Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I'm going to have to go with fresh herbs. Since I've started using them instead of reaching for jars of the stuff (which were usually over a year old anyway), food has started to taste a lot better!

Pomegranate Juice has been my one of my most recent enthusiasms and it's now a staple in my refrigerator. It's great in sauces and marinades and, while it doesn't seem to insinuate it's particular taste to a dish, it adds a richness or a depth of flavor when used judiciously.

In addition, it's full of antioxidents, etc and serves as a substitute when one wants to add wine, but chooses not to because it's not desired for any number of reasons.

It's good and good for you.

Various vinegars; I grew up only being familiar with distilled white and apple cider. Now I have about eight different kinds. I love how adding a splash of vinegar at the end of cooking stews, beans, etc. just lifts the flavors and makes it all come together.

Paneer. I have always loved eating Indian food at restaurants but recently ventured into a local Indian market and discovered you can buy paneer already made! Paneer is Indian cheese that is more like a really firm tofu and is pretty much a vegetarian staple for Indian food. It has really emboldened me...:)

Fresh Ginger grated into almost everything I cook recently!

Freshly cracked black pepper for desserts and sweet items. I cube cantaloupe, shred prosciutto and basil, squeeze some lemon on top and crack lots of fresh black pepper on top. I would analogize it to adding salt to baked goods. You wouldn't expect the synergy to work but it does.