Food & Drink
Turkish Spices & Seasonings
Turkish Spices & Seasonings is a structured food & drink dataset with 15 entries. Its fields include Spice, Turkish Name, Flavor Profile. The source values are preserved as a structured reference table.
Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.
15rows
5columns
50views
0downloads
Source:Community curated
Updated:3/22/2026
Dataset details
- Table scope
- All 15 rows
- Fields
- 5 columns
- Source
- Community curated
- Data updated
- Mar 22, 2026
Included fields: Spice, Turkish Name, Flavor Profile, Used In, Known For.
The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.
Preview observations
No reliable range or grouping can be calculated from the loaded rows without interpreting the source data.
Useful for
- Comparing Spice, Turkish Name, and Flavor Profile across food & drink entries
- Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 15 downloadable records
15/15
Spice↕ | Turkish Name↕ | Flavor Profile↕ | Used In↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sumac | Sumak | Tart, lemony, fruity | Salads, kebabs, onion garnish, fattoush | Deep burgundy color, the 'lemon of the spice world', sprinkled on everything in Turkish cuisine, essential onion salad seasoning alongside kebabs |
Aleppo Pepper (Pul Biber) | Pul Biber | Mild heat, fruity, slightly oily | Everything — eggs, soups, meats, vegetables | The paprika of Turkey, oily flakes with moderate heat (like a friendlier crushed red pepper), appears on every Turkish restaurant table next to salt |
Cumin | Kimyon | Earthy, warm, slightly bitter | Köfte, lentil soup, pilaf, sucuk sausage | Backbone of Turkish meat dishes, essential in köfte spice mix, ground fresh at bazaar spice shops, earthy warmth that defines Turkish comfort food |
Mint (Dried) | Nane | Cool, fresh, herbal | Lentil soup, cacık (yogurt dip), mantı, salads | Dried mint is more important than fresh in Turkish cooking, essential garnish for red lentil soup, added to ayran drink, ubiquitous in meze culture |
Oregano | Kekik | Pungent, slightly bitter, aromatic | Pide, lahmacun, grilled meats, salads | Turkish oregano (especially Hatay region) is considered the world's best, essential on pide and lahmacun, wild-harvested from Anatolian hillsides |
Paprika (Sweet) | Tatlı Biber | Sweet, mild, smoky | Stews, rice, decorative garnish, sauces | Used for color as much as flavor, the red oil drizzle on hummus and yogurt dishes, sweet variety balances the heat of pul biber |
Black Pepper | Karabiber | Sharp, pungent, hot | Universal seasoning — soups, meats, eggs | Freshly ground is standard in Turkish kitchens, combined with pul biber for layered heat, once worth its weight in gold on the Silk Road through Anatolia |
Cinnamon | Tarçın | Sweet, warm, woody | Turkish coffee, rice pudding, baklava, meat stews | Added to Turkish coffee, essential in sweets like sütlaç (rice pudding), also used in savory meat dishes (Ottoman tradition of sweet-savory cooking) |
Za'atar | Zahter | Herbal, nutty, tangy | Flatbread, breakfast, labneh, olive oil dip | Blend of thyme, sesame, sumac, and salt — southeastern Turkish breakfast staple, dipped with bread into olive oil, every family has their own ratio |
Isot Pepper | İsot Biberi | Smoky, raisin-like, medium heat | Kebabs, lahmacun, çiğ köfte, salads | Unique to Şanlıurfa — sun-dried and sweated at night for smoky-sweet flavor, dark purple-black color, considered Turkey's most distinctive regional spice |
Allspice | Yenibahar | Warm — cinnamon, clove, nutmeg combined | Dolma, köfte, pilafs, stews | 'Yenibahar' means 'new spice' in Turkish, essential in dolma (stuffed grape leaves), one spice that tastes like many, Ottoman-era staple |
Saffron | Safran | Floral, honey-like, earthy | Zerde (saffron pudding), pilafs, special occasion dishes | Safranbolu city named after it, Turkish saffron from Karabük region, used in Ottoman palace cuisine, appears in celebration desserts like zerde |
Mahlep | Mahlep | Cherry-almond, slightly bitter, aromatic | Çörek (sweet bread), cookies, pastries | Made from cherry pit kernels — uniquely Turkish/Middle Eastern spice, essential in holiday breads, gives cookies an impossible-to-identify delicious flavor |
Nigella Seeds | Çörek Otu | Slightly oniony, peppery, nutty | Bread topping, börek, pastries, cheese | The black seeds on Turkish bread — not sesame, not poppy, but çörek otu, essential topping for simit (Turkish bagel), 'the seed that cures everything except death' (Islamic tradition) |
Urfa Biber (Flaked) | Urfa Biberi | Sweet, smoky, raisin-like, building heat | Lahmacun, grilled meats, breakfast eggs, salads | Closely related to isot — Urfa's signature pepper, heat builds slowly then lingers, oily dark flakes, increasingly popular in Western chef kitchens as a 'finishing pepper' |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Related Datasets
More in Food & Drink
Pizza Chains
Major pizza restaurant chains worldwide ranked by store count and revenue.
15 rows1 shared tag
Turkish Spices & Ingredients
Common spices, herbs and ingredients used in Turkish cuisine with their Turkish names and culinary uses.
21 rows3 shared tags
Rice Dishes of the World
Rice-based dishes from around the world.
294 rows2 shared tags
Filipino Cooking Ingredients
Traditional dishes and foods from Filipino cuisine.
54 rows2 shared tags
Moroccan Dishes
Traditional dishes and foods from Moroccan cuisine.
26 rows2 shared tags
Chinese Dishes
Traditional dishes from Chinese cuisine.
27 rows2 shared tags