Seasonality

Leaves and Seeds of the Same Plant: Cilantro and Coriander

2011-09-11T14:32:00.000-04:00

Coriander is both an herb and a spice. Its globular, papery seeds look like tiny Chinese lanterns. Its fragrance is warm and spicy-sweet, and the flavor is described as citrusy, piney, tangy, and similar to sage.

Coriander is one of the most popular spices in India, so often teamed with cumin that the two commonly share a coveted spot in the masala dabba (a spice tin with seven inner compartments), the proportion of one to the other determined by the personal taste of the cook

As an herb, coriander is very popular in Mexico and Latin America, its fresh leaves sprinkled generously on dishes as a condiment. In North America, the coriander plant is known as cilantro, the Spanish word for this herb.

Fresh coriander resembles parsley and is also known as Chinese parsley, Mexican parsley, and Indian parsley. In fact, coriander (Coriandrum sativum) belongs to the same carrot family (Apiaceae) as parsley and many other herbs, including asafoetida, caraway, chervil, cicely, cumin, dill, fennel, and lovage.

Although cultivated throughout the world, coriander is native to Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Near East and still grows wild in many of those areas. The white to pale-pink flowers bloom in small umbel clusters. Coriander seed is the dried fruits of the plant.

The coriander cultivated in Russia and Central Europe has smaller seeds which contain more essential oil than the larger seeds produced by the Oriental variety grown in tropical regions. The smaller seeds are used for the production of essential oils. The larger seeds are used in the spice trade.

Coriander leaves (Cilantro)

Herbal coriander is common in many cuisines throughout the world, nearly always used fresh as a garnish or in cold dishes because heat destroys the flavor. The leaves spoil quickly when removed from the plant and lose their aroma when dried or frozen. For that reason, cilantro is sold with the roots intact throughout Mexico so the bunch can be placed in a jar of water and stays fresh for a couple of weeks. Cut from the root, cilantro lasts only a few days.

Fresh cilantro has become more and more popular in America, due to the growing Hispanic population. You can find it in nearly every grocery store now, among the varieties of parsley. Sometimes I still have trouble identifying it and just nip off a little leaf to smell. There’s no mistaking the smell of cilantro compared to parsley.

Coriander seed

Whole seeds are rarely used except in pickling or roasted coriander seeds (dhana dal) eaten as an after-dinner breath freshener and digestive aid in India.

Ground coriander is used in generous amounts in garam masala and Indian curries together with cumin. It acts as a thickener. It is the main ingredient of two Southern Indian dishes called sambhar and rasam.

There is a limited taste for coriander seed in the West. It is used as a pickling spice, to season vegetables, in some sausages, in some rye breads, and in brewing certain styles of beer.

Coriander roots
Coriander roots have a deeper, more intense flavor than the leaves. They are used in a variety of Asian cuisines, especially in Thai dishes, including soups and curry pastes.

It’s good for you!
Coriander is high in iron, magnesium, and manganese. Modern study of its essential oil has revealed a plethora of organic compounds such as phytonutrients and terpenes, which has made coriander a popular ingredient in herbal remedies and dietary supplements. But even without all the new research, coriander has been long known within ancient systems of medicine for its antioxidant, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antibiotic, anxiolytic (helps anxiety and insomnia), anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and carminative properties.

Add lots of coriander spice and fresh, herbal cilantro to your food, and the next time you get a cold or the flu, nurture yourself with some coriander tea!

About that smell ...
Most everyone would agree that the aroma of whole or ground coriander seed is pleasant. But the taste and smell of the fresh leaves is much different than the spice.

The leaves contain an aldehyde called linalool, a fragrant compound found in many flowers and plants, with a smell similar to bergamot. It is used in aromatherapy and as a fragrance for soaps, shampoos, and other toiletries. This could be why so many people consider the taste of cilantro soapy instead of herbal, because they associate the smell so strongly with perfumed products. This is the same type of reaction some people have to lavender used as a culinary herb.

Some people have an even stronger revulsion to the smell and say it has the peculiar and unpleasant odor of bed bugs or stink bugs. Julia Child was one of these. She said that the only two things she did not like were cilantro and arugula. She called them “rank” and “dead,” and when she found them on her plate, she felt compelled to throw them on the floor!

This could be as big a divide as licorice, with few taking the middle ground. You either love it or hate it.

How to dry-roast coriander before grinding
Spices lose flavor and fragrance quickly after they are ground, so it’s best to buy coriander in whole seeds and then grind them yourself when needed. The flavor is better if you roast them first.

Roast coriander seeds in a small, heavy pan (cast iron is ideal) over low to medium heat, shaking the pan frequently to roll the seeds around until they are aromatic and a uniform, darker shade of brown. Do not burn them, as this will add a bitter taste.

