We started this blog because we live and breathe spices, dry herbs and hand blended seasonings. We love to cook healthy food, live an active lifestyle and we wanted to share what we have learned about making healthy food taste better. So even after working all day on our spice business I still can”t wait to share these things that get me excited.
I am so pleased about the newest spices and herbs that we have added. We have been getting a ton of feedback from our customers and I review every email, product review and survey response that we receive and I am constantly amazed at the wide variety of spices, chiles and herbs that our visitors are looking for or want to talk about.
So based on this tremendous feedback this is what we rolled live to the site last week:
Orange Zest
Orange Zest
While Orange Zest is most frequently called for in baking recipes we are now finding it appearing more often in recipes such as marinades, vegetables, chicken, dressings, seafood and rice.
Habanero Powder
Ground from whole Habaneros (including the seeds), we love to use Habanero powder in homemade salsas, bbq sauces and for making some smoking hot chicken wings. But use carefully as these are a 10 on the heat scale of 10!
Organic Cacao Nibs
Cacao nibs are becoming more and more popular – a wonderful taste sensation they can be used in a more traditional manner in various baked goods, cakes, cookies, ice creams and pie toppings. We have fond these to also be flavorful additions to chili, moles, savory sauces, and we even use them to top our morning oatmeal and in our salads.
Black Cardamom Pods
Black Cardamom Pods
Black Cardamom has a unique aroma and flavor and while somewhat similar it is really very different from the more popular Green Cardamom. Black cardamom is popular in Indian dishes and is more of a warm spice while green cardamom is more of a cooling spice.
Cascabel Chiles
Another marvelous Mexican Chile, the Cascabel is a round, plump, brownish red chile with a smooth almost transparent, yet thick, skin. Moderately hot, Cascabel chiles have a nutty flavor with a rich acidic and a light smoky aroma. These come in at 4-5 on the heat scale.
De Arbol Chile Powder
De Arbol chiles are popular in Mexican cuisine due to their bold heat and subtle, smoky flavor. De Arbol powder is frequently used in salsas, they are also commonly added to soups, stews, tacos, stir fries and are even found as a table sauce. These possess a fairly strong heat coming in at 7-8 on the heat scale.
Epazote
Epazote Leaves
Epazote is a Mexican herb is most frequently found in bean dishes (helps control gas) and has been used in Mexican cuisine for thousands of years dating back to the Aztecs.
Gujillo Chile Powder
Along with the Ancho, which has a deeper richer taste, the Guajillo chile, with its zesty and spicy taste, is one of the workhorse chiles that is used in many Mexican cooked dishes, soups, stews, salsas and sauces. This is a fairly mild chile coming in at 3-4 on the heat scale.
Chinese Cinnamon Powder
One of the newest additions to our cinnamon collection Chinese cinnamon is an essential spice in China where it is used in braised dishes and sauces. This cassia cinnamon is considered a grade A cinnamon and has an oil content if 4% (grocery stores usually carry the lower grade B or C with a lower cinnamon oil content).
Organic Black Sesame Seed
Black sesame is frequently used in Japanese and Chinese cooking. In this country it is popular when combined with white sesame seed and other spices
Dehydrated Red Bell Pepper
to become a crusted breading for meats and fish.
Dehydrated Red Bell Pepper
Dehydrated or dried sweet red bell peppers are best to use in dips, marinades, sauces, soups, salads, stews and stir fries. They also give their dishes a meatier texture than do fresh bell peppers.
Cinnamon Chips
Cinnamon Chips
Cinnamon is harvested by scraping out the inside pulp of this evergreen and the resulting quill pieces or cinnamon sticks are then separated for grading and drying based on their size, color and quality. The broken trimmings and smaller pieces are sold as cinnamon chips or are used in the making of cinnamon oil. We stock the highest quality Korintje cinnamon available at A grade with 3% cinnamon oil.
I would love to hear your comments on these or any other spices or dried herbs that you are having a hard time finding.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
SUMAC! But I think you have it!!
We definitely have sumac http://www.spicesinc.com/p-535-sumac.aspx and it was one that was also picked up because of customer requests (about six months ago). It really is an amazing spice with its fruity and tart taste and the way that it brings out the flavors of other spices is almost magical.