Eat: Herbs and Spices

There are so many herbs and spices out there I can see how many people ignore this section of the supermarket and just stick to flavouring their food with salt. I personally would rather get flavour out of my food through herbs and spices as I try not to add extra salt to my diet unless I’m really craving it (listening to your body, not just a desire to add salt because it’s on the table). Some of the herbs and spices we currently have in the pantry include;

• Crushed Garlic
• Crushed Ginger
• Paprika
• Cajun Seasoning
• Curry Powder
• Turmeric
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Mixed Spice

We are slowly growing our selection of herbs and spices as recipes using new ones catch our eye. If you are not sure where to start I would recommend definitely having garlic and ginger of some form (crushed, whole or dried) on hand as well as cinnamon and curry powder. There are many articles pumping the health benefits of herbs and spices and I tend to take them with a grain of salt (ha!), I am not a nutritionist nor am I sold that nutmeg is beneficial for male infertility and impotence or that turmeric has cancer fighting power. I wouldn’t go adding all these herbs and spices in to your diet for that reason. Instead use them to get the most out of your food, you can have a different meal every night by just changing up the herbs and spices you use. Some of my current favourites include- Paprika / Cajun seasoning / Curry Powder- sprinkle over homemade wedges or chips, just cut up a potato (or kumara) and sprinkle one or all of them on (quantities depend on how hot you want them). Garlic / Ginger / Curry powder / Turmeric – to make fragrant curries, we often mix these with a little green curry paste or other curry paste to add a little extra flavour. If your using a curry paste you could choose to just add one of these or add all of them, we have never had a bad tasting curry so far. Cinnamon / Nutmeg / Mixed spice – Oh the smell of cinnamon gets me every time! An idea using these are stewed apples (cut the apples up and place in a pot of water with a sprinkle of any (or all) of the spices and let it simmer away until the apples are soft then mash them a bit (or keep them whole).  Another idea is to add a sprinkle of any of these spices into your pancake or waffle mixture for a bit of a treat. And as a side note, there is no need to add the sugar that pancake and waffle recipes sometimes call for, especially if you are using some kind of syrup as a topping! Some other combinations which work well are; Cumin / Garlic / Pepper / Oregano Basil / Marjoram / Oregano / Parsley Basil / Dill / Parsley The table below shows an example of what type of herbs and spices go with different dishes 🙂

Don’t be afraid to play around with difference combinations, just use a little at a time.   Do you have any favourite flavour combinations?