Origin of the name
Coriander is derived from Latin coriandrum, and either Greek koriannon or koros.

Koriannon may relate to Ariadne, a figure from Greek mythology who was the daughter of King Minos of Crete, aided Theseus in overcoming the Minotaur, and was the bride of the god Dionysus (Bacchus).

Ariadne and Bacchus (before he became a big, fat, slob)

Koros means bug, which fits that widespread perception that the plant has an offensive buggy smell. (Don't worry, I'm not going to put a picture a bug in here!)

Coriander in other languages

Arabic – kusbarah
French – coriandre
German – Koriander, Wanzenkümmel
Indian – dhaniya
Spanish – coriandro (seeds), cilantro (plant)
Thai – pak chi farang
Vietnamese – ngo gai

20/48

Turmeric: The Tasty, Golden Tint

2011-09-04T18:50:00.000-04:00

Also known as Indian saffron, Indian ginger, and yellow ginger, turmeric is best known as a culinary dye.

Its earthy, ochre color brightens curry, prepared mustard, butter, cheese, pickles, and many other commercial products.

Turmeric is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), which are large, lily-like plants with knobby, bulb roots and rhizome “fingers” that branch out horizontally underground.

Turmeric plants (Curcuma longa) grow as high as six feet tall and have broad, foot-long, bright-green leaves which surround conical, trumpet-shaped clusters of white to pale-yellow flowers.

Tumeric powder is prepared from the roots, which have a tough, brown skin and a carrot-orange inner flesh. To make turmeric powder, the roots are boiled, dried in the sun, and ground. The end product varies in color between bright yellow and yellow-orange. The dried turmeric fingers sold in the market are often polished, to improve their appearance.

The active ingredient in Turmeric is curcumin, also known as Natural Yellow 3 in the food industry. In medieval Europe, turmeric became known as Indian saffron, a cheap alternative to saffron. The Latin genus name for turmeric, Curcuma, was formerly the name for saffron, but now only means turmeric. The color is the only similarity between turmeric and saffron. The flavors and aromas are very different, and turmeric is not considered a substitution for saffron.

Turmeric maintains its coloring properties indefinitely, even after the flavor has gone flat. I can attest to this, as my current supply is quite stale and tasteless, but it’s still useful for making yellow rice!

More than just a pretty color
Turmeric is used for both its color and its flavor, which is described as warm, peppery, and aromatic, with a somewhat bitter or sharp undertone. The aroma is mild, earthy, and acrid, with a fragrance slightly reminiscent of orange and ginger.

Turmeric in India

Turmeric is truly an Indian spice, as India produces 80% of the turmeric in the world and consumes 90% of what they produce. Its principal place is in the savory dishes of India, South Asia, and the Middle East, where it is used extensively in everything, and is best known as a main ingredient in curries. It’s nearly always used in its dried, powdered form, although fresh turmeric, grated or ground like ginger root, is preferred in Southeast Asia. Far Eastern cuisines include fresh pickled turmeric root. In areas where turmeric grows locally, the leaves are used to wrap and cook food, which imparts a distinct flavor.

Turmeric in the West

In the West, we're familiar with turmeric used in prepared mustard and in commercial curry powder. That's really about it (sadly).

Fabric dye and cosmetic tint
Turmeric is a cheap, natural, textile dye, but not a very good one by modern standards, as it fades over time when exposed to sunlight. A product called turmeric water is used as an Asian cosmetic to give a golden glow to the complexion.

Highly nutritious and healing
For thousands of years, both Indian and Chinese systems of medicine have used turmeric as a healing remedy to treat a wide variety of conditions and its nutritional value is well known.

Curcumin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, digestive, antiseptic, and anti-fungal properties strongly associated with fighting infections and some cancers, alleviating the pain of arthritis by reducing inflammation, easing symptoms of indigestion by stimulating the production of bile, and accelerating the healing of skin wounds.

Turmeric supplements often contain bromelain, an enzyme derived from pineapple that increases the absorption and anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin. Two other good companion ingredients that boost the nutritional benefits of turmeric are ginger (which also has anti-inflammatory properties) and black pepper, as the piperine that gives black pepper its pungency helps increase the absorption of nutrients, generally.

Tips on how to get rid of turmeric stains
Turmeric, especially the fresh root, is highly staining and difficult to clean from hands, clothing, and cooking utensils; however, it does fade when exposed to sunlight.

Treatments that may work to get stains out of cloth include combinations of alcohol or vinegar with dish detergent, a commercial enzymatic cleaner, or Grandma's Secret Spot Remover.

After washing the item, put it in direct sunlight to dry. The stain should be gone in about an hour. If a pale pink stain remains, wash the item again and repeat the sun exposure.

