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Spice Blog

Featured Blog Posts

10 Easy Curry Recipes

Featured, Understanding Spices

When you’re planning meals, sometimes it can be difficult to think of recipes which tick all three categories: easy, healthy and taste good. If you need some inspiration, why not...

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10 Essential Ingredients in Thai Cooking

Featured, Understanding Spices

Thai cuisine is known for its complex flavours and mix of sour, sweet, bitter and salty. If you’re looking to cook more Thai dishes at home, the first thing you...

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The Best Food Gifts for Foodies

Featured, Understanding Spices

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...

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Jerk Seasoning Uncovered

Featured, Understanding Spices

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....

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Latest Blog

All About Miso

Understanding Spices

What is miso? Miso means ‘fermented beans’ in Japanese. It’s a fermented paste which adds a savoury, umami-rich flavour to all kinds of dishes. It’s an essential ingredient in Japanese...

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10 Best One-Pot Recipes

Spicy Adventures

Sometimes, all you need is a simple, no-fuss recipe for those moments when you don’t feel like getting all the different pots and pans out. One-pot recipes are a saviour...

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7 New Year’s Food Traditions Around The World

Champagne, canapes and sparklers are all New Year's Eve essentials. But in other parts of the world, so are food items such as grapes and soba noodles. As the new...

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Honey vs Agave: Which One Is Better?

Understanding Spices

As we learn more about refined sugars and the health issues associated with them, the more we turn to natural alternatives like coconut sugar, date syrup and blackstrap molasses. These...

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All About Oats

Understanding Spices

What are oats? Oats are grains from the Avena sativa plant, a species of cereal grain grown for its seed. Oats are believed to have been cultivated by the Greeks...

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Can Herb and Spice Substitutes Save the Day?

Understanding Spices

Substitutes for Herbs and Spices. Many of us know that sinking feeling when, having enthusiastically embarked on an interesting recipe, we find we are missing an essential ingredient, necessitating an...

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Best Local Shops To Support This Christmas

Seasonal Ideas

Small Business Saturday is the UK’s most successful small business campaign, taking place on the first Saturday of December each year. The campaign rallies small businesses to promote themselves and...

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Quatre-Epices Uncovered

Understanding Spices

What is quatre-epices? Quatre-epices means ‘four spices’ in French, and is made up of ground black or white pepper, cloves, nutmeg and dried ginger. This traditional spice blend can be...

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A Guide To Capers

Here’s everything you need to know about these small buds called capers and how to cook with them. What are capers? Capers are the small flower buds of the Capparis...

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Mindful Chef Spices – Eat Well. Live Better

Mindful chef was founded by two friends Myles Hopper & Giles Humphries back in 2015. Their shared interest in nutrition and ambition to help others with easy, healthy meals brought...

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10 Essential Ingredients In Mediterranean Cooking

Mediterranean cuisine is full of exciting flavours, from fresh and peppery herbs, to tangy and salty cheeses. The Mediterranean diet is considered one of the world’s healthiest diets, and is...

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The Different Types Of Olive Oil

Understanding Spices

Olive oil is one of the most popular cooking oils used today. It’s the liquid fat which comes from olives, a fruit of a tree native to the Mediterranean. Olive...

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5 Homemade Christmas Foodie Presents

Seasonal Ideas

Surprise your friends and family this Christmas with a homemade treat. Christmas is all about food, friends and family. And what better way to get into the festive spirit than...

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All About Jackfruit

Spicy Adventures

Jackfruit is becoming an increasingly popular item on menus. Here’s everything you need to know about the fruit. What is jackfruit? Jackfruit is a tropical fruit from the same family...

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A Guide To Chickpeas

Health and Wellbeing

Here’s everything you need to know about this legume, from its health benefits to how to cook with it. What are chickpeas? Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a...

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Gousto Spices

Understanding Spices

We have all probably heard or seen an advert for Gousto on the many platforms we have these days, but did you know Gousto had an online cookbook using a...

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Sulphites (Sulfites) and Spices

Understanding Spices

We were asked recently if our spices and spice blends contained sulphites. It turns out that this question wasn’t straight forward, so we thought we would write a short blog...

