FA Lavender? What % do you use it as a shake-and-vape on its own? Is there anything it seems to pair especially well with when mixing?
I do 10% on its own, roughly. Usually this is one I eyeball. I marked 3ml on a 30ml bottle that I use.
My favorite pairing is actually cola. I imagine it'd be what it's like if you had a gourmet soda that was lavender flavor. My next favorite pairing is concord grape. It really adds this smooth texture to whatever you add it to. Anything very sweet gets pleasantly mellowed out.
Sweetness is my main concern with e-liquid. I tend to feel disgusted when I vape a lot of super sweet liquid, and most commercial vape seems to be. Lavender is one of my favorites because of that because it cuts down on the sweetness and softens any fruit/dessert I add it to. It is sweet on its own, but just enough that it's not overwhelming. It can take the sweetness down a notch on my favorite fruit flavors that I don't like on their own.
It quickly can take over the flavor of a mix though. I don't like lavender with a hint of grape. I like it on its own, or maybe 1/3rd of a mix depending on how much I want to mellow the sweetness of a mix out.
I think it's FA but I'll double check and update my comment when I get a chance. I got the large 500ml bottle that's mostly clear.
Anyone tried Quince at high percentages (like 3-5)? i think its by TFA not 100% sure. It's the only real "spicy" flavor i have ever vapes it's really interesting.
I'm like, the king of quince.
care to share any recipes with it or good fruits that pair well with it? only thing i vape it in is your banana cream clone
I've got NN's pumpkin flavor on the way. Haven't tried it but they sent me a sample of the mixed juice a couple years ago when I order some nic, and I remember it being a good spice flavor. If it gets here any time soon I'll post back with some notes.
It's good but it's pretty strong. Standalone at 2% it is pretty potent. I keep meaning to work it into a poached pear flavor I've been bouncing around.
Does it have a nice balance of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, and ginger notes or is one of them missing or overpowering the others?
It's been a while since I tried it but I seem to remember pretty strong nutmeg and clove, not much cinnamon. I just went and smelled it and it's pretty complex. There's also a faint undertone of something sweet that I can't place. It's an interesting flavor like most of NN's.
Since Anise has been already mentioned, I think it's worth bring this up (especially for the folks who don't particularly care for anise/licorice type flavors). It is one of the (maybe not so secret) key ingredients in a white tic-tac recipe. Or even if you're not after a white tic-tac per se, it really "completes" a peppermint/mint/menthol juice recipe. It won't taste like anise/licorice at all, and the anise fades off pretty significantly after a little steep time. I encourage anyone to try it out in their next peppermint/mint type juice.
I'll be late to the party here, posting to remind myself to post some notes when I get home. I've got almost all the "spice" concentrates I could find, from black pepper to saffron.