You may find more tips and instructions on how to remove mustard from the type of material that is stained, although it is actually the turmeric in the mustard that is the culprit.

To get turmeric stains off your hands, try washing them with a cut-up raw potato or sugar.

Turmeric in other languages

The English word turmeric (TUR-muhr-ik) is derived from old French terre-mérite (meritorious earth), possibly because powdered turmeric is similar to ochre, a mineral earth pigment.

Amharic – ird
Arabic – kharkoum
Chinese – wong geung fun
French – curcuma
German – gelbwurz
Indian – haridra, haldi
Japanese – taamerikku
Russian – kurkúma
Spanish – cúrcuma
Thai – kha min

19/48

Six Spices and a Masala Dabba

2011-08-30T09:29:00.001-04:00

What originally sparked my interest in learning more about herbs and spices was my scale. One day I realized that I was more than 50 pounds overweight and just a smidgeon away from 200, a number which I could not bear to see.

The pudginess was the result of my unhealthy lifestyle of sitting in front of a computer all day and eating a typical American diet heavy with meat, cheese, and butter – too often from restaurants.

My decision to go with the weight-loss plan of eating less fat and increasing exercise turned out to be the right approach for me, because the 50 lbs. was gone in six months! Not only that, but I was healthier than I had been for many years.

Weaning off animal products was difficult at first. I was addicted to the flavor and richness. If you simply remove these foods from the average North American, Australian, or European diet, what remains can be pretty darn dull and deficient.

During that first six months of changing the way I eat, I started to learn how to flavor foods like rice, beans, and bland vegetables that were otherwise too drab to stick with. My experimentation led me to discover all kinds of delicious new options in the cuisines of Northern Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Asia, and India. This is what I call spicy global vegan.

Today, the quest continues ... to discover more flavors of the wider world, acquire a decent collection of quality herbs and spices, and then master how to use them in cooking fresh, tasty, nutritious, and frugal home-cooked food.

That’s what Seasonality is all about!

Masala Dabba: Traditional Indian Spice Box
Moving forward with expanding my spice dreams, I’ve got plans for this delightful container from India called a masala dabba, which means spice box.

Most Indian kitchens have at least one masala dabba, which contains the most common spices used in their everyday cooking. These traditional Indian spice boxes range between 7” to 12” in diameter and are made of tin, stainless steel, or copper. Stored inside are seven cups. An inner lid keeps the cups secure, and an outer lid preserves the freshness. A dabba set also typically comes with 1 to 7 spoons which look to be about a teaspoon size.

I like the one pictured above because:

It’s sturdy stainless steel.
The inner lid fits snugly and has a ring on the top to help lift it off.
The outer lid does not have a knob on it, so if I get more of them, they will be stackable.
Each cup holds about one-third of a cup of dried spice.

So all I have to do now is pick seven spices to create my own Indian cooking starter kit!

The spices kept in each Indian cook’s dabba is really a personal choice, depending on the preferred regional style of cooking and favorite family flavors, just as in the United States you might prefer Midwestern, Cajun, or Southwestern flavors.

Can you imagine the aroma walking by these bags of Indian spices?

The Most Common Spices of India

Asafoetida (Hing)
Bay leaves (Tej patta)
Blue ginger (Galangal)
Caraway (Ajwain)
Cardamom (Elaichi)
Cayenne pepper (Lal mirch) – a hot capsicum
Chilies (Mirchi)
Cilantro (Hara dhaniya)
Cinnamon (Dalchini)
Cloves (Luong)
Coriander seeds (Dhaniya)
Cumin (Jeera)
Curry leaves (Kari putha or Neem)
Fennel (Soonf)
Fenugreek (Kasoori methi)
Garlic (Lassan)
Ginger (Adrak)
Kokum
Mango powder (Amchur)
Mint (Pudina)
Mustard seeds (Rai) - brown
Nutmeg and mace (Jaiphal and Javitri)
Onion Seeds (Kalonji) – black cumin/black seed/ Nigella sativa
Paprika powder (Degi mirch) – a mild capsicum with intense red color
Peppercorns (Kali mirchi)
Poppy seeds (Khus khus) – white
Saffron (Kesar or Zaafraan)
Tamarind (Amli)
Turmeric (Haridra)

That’s a pretty intimidating list. As of the date I’m writing this post, I’ve researched only a handful of these and they are not necessarily the ones I want for my spice tin. Not only would it be way too expensive to buy them all, but I’m a total novice at cooking Indian cuisine. There’s got to be a way to narrow this down for a beginner, and I was ready for a long search,but then I discovered this gem of a book ...

Simplified Indian Cooking With Only Six Spices

How perfect! Somebody already made the hard decision!

