SPICEography Tamarind is a key ingredient in many Indian dishes. Tamarind contributes a bright sour flavor that complements a range of herbs and spices used in Indian cuisine, but only if you use it in moderation. Excessive sourness will distract from other flavors and may even make the dish inedible. Here …
What is timut pepper? Timut pepper — also called timur pepper — is a spice that is native to the Himalayan region. The botanical name of the timut pepper plant is Zanthoxylum alatum, and its fruit is a small berry with a reddish-brown color. Timut pepper berries are dried before …
Saffron and sassafras are two spices associated with regional food. They are a couple of niche spices that some cooks will consider essential, but many won’t need at all. In the US, saffron and sassafras are similar in that neither is heavily used. Saffron is expensive, and its applications are …
Alaea salt and Himalayan salt are two versatile culinary salts that can do more for your food than just improve flavor. Alaea and Himalayan salts have a lot in common, and yet neither can perfectly replace the other. If you want to learn more about what makes these popular salts …
Winter savory is a perennial Mediterranean herb that was most likely introduced to Northern Europe by the Ancient Romans. Winter savory’s pungent, minty, and piney notes are more intense and peppery compared to those of summer savory, but it is still a valuable culinary herb. Outside of a few places …
Alaea salt is also known as red Hawaiian salt and is a kind of sea salt. The most traditional version of alaea salt is harvested from salt ponds on Kauai and colored with red clay from Waimea. The less authentic versions of alaea salt may come from China or the …
Savory is a culinary herb that belongs to the Lamiaceae family, which is also the mint family. There are about 30 known savory varieties, but only two are commonly used: summer savory and winter savory. The two kinds of savory are related and have a lot in common — like …
Summer savory is one of the two most common varieties of an aromatic herb related to mint, the other is winter savory. There are as many as thirty kinds of savory altogether, but summer savory is easily the most popular. Summer savory is a relatively rare, niche herb in most …