Blog - Understanding Spices

Understanding Spices

Ferments have been around for thousands of years. It started out as a necessity, a way to preserve food for longer. Many cultures have fermented food in their culinary heritage,...

Understanding Spices

Craving Japanese food and fancy a crack at making a few dishes yourself? The first thing you need to do is assemble all the right ingredients. Shopping for Japanese products...

Understanding Spices

All types of tea come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Originating in southern China thousands of years ago, there are two main varieties of the plant: Camellia sinensis var. sinensis,...

Understanding Spices

Since the dawn of humans, volcanoes have been present in our culture, history and general existence. Ethiopia - where modern Homo Sapiens first appeared - is chocked full of them....

Understanding Spices

If you’re any sort of foodie, there’s no doubt that you’ve heard the term ‘umami’ being used in your favourite food programmes. But what does it actually mean? Our taste...

Understanding Spices

What is cassava? Cassava, also known as manioc or yuca, is a root vegetable and the underground part of the cassava shrub. Native to South America, it’s also widely grown...

Understanding Spices

If you’re trying to get more vegetables into your diet, there’s a high chance that salads see a regular spot on your dinner table. It’s a great way to up...

Understanding Spices

What is berbere spice blend? Berbere is a traditional spice blend that is the foundation of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine. The name itself means ‘pepper’ or ‘hot’ in Amharic, the...

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The good news keeps on coming here at Seasoned Pioneers. After six of our products won at the Great Taste Awards 2020 (one of the highest awards in the food...

Understanding Spices

What is dukkah? Dukkah is a mix of spices, herbs, nuts and seeds which originated in Egypt but is found all over the Middle East and North Africa. Dukkah is a...

Understanding Spices

What is pandan? Pandan is a tropical plant in the Pandanus (screwpine) genus, which is found extensively in Southeast Asia. Similar to the palm, the plant has spiky, bright green...

Understanding Spices

Smoothies are a great way to incorporate more vitamins and nutrients into your diet. They’re colourful, taste delicious and are easy to knock down in just a few sips. While...

Understanding Spices

What is baharat? Baharat, meaning ‘spices’ in Arabic, is a popular Middle Eastern spice blend. It’s as essential to Middle Eastern cuisine as garam masala is to Indian food. The...

Understanding Spices

Sumac is a staple within Middle Eastern cuisine, just like salt and pepper in the UK.  Sumac is a focal point in Turkish, Lebanese and Arabian cooking, where it adds...

Understanding Spices

Shakshuka (also spelt with an O, shakshouka), is a staple dish on any Israeli breakfast table. In fact, they eat it at breakfast, lunch and dinner - both at home...

Understanding Spices

If you’ve never seen black garlic before, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just regular garlic gone bad. But don’t bin it just yet – black garlic is actually a...

Understanding Spices

The woman who taught England to cook Ask just about any person in the UK if they know who Nigella Lawson is and they’ll look at you as if you’re...

Understanding Spices

What is Cajun blackening? Blackening is a traditional Cajun cooking technique that adds a complex flavour and dark colour to fish, shellfish and chicken. The meat is dipped in butter,...

Understanding Spices

What are cloves? Cloves are one of the oldest spices in existence and have a culinary and medical history dating back thousands of years. This pungent, aromatic spice comes from...

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What is Jerk Seasoning? No matter where you are in the world, Jamaican cooking can transport you to the tropics  thanks to the distinctive flavours of the ubiquitous jerk seasoning....

Understanding Spices

What is khmeli suneli? The fun sounding khmeli suneli is a Georgian spice blend which is used in many different recipes from the Caucasus region. Translating to ‘dried spices’, the...

Understanding Spices

What is advieh? Literally translating to ‘spice’ in Persian, advieh is a spice blend used in Iranian cuisine. It’s a staple in Persian cooking, often compared to India’s garam masala....

Understanding Spices

If you haven’t had the chance to do so already, have a read of our article highlighting the plight of some of your favourite foods. In short, the future does...

Understanding Spices

This spicy Japanese spice blend may sound exotic, but since appearing in recipes by Jamie Oliver and the Hairy Bikers, it’s popping up more and more in British cupboards. What...

Understanding Spices

By now, it’s impossible to deny climate change and the fact that the earth is well on its way in a sixth mass extinction event. Whichever way you look, from...

Understanding Spices

What is candlenut? The candlenut (Aleurites moluccanus) is a flowering tree and is also known as candleberry, Indian walnut, kemiri, varnish tree, nuez de la India, buah keras, godou or...

Understanding Spices

Lasagne is one of those classic Italian pasta dishes. It’s beloved not just by humans, but cats too - Garfield being the chief champion of it amongst the feline kingdom...

Understanding Spices

Dal (also known as daal, dahl or dhal), according to Wikipedia, "is a term used in the Indian subcontinent for dried, split pulses (that is, lentils, peas and beans) that...

Understanding Spices

Ah, pizza. Who doesn’t love pizza? It’s up there with chocolate as one of the most universally adored foods - a dish that’s so simple, yet brings us so much...

Understanding Spices

What is tempeh? Tempeh (or tempe) is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. Tempeh is commonly used as a replacement for meat in vegan and vegetarian cooking. The...

Understanding Spices

No matter how old we are, we’re always looking for ways to boost our brain health. One of the best ways is from the food we consume, such as fresh...

Understanding Spices

You may well know all about spaghetti bolognese already. When German-based company Apetito ran a survey in 2014, they found that the dish was the third most popular eaten by...

Understanding Spices

A cheap and cheerful dish, the humble shepherd’s pie is an icon of British and Irish cuisine - one for those cold, dark nights over winter. Whilst recipes do have...

Understanding Spices

Chocolate. Just the word alone is enough. Who doesn’t love chocolate? If there were a list of things that are universally loved, chocolate would be sitting pretty at the top....

Understanding Spices

Arthritis is a condition that causes inflammation and pain in the joints. There are over 100 types of arthritis, some of the most common ones being rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis....

Understanding Spices

We’ve all been there at one point or another. You’re following a recipe online diligently. You’re in the middle of a pain-staking process - step 7 out of 15 -...