Six Spices: A Simple Concept of Indian Cooking, by Neeta Saluja, offers a simplified introduction to cooking your own Indian-style food based on a foundation of only six spices. It's more than just recipes, it teaches you how prepare spices (dry mixes, wet pastes, roasting) and other techniques of Indian cooking. What a great way to get started, and then you will be prepared to experiment and do your own thing or to try more authentic or complicated Indian dishes. The recipes are nearly all vegetarian.

Neeta’s six spices are mustard, cumin, chili, turmeric, coriander, and asafoetida, which are quite universal to all regional Indian cuisines. I’ve written about the first three, and my next three articles will cover turmeric, coriander, and asafoetida.

Since my Indian spice container holds seven spices, I plan to put a nice, flaky, dry gourmet salt in my seventh container, with the logic that the salt will help preserve the other spices by keeping them dry.

I’m not so sure about keeping asafoetida in there, as I’ve heard it is really stinky, but we’ll see.

Five?
This is now starting to remind me of the game show, Name that Tune! I started with seven cups to fill, got it down to six, and then discovered this very popular and highly rated book called 5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices, by Ruta Kahate. It may be a tough choice!

Ruta’s five are the same: mustard, cumin, chile, and turmeric.

She just skips the stinky stuff.

What I like about this book:

Contains 70 vegan recipes that are identified in the contents.
Provides complete pantry lists of ingredients for both beginners as well as more experienced cooks.
Tells you what pots and pans you need.
Accommodates beginners but takes you further, spicier, and more authentic.

The Challenger
After mastering five, six, or seven spices in my little masala dabba, maybe I’ll be ready to work my way through this one!

OMG and LOL!

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer introduces the different elements of a curry (bitter, sour, salty, sweet, umami, pungent, astringent, and aromatic) and then uses his background as a chemist to describe the processes of building the recipes using those elements. Sounds intriguing and thorough.

Worthy Mentions
Two more popular Indian cookbooks that a lot of people claim as their favorites and are definitely on my own wish list:

Flavors of India: Vegetarian Indian Cuisine by Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff

From Mom with Love: Complete Guide to Indian Cooking and Entertaining by Pushpa Bhargava

If you have a masala dabba, what spices do you keep in yours?

Mustard: Little Seeds, Big Flavor

2011-08-18T11:55:00.001-04:00

While cumin is the second most popular spice in the world (after pepper), it hardly rates at all here in the United States. Instead, our second-place honor goes to mustard. The word mustard comes from the Latin words mustum (much) and ardens (burning). We love the zip and bite of it!

We mainly use mustard in its prepared form. The classic, mild, bright-yellow, vinegary American-style mustard is served everywhere next to sweet, vinegary, tomato ketchup. And most of our refrigerators contain several other kinds as well, including milder, hotter, or sweeter versions. Grocery stores, especially the upper-end ones, offer dozens of varieties. With hundreds of mustards produced throughout the world, there’s a mustard for every taste.

Mustard is not just an American favorite. Commonly paired with meats and cheeses, used as a preservative in pickling meats and vegetables, and in many dressings, sauces, soups, and marinades, mustard is one of the most popular and widely used spices and condiments in the world, including India, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, northern Europe, the British Isles, the Balkan States, Asia, North America, and Africa.

Mustard is made from the seeds of the mustard plant, a member of the cabbage family (Brassicaceae), which also includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, horseradish, watercress, and wasabi. Mustard is in the genus Brassica (Latin for cabbage), which also includes cabbage, cauliflower, rapeseed, and turnips. The seeds are high in selenium and omega 3.

Wild mustard in a field near Muthill, UK

The mustard plant grows into a large shrub with bright yellow flowers. The flowers produce seed pods from which small, round, 1-2 mm seeds are harvested. Most of the plant (except for woody stems and roots) is edible in the form of spice, oil, sprouts, salad greens, leafy greens, and stems. All of these have a spicy, peppery flavor and are highly nutritious.

Mustard seed is used as a spice, either whole or ground (known as ground mustard, dry mustard, mustard powder, or mustard flour).

The seeds (also known as rapeseed or oilseed) are pressed to make mustard oil, a popular cooking oil in India and Pakistan.

The seeds are used to make flavorful sprouts.

Young leaves are harvested as tasty salad greens.

More mature leaves are harvested as a leafy green vegetable, which is cooked and often mixed with other milder greens. Two well-known mustard green dishes are Punjabi sarson da saag (mustard and spinach greens) and American Southern-style mixed greens (mustard, turnip, and collard greens).

The Chinese dish zha cai is pickled mustard stem knobs.

Types of commercially available mustard seeds
There are dozens of species of mustard grown throughout the world. In many areas, there is so much of it growing wild that it is considered a weed. Commercial producers of mustard seed include Hungary, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, and the United States.

Canada is the largest producer, growing 90% of all mustard seed for the international market. The Canadian province of Saskatchewan produces almost half the world’s supply of mustard seed!

