Five-Spice powder, known in Chinese as wǔxiāng fěn and in Vietnamese as ngũ vị hương, is a spice blend used extensively in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. The five spices referred to in the title are not specific spices but rather the five flavors of traditional Chinese cooking: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and savory.
One common mix of spices used for five-spice powder is star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds, but anise seed, ginger root, nutmeg, turmeric, Amomum villosum pods, cardamom, licorice, mandarin orange peel, and galangal may also be used.