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10 Essential Ingredients in Mexican Cooking

Understanding Spices

Mexican food is bright and colourful, making the most of fresh produce, fragrant herbs and bold spices to create intense flavours. Starting with the native foods and flavours of Mexico,...

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A Guide To Tofu

Health and Wellbeing

Here’s everything you need to know about this plant-protein ingredient and how to cook with it. What is tofu? Tofu is a food made from soya milk which is curdled...

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Zahtar Spice Blend Uncovered

Understanding Spices

What is zahtar? Zahtar (also spelt za’atar or zaatar) is a Middle Eastern spice blend and is a gateway into Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s a delightful blend of so many...

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All About Wasabi

Understanding Spices

What is wasabi? Wasabi is from the plant family Brassicaceae also referred to as Japanese horseradish plant. Fresh wasabi rhizome can be grated and ground to form a paste and...

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Taste Awards 2021

News

We are pleased to announce that the following products have been awarded a Great Taste award 2021. The largest and most trusted food and drink awards on the planet, we...

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10 Essential Ingredients In Vietnamese Cooking

Understanding Spices

Vietnamese food is a colourful blend of flavours and aromas. It’s very balanced, reflecting the Buddhist five-element philosophy which pairs a natural element (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) with...

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10 Essential Ingredients in Thai Cooking

Featured, Understanding Spices

Thai cuisine is known for its complex flavours and mix of sour, sweet, bitter and salty. If you’re looking to cook more Thai dishes at home, the first thing you...

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Great Taste Awards 2020

News

WE WON 6 GREAT TASTE AWARDS 2020 We work so hard in providing you with the best herbs, spices, spice mixes and gourmet cooking sauces on the market. We couldn’t...

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All About Lemongrass

Understanding Spices

What is lemongrass? Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) is a tall, perennial grass which is native to Asia, Australia and Africa. It also goes by the name barbed wire grass, silky heads, Cochin...

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7 Best eco-friendly kitchen products

Health and Wellbeing

When it comes to making your home more environmentally friendly, the kitchen is a great place to start. Whether it’s food prep, cooking, cleaning up or enjoying a drink on...

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10 best recipes using a tin of beans

Understanding Spices

Do you have a tin of beans that’s been hiding away in the back of your pantry for… who knows how long? Well, it’s time to make good use of...

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Sourcing Spices

Spicy Adventures

It’s important to know where your herbs and spices are sourced from and all the hard work that goes into the process too! We thought we would share a compilation...

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Food Fermentation – Garum: The Ancient Roman Condiment

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,...

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Top 5 Foodie Places in the UK

Spicy Adventures

The UK has plenty to offer visitors, from the seaside to castles and world-class cities. But while British food has never really been a drawing factor, times are changing and...

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10 Essential Ingredients in Japanese Cooking

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...

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A Guide to Tea Varieties

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,...

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On the edge: why do so many people choose to live under volcanoes?

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....

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How to make your breakfast more Eastern Mediterranean

Spicy Adventures

It’s no secret that the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest in the world. It’s full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, healthy fats like olive oil, and seafood...

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How did Padang cuisine take over Indonesia?

Spicy Adventures

If you’re travelling through Indonesia, island hopping by bus, train, plane, ferry or however else you can imagine moving around, we challenge you to travel more than five minutes without...

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Welcome to our spice blog. Seasoned Pioneers has been manufacturing spice blends and mixes for over 20 years and are based in the UK.  So hopefully we know a little about spices! This spice blog was formally known as “The Knowledge” but rebranded in the 2020’s to “Blog” in the hope we can connect with more spice lovers. As you browse through our spice blog you will find lots of information about spices and ingredients, how to use them and why. Learn about their history and origins. 

The best way to find something on our spice blog is to use the search bar at the top of the webpage and add as little as three letters and then click on the magnifying glass. The website will then share anything relating to your request.

Alternatively, we have the following categories so you can filter content. Our spice blog categories include: Claims to Fame, Featured, Health and Wellbeing, Meet the Expert, News, Seasonal Ideas, Spicy Adventures, Trade and Understanding Spices. We are constantly adding new content and hope you enjoy reading our articles and find them useful.