The three types of commercial mustard are known as white, brown, and black, although their actual colors do not always exactly correspond. More important than the color is the pungency and aroma of each type, and they are often blended in combination.

White and brown mustard seeds

White mustard seed (Brassica hirta, Brassica alba, Sinapis alba, yellow mustard) is actually tan to light brown in color. This variety is the most mild and is used as a preservative, in pickling, and in prepared mustard, usually in combination with brown or black mustard seed.

Brown mustard seed (Brassica juncea, leaf mustard, mustard greens, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, rai) has a pungent, acrid taste and is used to make hotter brown mustards. This is also the type of mustard that is used for sprouts, salad greens, and leafy greens.

Developing mustard seed pods (Sinapis alba)

Black mustard seed (Brassica nigra, Indian mustard) is tiny, dark brown-black, with a slightly reddish hue. It is hotter than brown mustard. Black mustard seed is no longer grown for international trade because it cannot be harvested mechanically and has been replaced by brown mustard throughout most of the world. Black mustard is therefore more difficult to obtain outside of local areas where it is grown.

Black mustard oil is essential for the authentic flavor of several Indian regional cuisines, especially in West Bengal and Bangladesh, where it is known as sarisar tel. This mustard oil is so intense that it is not a legal food in most western countries, including the EU and the USA. In North and South India, black mustard seeds are also toasted until they pop, which gives them a nutty and smoky taste.

In the US, most black mustard seed is from California, where it grows wild and is also cultivated. The most common type, Brassica nigra, is known locally as Trieste.

The chemistry of making mustard
Oddly, mustard seed has no real aroma or taste, even when crushed or ground into powder. That’s because the aroma and pungency of mustard is the result of a chemical reaction. Mustard contains an enzyme that is activated only when a liquid is added. This starts an enzymatic reaction. The end result is the chemical allyl isothiocyanate, which is what gives mustard its aroma and pungency.

In its pure, concentrated form, allyl isothiocyanate is a volatile liquid also known as oil of mustard and is one of the most toxic essential oils. In the small amounts contained in prepared mustard, though, it is just tasty hot, spicy, and peppery. Note that mustard oil refers to both the edible cooking oil produced from pressed mustard seed and the toxic essential oil produced as a result of the enzymatic reaction.

When using whole seed, the first step in making mustard is to crush the seeds (to the desired texture) so that the liquid can react with the enzymes inside the seeds. Soaking the seeds overnight softens the outer shell so they are easier to grind.

The enzymes are slowed down or destroyed with heat or acid. If heat or acid is introduced too soon, the mustard will taste quite bitter because the enzymatic process was disrupted. After adding liquid to the crushed seeds, the pungent flavor takes a few minutes to develop. Freshly made mustard is at its hottest level. After allowing time for the flavor to develop, you can add hot water or an acidic substance such as vinegar, wine, or lemon juice to stop further reaction. Left to age at room temperature for days or even weeks, the taste will mellow. Refrigerating the mustard will preserve the level of developed pungency.

Types of prepared mustard

Most mustards are made from a combination of white and brown mustard seeds. The seeds may be ground smooth or rough. Other factors that affect the taste of mustard are the type of liquid used (such as water, vinegar, wine, or citrus juice) and a wide array of other ingredients, including herbs, spices, oil, sugar, honey, and fruit.

American – The traditional, yellow, “ballpark” mustard is a smooth blend of white and brown mustard seed, vinegar, and turmeric (which gives the intense color).

English – A smooth, very sharp, hot mustard made from a combination of white and brown mustard powder, water, salt, and sometimes lemon juice but not vinegar. To make a small serving of English mustard, mix 2 teaspoons of Coleman’s ground mustard with 3 teaspoons of cold water and allow it to stand for 2 minutes.

Chinese – The intensely hot mustard served in Chinese restaurants along with sweet sauce is similar to English mustard but even hotter because it is made from brown mustard powder such as S&B Oriental ground mustard.

German – Known as senf, traditional German-style mustard is mild and sweet, using a larger proportion of white mustard to brown mustard. The seeds are rough ground and combined with vinegar, sugar, and other flavorings.

Dijon – The mustard-makers of Dijon made their famous mustard with crushed mustard seed and wine (instead of vinegar). The popular Grey Poupon Dijon mustard sold in America is a Kraft Foods product made in upstate New York.

Karashi – This intensely hot Japanese mustard contains only crushed brown mustard seed and horseradish. It is sold in paste and powder form. The powdered form is mixed with lukewarm water to form a paste.

For MANY more examples of prepared mustard, check out The National Mustard Museum – a great resource for everything about mustard, with an online shop that offers around 500 different mustards from all over the world plus supplies for making your own.

