I found some at a spice market and was so intrigued I could not wait to give the bag a try. What made me curious was the relatively copious amount of moisture that was evident on the bag. I’d never seen “dried” peppers with this amount. Boy am I glad that I let my...
Adding saffron to a dish is like having cashmere in a blended wool sweater, it immediately ups the desirability factor and puts it in the favorite rotation. There is something about this herb that elevates a dish to something special. I have friends from various saffron producing regions who claim that theirs is the...
My husband recently took me for a weekend trip to Calaveras County. What does that have to do with Grains of Paradise? Very little, except that I found this interesting spice while in Murphys, which along with Angels Camp reside in Calaveras County, California. Grains of Paradise Grains of Paradise, formally known as Aframomum...
You know how you discover something, and then you suddenly its as if by magic you see it or references to it pop up everywhere? Or maybe you become hyper sensitive to it once you heard about it, well that’s pandan leaves for me right now. I had heard of pandan leaves before but...
I’ve long been intrigued by the lure of tonka beans, and given that they are off limits in the US thanks to the FDA its a clear cut case of desiring what you cannot have. I mean any spice described as tasting and smelling like a heady combination of vanilla, almonds, cinnamon and cloves...
Growing up, I loved mint, still do, but back then I had very fixed ideas of what mint was and where it belonged: in my gum, in my toothpaste, and most assuredly in my ice cream and my mom’s Creme de Menthe cake. Then I went to college and all my preconceived notions were...
I’ve confessed that I have a habit of buying spices first and asking questions later. Sometimes the purchases were duds, although I believe the argument could be made for “user error,” one or two chance encounters caused strong feelings of repulsion, but every so often they led to those wonderful “Eureka” moments. Such was...
Hands down, one of my favorite herbs is basil, there is just something about it that adds a bit of zing or flavor that I never get tired of, and I am a firm believer that just about anything you add basil to is better as a result. Having only married into a family...
Cumin is one of those spices, that grows on me; the more I use it, the more I appreciate its versatility – it adds a depth of flavor to the dish that I love, but without the astringency that coriander can add. Even my so called “spice adverse” dinner companions appreciate its contribution to...
The history of soy sauce is a bit like the sauce itself, kind of murky. What is consistent is that the precursor to soy sauce is something called jiang. Jiang was a method of preservation popular with the prehistoric people of Asia involving preserving meat and fish with salt. This process produced a bi-product,...
