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For those of you unfamiliar with it, Old Bay is a seasoning mix originally from Maryland.
It’s often used on crabs and shrimp or in seafood soups, though you can put it in or on pretty much anything — french fries and other snack foods are popular choices.
Last but certainly not least for our purposes, it’s made with red pepper flakes and paprika. A tin of Old Bay is a no-go for anyone going nightshade-free.
If you’re not much for seafood, you might be able to go your whole nightshade-free life without missing Old Bay. If you like seafood, however, or if you’re from an area where people use it liberally (I grew up about an hour’s drive from Baltimore, so my family always had a can in our pantry), you’ll want an alternative.
Ingredients:
- 6 tsp ground yellow mustard
- ONE of the following:
- Either 6 tsp celery salt OR
- 6 tsp celery seed and 2 tsp salt OR
- 6 tsp dill weed and 2 tsp salt
- 4 tsp parsley flakes
- 4 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp coriander
- ½ tsp ginger
- ½ tsp turmeric
- ¼ tsp each cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
If you’re planning to put it in a soup, add a couple of bay leaves as well (though I recommend doing that with any soup, honestly). My original motivation in developing this seasoning mix was the Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup from Gimme Some Oven, which is fantastic with this blend. I fed the soup to visiting relatives, including one auntie from Maryland, and was met with approval and requests for seconds! If my “Old Bay” gained a Marylander’s approval, it must be a decent substitute.
Simple question: is the mustard in prepared form or seed form? If seed is it black, brown or yellow? Or does not matter?
Hi Chris, great question! I’ve updated the body of the post to make it more clear — I used ground yellow mustard (which is the only type sold at my local grocery store, ha). Now that I’ve read up on the different types, though, I’m really interested to try brown and black mustard in some spice blends!
This is so helpful! I have a child who also suffers from migraines so we are going nightshade free. Thanks for all the alternatives!
You’re very welcome! I hope cutting out nightshades helps your child; it’s an unusual sensitivity but it ended up being one of the biggest contributing factors to my migraines. (And kudos to you for doing it with them, it’s great to have support!)