Poultry Seasoning

• Poultry seasoning is a traditional seasoning found in grocery stores to flavor poultry such as chicken and turkey. Poultry seasoning is also used to flavor the traditional stuffing used in roasted birds. There are slight variations of the traditional blend, but the main spices and herbs include thyme, sage, marjoram, nutmeg, black pepper and rosemary.

  A homemade mixture of the spices and herbs often includes rosemary, oregano, sage, ginger, marjoram, thyme and black pepper. This blend of poultry seasoning, which includes ginger and oregano, was created by William G. Bell in 1867 and is still sold in grocery markets.

Spices

• Spices are derived from different areas of the plant’s anatomy and later ground into a powder form.

  Spices extracted from dried seeds and fruit, which complement chicken are fennel, cumin, mustard, allspice, black pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, paprika, pepper corn and sesame seed.

  Spices derived from the roots and rhizomes of plant life suitable with chicken are ginger, turmeric and mint. Saffron, a stigma, is complementary with chicken, along with curries, which is a blend of traditional spices together into one seasoning.

Herbs

• Leafy herbs are often used as an aromatic flavoring in food.

  Herbs traditionally cooked with poultry include parsley, basil, thyme, sage, summer savory, oregano, coriander, tarragon, marjoram and rosemary.

Vegetables

• Complementary vegetables used for seasoning chicken are garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Mushrooms are another excellent seasoning along with chicken, although the mushroom is not part of the spice, herb or vegetable families.

  Pepper plants’ are of the nightshade family. The variety of spicy pepper blends come from many regions of the world and are popular seasonings with chicken dishes. Cajun and hot, spicy blends of peppers add a lot of variety to chicken recipes.