Recommended reading
Despite mustard's huge popularity throughout the world, I found few books dedicated to mustard that looked very useful or had many positive reviews. The only one I recommend is The Mustard Book by Rosamond Man and Robin Weir (formerly published as Compleat Mustard), which is frequently referenced in mustard articles. Saveur reviewed this book in their article, The Ways and Means of Mustard. Saveur's Spicy Guinness Mustard recipe looks really good, too!

The charming story of Mustard Girl

The Mustard Girl All American Mustards Company was launched in 2007 by Jennifer Connor, a young woman entrepreneur. Connor had always had a passion for mustard. One day she came across an old mustard farmer’s amazing secret recipe in the hills of Madison, Wisconsin. Connor believed that this was the mustard that truly made food happy. Unsure about the risks involved with starting such a company alone, she needed a sign. She decided to go to church, and if the pastor said the word “yellow,” she would take that as the sign she sought. When the pastor launched into the classic sermon of the mustard seed, she just about keeled over! Connor decided to move forward with her dream, having faith in herself and her mustard seed. You can buy her mustard online at Basketree Gifts.

"Behind any good mustard stands a good mustard seed. Be happy in heart, and keep on spreading that sunshine!" ~ Mustard Girl

18/48

Lavender: Aromatic Edible Herbal Flower

2011-08-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

Lavender is a member of the Lamiaceae mint family along with many other culinary herbs such as basil, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, and thyme.

Lavender is an ornamental plant, an herbal medicine in the form of essential oil or tea, a scent in household and body products, and an aromatic, edible, herbal flower. Its creative culinary use is growing in popularity, although already well established in French Provençal cuisine.

The most common lavender species is Lavandula angustifolia, an evergreen shrub with narrow leaves and pinkish-purple (lavender) flowers produced on spikes. Lavandula is Latin for lavender, and angustifolia means narrow leaf.

Lavandula angustifolia is also known as common lavender, true lavender, or English lavender. Native to the western Mediterranean region, it is grown in gardens throughout the world and is widely commercially cultivated. Other cultivars include L. stoechas, (Spanish lavender) L. dentata (French lavender), and L. multifida (Egyptian lavender).

Culinary lavender
Lavender has a resinous, slightly sweet flavor and floral aroma. Unless otherwise stated in the recipe, lavender always refers to the flower buds, which contain the essential oil that gives the scent and flavor, not the leaves or stems. However, the leaves and stems are similar to rosemary and may be used as a substitute. As with other herbs, lavender can be used fresh or dried. The potency increases with drying, so use half the amount (or less) of dried. Too much will taste bitter, like eating perfume. Some complain of a soapy taste. The purple buds add a spark of color and can be used as a garnish.

Lavender flower buds

Typical dishes using lavender
Lavender is more commonly used in sweet dishes, but may be used with nearly any type of food or drink. In savory dishes, it is often combined with related herbs such as basil, rosemary, savory, and thyme.

Baked goods such as scones and muffins
Other desserts such as crème brûlée
Infused with oil, sugar, salt, or chocolate
Tea, lemonade, and alcoholic drinks such as champagne and martinis
Crystallized (candied) lavender flowers are used as decorations on baked goods (along with many other blossoms such as violet, rose, cherry, and orange).
Common ingredient in the savory French herbal blend called herbes de Provence

To get an idea of the wide range of recipes using this herb, enter lavender in the search box at the bottom of this page and then click Cook It.

Non-food use of lavender
Lavender is used in a variety of products for both its scent and its therapeutic qualities.

Massage oil and other body care products such as hand lotion
Handmade soaps
Home cleaning and freshening products such as laundry detergent
Aromatherapy
Sachets (miniature pillows stuffed with dried lavender that are kept in dresser drawers to freshen and scent clothing and to repel moths)

Lavender essential oil
Essential oil of lavender has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. During World War I, it was used in hospitals as a disinfectant. Young Living produces a very high-quality line of wellness products, including herbal essential oils, oil blends, nutritional supplements, and personal care products. They consider their therapeutic-grade lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) the most versatile of all essential oils and describe it as having a fresh, sweet, floral, herbaceous aroma that is soothing and refreshing.

Photo: Linda Day Harrison

Gorgeous lavender field in bloom at the Young Living farm in Mona, Utah – part of more than 1400 acres of fragrant herbs used in their herbal wellness products

Herbes de Provence
Herbes de Provence (herbs of Provence) is simply a mixture of aromatic herbs that thrive in Provence, a region in Southeastern France bordering the Mediterranean Sea, near Italy.

Just as with spice blends like garam masala or ras el hanout, there is no definitive herbes de Provence blend. Everyone has their own favorite recipe. In researching this article, I looked at more than a dozen recipes and commercial mixes, and no two were alike in either ingredients or proportions.

