Timiz substitutes

Cubeb is the closest match on the shelf, a near relative of timiz from the same family of pepper vines, sold as small round peppercorns with a stalk still attached.

Best for

berbere, mekelesha, any recipe calling for timiz or long pepper, spice blends where the aroma matters

Cubeb leans a little further into menthol and eucalyptus than timiz, and it is slightly more bitter and less sweet, so a berbere made with it smells marginally cooler and sharper. In a blend with a dozen other spices the difference is almost impossible to pick out. This is the swap to make if you can find it.

Indian long pepper is the same catkin-shaped spike as timiz from a related vine, and it is much easier to find at South Asian groceries and online.

Best for

berbere, spice blends, wide availability, recipes that also want some warmth

It is distinctly sweeter and hotter than timiz, with heat that builds and lingers at the back of the throat rather than hitting immediately, and less of timiz's piney resin. Toast it briefly in a dry pan before grinding and cut the quantity by about a quarter if you dislike lingering heat.

This is the best fix from an ordinary spice cupboard, because it covers both halves of what timiz does: pungent heat from the pepper and warm, sweet, clove-like aroma from the allspice.

Best for

berbere made at home, mekelesha in a pinch, no specialty shopping required, wots and stews

What you lose is the resinous, faintly piney top note. The blend tastes rounder and more straightforwardly peppery, and it reads as a familiar warm-spice combination rather than as something unusual. Grind the black pepper coarsely and add the allspice last so it does not get lost.

Grains of paradise bring a bright, citrus-and-cardamom lift on top of pepper heat, which gets closer to the aromatic side of timiz than allspice does.

Best for

West African and Ethiopian spice blends, when you want aroma more than warmth, mekelesha

This version is brighter and more perfumed than the allspice option and slightly less sweet, but it still misses timiz's resinous, pine-sap character. Grind grains of paradise fresh, since their volatile aroma disappears within a few weeks of grinding.

Pink peppercorns are the one common spice with a genuinely resinous, sweet-piney note, which is exactly the quality timiz has and black pepper lacks.

Best for

getting the resin note right, finishing blends added at the end of cooking, cooks who already stock pink peppercorns

The result is fruitier and sweeter than timiz and considerably more fragile. Pink peppercorns are soft and lose their aroma within hours of grinding, so grind them at the last moment and stir them into the dish near the end of cooking rather than at the start.

Plain black pepper covers the pungency and nothing else, and it is genuinely acceptable in berbere while genuinely poor in mekelesha.

Best for

berbere, where a dozen other spices carry the aroma, when you have literally nothing else, everyday cooking

Use less than a straight 1:1, because timiz is milder on the tongue than black pepper and a one-for-one swap makes the blend taste hot rather than aromatic. In berbere the shortfall barely registers. In mekelesha, where timiz is one of only four or five ingredients added to finish a doro wat, the missing perfume is immediately obvious and the blend tastes thin.