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Shipping spices?!?


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There's some specific info on the AQIS site, but for a lot of them the answer is definitely no (especially if they're whole seeds). If they're already ground then you might be able to - but if they're already ground they're already aging and aren't really worth taking anyway.

 

I'd say throw them out and start afresh - although if you like spanish food (paprika especially) it might be worth putting a tin or two of smoked paprika in your suitcase and declare it :) You might get told no, but so long as you declare it you won't be in trouble :)

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Its probably not worth shipping them, but if you want to bring them in your luggage, as long as they are commercially sold herbs/spices, then customs really don't care less. We flew in with several packets and tins of stuff (long story), declared them, went through the declared/search route and when we started to unload everything onto the counter the guy looked at us ever so bored, asked us if it was all like this (with me twittering "There are some whole seeds in these, but we didn't know if we were allowed them or not, and you can't buy this in Oz, and we really like it, and we're really sorry if we're not allowed it, but can we have it, because someone said we might be able to, and we thought we would bring them anyway....." (I was very very tired as we didn't have a break in the flights and was a little hyper lol), and said there wasn't an issue with any of it and to just go and have a nice time in Oz.

 

If you declare it, and you're not allowed it, you won't get fined or anything, they will just take it off you - if you don't declare it you will be fined a huge amount though, so if you think you may forget anything etc don't risk it (although we found customs was nothing like Boarder Patrol lol). If you're pushed for space in your luggage, its not essential, as you can get some really good cheap stuff in markets etc (just not coles/woolies!) but if you have spare space/weight and want to bring them along, you may be able to have them :) We flew into Perth if that helps at all as well, from Singapore.

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no you cant bring in food of any description, if you shop around you can pickup some great spices at a reasonable price.

 

That's not quite true. We bought in a fair few packaged goods like crisps, twiglets and chocolate. All declared and all fine. Other people I know shipped boxes of cereal with no problem.

 

Anyway - back to the spices. All 3 shippers that we had quotes from said no to that question. Said it would be a big headache if we tried.

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no you cant bring in food of any description, if you shop around you can pickup some great spices at a reasonable price.

 

This is not so.

But it is complicated.

Cinnamon is not allowed nor is Bay Leaf ....

We spoke to AQIS a couple of weeks ago re shipping curry paste and they were fine, they just told us to declare it.

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Gah, Shoes don't tell me you BUY bay leaves???? Pop down to bunnings and buy a tree!! Or make friends with neighbours who have a few :) We haven't paid for bay leaves in generations :)

 

We got one a little while ago, but it is too nice to rob the leaves off, at the moment, but I hardly use them now because I make my own curry paste and they are ground into it, so I don´t need as many as the previous recipe which used loads.

 

Once it grows a bit more though I will be taking the leaves off, we are growing most herbs, coriander is used quite a lot, we are growing lemon grass but I don´t know how to cultivate it ??

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Devils dung?--Are you serious?

 

It is called that because of the pungent aroma, it smells like strong onions and is used in very small quantities, Devil´s Dung is the nickname because it is supposed to smell sulphuric .... Asofaeotida (spelt wrong me thinks) is the real name

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It is called that because of the pungent aroma, it smells like strong onions and is used in very small quantities, Devil´s Dung is the nickname because it is supposed to smell sulphuric .... Asofaeotida (spelt wrong me thinks) is the real name

 

 

Aaah! Asafoetida --now i get it--i have it in my kitchen shelf!

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