Out of the following list of sixteen herbs traditional to Provençal cuisine, only a handful (five to nine) are used in an herbes de Provence blend. The most common are highlighted.

basil
bay leaves
chervil
fennel
lavender
marjoram
mint
oregano
parsley
rosemary
sage
savory
tarragon
thyme
safron
bay laurel

Typical dishes using herbes de Provence
This herbal blend is used either fresh or dried, primarily in Mediterranean-style savory dishes in combination with tomato, garlic, olives, orange, and lemon. Sometimes the herbs are contained within a cloth bag and then removed before serving.

Grilled or roasted fish and meats (as a rub)
Grilled or roasted potatoes and other vegetables
Tomato sauces
Omelettes and quiche
Soup de Provence (vegetable soup)
Ratatouille (vegetable stew)
Cheese flavoring
Infused with olive oil or salt
Herbed butter
Herbed rice
Savory scones or focaccia
Tossed with salad greens along with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

The incredibly picturesque village of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie in Provence, France

Selling a pre-mixed blend of Provençal herbs called herbes de Provence was an invention of French spice sellers in the 1970s. Its origin may be traced back to a famous restaurant in Paris called Aux Anysetiers du Roy. In the 1960s, this restaurant specialized in Provençal cuisine, and their specialty was meat grilled with aromatic herbs. At the end of the meal, each guest was presented with a gift crock containing the house herbal blend (which is known to have contained lavender). Today, this restaurant is a shop that sells a line of gourmet French food gifts. They still sell crocks of the famous Aux Anysetiers du Roy Herbes de Provence, which contains basil, fennel, lavender, savory, and thyme.

Aux Anysetiers du Roy Herbes de Provence Crock

My choice of herbes de Provence
After looking at a whole bunch of raw ingredients and ready-made blends, I decided that I’m going to start with this herbes de Provence blend from Provence Epice, which contains basil, marjoram, rosemary, savory, and thyme.

Herbes de Provence from Provence Epice

My three reasons for choosing the Provence Epice blend:

The herbs are actually grown in Provence. There is nothing wrong with herbs grown in other countries, but I like the gourmet specialness of having actual Provençal herbs.
These herbs are organic according to stringent French standards and are not irradiated but purified with a thermal method.
There is no fennel in it. I don’t hate licorice-flavored herbs, but they tend to dominate, and I would prefer to taste the other herbs without its interference.

But wait! There’s no lavender in it!

That’s OK, because I’m also going to buy the Provence Epice lavender and add it to the degree I prefer in individual dishes. Plus, I’ll have lots of extra lavender to use in other recipes.

Lavender from Provence Epice

And then, as a special container in which to keep my wonderful, gourmet herbes de Provence, I’ve got this beautiful rustic glazed stoneware spice jar on my wish list. It has a silicone ring on the lid to seal in freshness, measures 3-1/2 inches in diameter by 3-1/4 inches high, and has a 5-ounce capacity – just the right size to use as a salt cellar, sugar bowl … or for my French herb blend! Perfect.

Signature Housewares Sorrento stoneware spice jar

This would make such a beautiful gourmet gift, filled with herbes de Provence. I would include a pretty packet of lavender buds, along with a few recipes for using the herbs together and lavender separately. Even if they end up hating the herbs, they will still have a very nice jar for something else!

Some lovely lavender books
For you or a friend!

17/48

Orris Root: Perfume and Preservative

2011-08-02T16:58:00.001-04:00

Dried orris root smells like violets. It is coveted not only for its soft and sweet fragrance but also for its strong and protective chemical properties. In combination with weaker botanicals, orris root acts as a fixative that prolongs their aromas and preserves their organic structures without overpowering their unique fragrances.

Also known as Iris Florentine, orris root is the collective term for the roots of three species of European Iris (germanica, florentina, and pallida) common in landscapes throughout the world and commercially cultivated in southern Europe, the eastern Mediterranean region, northern India, and northern Africa. The iris is the royal flower depicted in the symbol of imperial France, the fleur de lis.

Orris root is harvested from iris plants that are at least three years old. The roots are peeled and left to dry. Fresh orris root has an earthy smell and acrid taste (it puckers your mouth). As it dries, the bitter taste mellows and it acquires the strong yet delicate scent of fresh violets – described as tenaciously flowery, heavy, and woody. This aroma takes two to five years to fully develop but is then retained and may further intensify over time.

The flowery scent of orris root is contained in its essential oil. The dried roots are ground into powder, dissolved in water, and distilled. The resulting thick, oily substance is known as orris butter.

Orris butter is one of the most precious materials used by perfumeries, because it strengthens other botanical scents and preserves them from evaporating. It takes one ton of iris roots to produce just 4.5 pounds (2 kilos) of essential oil, making orris butter one of the most expensive raw materials in the world.

