663396 Thu Oct 29 17:40:08 -0700 2009 1 31 Home Cooking 0 5141645 There is a brine I am planning on using for my turkey on Thanksgiving. However it calls for whole allspice berries and crystalized ginger. I curently only have ground versions of those and was wondering if the brine would still work correctly if i just used what I have, or if it would be better to get what the recipe specifically calls for. Thu Oct 29 17:40:08 -0700 2009 1120246 gracefulbutcher 1 5141752 From a decade of brining Thanksgiving turkey I've found that--except for salt--the proportions of other spices in the brine are not only very forgiving, but that it actually takes a boatload of spices to make a discernible difference. So, I evolved from using smashed ginger to dumping increasingly large heaps of powdered ginger in my brine. Unless you really overdo it, I suspect using powdered will work just fine. Thu Oct 29 18:32:15 -0700 2009 5141645 12327 PegS