One day I glanced at the ingredients on a bottle of Chinese Five Spice in my spice rack and was confused to see that it contained not five, but six spices. When I tried to figure out which was the rogue sixth spice, I ran into some trouble, because in fact there are several different “traditional” mixtures known as Chinese Five Spice, and at least one of those contains six spices. In fact, the only ingredients found in every variant are cinnamon and cloves. Here are a few sample Chinese Five Spice ingredient lists.
- McCormick (as sold in the USA; also includes “sulfiting agents”)
- Anise
- Cinnamon
- Star Anise
- Cloves
- Ginger
- McCormick (as sold in Canada)
- Fennel Seed
- Anise Seed
- Ginger
- Licorice Root
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Morton & Basset
- Cinnamon
- Anise Seed
- Cloves
- Ginger
- Fennel Seed
- Wikipedia
- China Tung Hing Cinnamon (a type of cassia)
- Powdered Cassia Buds
- Powdered Star Anise
- Powdered Anise Seed
- Ginger Root
- Ground Cloves
- Also from the Wikipedia
- Cinnamon
- Black Pepper
- Cloves
- Fennel Seed
- Star Anise
You can’t put a price on enlightenment. 
August 17th, 2006 at 5:49 am
[...] Ingredients in Chines Five Spice by Joe [...]
August 17th, 2006 at 8:40 am
So how did you find this out?? Is it listed on the bottle or was it a taste-testing mission? ;) Our list is up if you’d like to look… have a great day!
August 17th, 2006 at 11:38 am
That’s one of those things that makes you go hmmmm… neat little fact!
August 17th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
MamaDuck: I wish my palate were sophisticated enough to be able to tell the ingredients by taste, but I just looked at bottles of the stuff at home and at the supermarket.
Jersey Girl: Thanks for the comment!
August 26th, 2006 at 1:33 am
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August 26th, 2006 at 1:33 am
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August 26th, 2006 at 8:41 am
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September 15th, 2006 at 6:04 pm
[...] “Everyone’s so nice and speaking English,” Lizzie thought. Then she scanned the lists on the table. On her left she saw Pan Pacs 2006 - What to Watch For, European Honeymoon List Fun, 20 Ways to Improve Your Training for Rowers (and other Athletes), Ingredients in Chinese Five Spice, and Five Things to Do in Stockholm When it Rains. On her right was Things I learned in Honduras, 20 Drought Tolerant Australian Native Plants, A few handy EPL team facts, and 5 things to do when in Cebu. [...]
November 27th, 2006 at 3:38 am
The traditional ingredients for Chinese five spice are: Star anise, cinnamon or cassia sticks, fennel seeds, cloves and szechuan pepper peppercorns which are all ground up to a fine powder. It is very common these days that other ingredients such as ginger and/or substitutes for the traditional ingredients are added.