Spice Appeal Muntok White Peppercorns Whole, 22 Ounce

The description is incorrect, this is a SINGLE 5 LB JAR, NOT 4 AS DESCRIBED!!! (but I assumed that as should you) That said, a great value BUT when mine arrived, the thin plastic jug it was in was cracked in a few places allowing air and who knows what else in. The product itself smelled and appeared very fresh and quite good. I tasted some from the center on my finger and it was excellent! I just couldn't take the chance and serve it to anyone. Had to dispose of all that amazing powdered pasilla chile.....tragic waste. Amazon, there was NO packing material in the box, now you're sending a $40 replacement because of 4 cents worth of brown paper packing missing. Lazy warehouse packer.

1st container had a (broken melted seal), 2nd replacement container arrived with the seal broken/melted to the lid as the 1st. I also noted a white dried something, that is not a caraway seed in the bottle. I am afraid to use this product for food. Unable to find an expiration date on container. No stars. Can't submit for review without a star so one star and no, I will not be tasting for flavor.

EDIT, 4/14/15: the Rosemary won't soften, stays like a very sharp stick. I'm trying to cook the seasoning now to see how long it must boil or simmer for the Rosemary to soften. Even an hour isn't enough, so far. Suggest you boil the seasoning in oil and water, maybe leave overnight after boiling as long as you've time/inclination to do it, if you want to serve the seasoning 'fresh'.Original review, follows below.=================If you put a sandwich bag over the top of this 'jar' and then seal it with the lid again, it keeps fresh. So you can afford to buy it in quantity. So, I did. Look closely (zoom) at the label to see all the herbs included. Very fresh.Generously rub it on a brisket or pork -- mix in salt and pepper beforehand, if you prefer -- then cook whole. I love to overcook both meats for five hours, which makes them very tender inside but crispy outside. When meat cools, cut it into portions and then put those portions into plastic sandwich containers or even plastic bags. Thus you can make 30 meat portions from one cooking session, apportioning while you watch/listen to your favorite programs, etc.Oddly enough, this works well with jerk seasoning. I mixed both with some knockoff of Miracle Whip, and then added a generous dollop of Woeber's Horseradish sauce, let it sit to 'bloom' and wow. So if you like a more complex, exotic flavor, maybe alter your Spice Appeal 'rub' (sans Whip and Woeber's), to include Jerk seasoning (see my review of the same date here in Amazon).

Buyer beware. Arrived with no safety/fresh seal. Definitely no willing to risk using this. No knowing what may be inside or what it even is. Never seen a food product not have a seal inside or outside. Very strange.

Tastes very good, but definitely doesn't have that traditional file flavor. Brought some to my aunt's house where 3/5 of us were from New Orleans and while everyone said it tasted good, we all agreed that it did not fulfill the file flavor we were looking for. Our second and third servings (come on it's New Orleans food, you eat multiple servings) we used our Rex's file. Much more traditional file taste. Overall the New Orleans folk all gave it the thumbs down as a gumbo file.. but said it would taste good for other foods.I will say, I added this to a turkey soup I made after thanksgiving, and good lord this was good in it! It's got the perfect flavor for general poultry stews/soups. While I wouldn't recommend this for picky New Orleans people and their gumbo, you can't go wrong as a seasoning this large for the price for chicken/turkey soups.

I purchased this filé from Amazon after not being able to find it in any store near me and let me be the first to say (literally this is the first review) it's a great product. It's by far the best value around on filé. At about 50 cents an ounce, you cant beat it. However, one would think since it's so cheap it would be of poor quality, but this is simply not the case, this filé is high quality potent stuff. I use a ton of it in my gumbo and nearly a year later, about 6 large pots of gumbo, I still have over half of it left, and that is after I gave my cousin a quart sized container of it! One cannot simply do that if you bought a tiny 6 ounce container of filé. My advice is if you're a Creole like me and use a bunch of filé look no further than this. However, if you're just a casual spice experimenter this may not be for you as filé has a unique taste and smell that may not appeal to all and this being such a large container it would be a waste should you not like it. I recommend buying a small amount first in order to make a determination.Note: The container says it will expire about a year from when I bought it, but I have never know filé to go bad as my mom had the same little jar the entire time I was growing up.

When I received this, I smelled it right away and thought, "This is like no other curry." The curry powder we buy here in USA is sweet like candy but this has an earthy mysterious taste...absolutely no doubt this is authentic Indian cuisine. It has more cumin in it than American brands, and its not actually spicy but it is complex, and quite good. I found its best when used together with our style of curry powder; half a teaspoon of each into the rice cooker with Zatarain's yellow rice, a 15 oz. can of drained chopped white meat chicken and a teaspoon of country crock. Nice low cal supper....

File powder is very expensive where I live. A small jar is around $7.00 and considering we make gumbo almost every other week, that doesn't always fit into our budget well. I was looking to buy in bulk and came up on a listing for this product on Amazon. It said that it was pure ground sassafras and not blended with thyme, so I decided to give it a try. We have eaten this product twice in gumbo and I'm not disappointed with its taste or quality. The large container is much more budget-friendly and I will definitely be buying more of this product as needed.