The chemical component that causes the violet odor, irone, has been synthesized, and the synthetic version is more commonly used to create cheaper perfumes and other scented products.

Iris Perfumes
I found a list of iris perfumes in which the orris component prevails. After looking at the beautiful bottles and reading the poetic descriptions that sound like exotic spice blends, I couldn’t resist putting together a little carasol shop to show you.

Infusion d'Iris (Prada)
Mandarin, galbanum, orange, orange blossom, iris, cedar, vetiver, incense, and benzoin.

Tumulte (Christian Lacroix)
Mandarin orange, freesia, rose, orris, heliotrope, rose, tonka bean, patchouli, and musk.

Iris Nobile (Aqua di Parma)
Orange, mandarin, bergamot, anise, iris, orange blossom, ylang-ylang, tuberose, mimosa, and woodsy cedar.

Irisia (Creed)
Bergamot, iris, tuberose, violet, ambergris, and amber

Y (Yves Saint Laurent)
Peach, aldehydes, gardenia, honeysuckle, narcissus, hyacinth, rose, orris, patchouli, vetiver, civet, and benzoin.

Vol de Nuit (Guerlain)
Galbanum, daffodil, iris, oriental, spicy, daffodil, and woody.

Medicinal Use of Orris Root
Iris leaves and flowers are toxic. Although orris root is edible, it is a potent medicinal herb with diuretic, emetic, anti-inflammatory, and cathartic properties and should only be taken in small amounts. Too much will cause nausea and vomiting, and it should be kept away from children and pets. Orris root is also highly allergenic and can cause severe reactions such as hay fever, asthma, and cold symptoms. Orris root powder was at one time used as snuff to cause exaggerated sneezing and relieve sinus headache. Because of the high number of people who are allergic to it, cosmetics labeled hypoallergenic cannot contain orris root (also labeled as iris florentine).

The beneficial medicinal properties are usually imparted in tea or capsule form. The dried root is sometimes chewed as a breath freshener, but it should not be swallowed.

Non-Food Use of Orris Root

Orris root is most commonly known as a fixative that enhances and prolongs other scents and preserves botanical ingredients.

Flavoring in liquors (especially gin)
Commercial cleaning, cosmetic, and body products
Homemade recipes for natural soaps, body powders, and toothpaste
Sachets, potpourris, and pomanders (citrus fruit covered with cloves)
Inedible food crafts such as spice-cookie ornaments and rose-petal beads
Incense

Ras el Hanout Spice Blend
Powdered orris root is a well known ingredient in ras el hanout, an exotic blend of up to 30 spices used extensively in Moroccan, Middle Eastern, and North African cuisines in nearly every kind of food. The name means “top of the shop,” and it is a point of pride among Moroccan spice sellers (souks) to use the very best of each spice. Orris root adds a floral fragrance to this spice blend.

There is no definitive combination of spices that makes up ras el hanout. Each shop, company, or person has their own secret combination containing at least a dozen spices, which typically includes cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ground chili peppers, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, peppercorn, and turmeric.

Some recipes can include over one hundred ingredients, including little-known spices such as ash berries, chufa, cubeb pepper, grains of paradise, lavender, monk's pepper, and rosebuds. Usually all ingredients are toasted and then ground up together. The flavor of ras el hanout is described as spicy, sweet, floral, and savory. It is similar to curry, with a spicy kick. It has a floral fragrance and many subtle nuances, with an overall robust flavor. It also adds a golden color to food.

Ras el Hanout Recipe

The 16 ingredients in the Luna Café ras el hanout recipe

If you want to create your own from scratch, this 16-ingredient ras el hanout recipe by Susan S. Bradley at The Luna Café is inspiring, yet manageable. Her ingredients include black peppercorns, white peppercorns, mace, turmeric, rosebud petals, ginger, galangal, orris root, lavender, anise seed, crushed red pepper, allspice, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon.

Pre-Made Ras el Hanout

Pre-made ras el hanout from Zamouri Spices

If you want to try an authentic version before investing in so many expensive spice ingredients, this affordable ras el hanout from Zamouri Spices is highly recommended. It was featured in The Oprah Magazine and contains over 35 herbs and spices, including grains of paradise, lavender, turmeric, ajawan seeds, kala jeera (black cumin), ginger, galangal, orris root, rosebuds, monk’s pepper, and cinnamon.

16/48

Well-Smelling Cumin

2011-07-27T17:07:00.004-04:00

Did you know that cumin is the second most popular spice in the world? I didn’t. In fact, as a Midwestern American of Northern European descent, my knowledge of this spice most of my life was limited to its use teamed with chili powder, ketchup, and mustard in American-style baked beans. How uninspired (as food critics like to say). We thought we were making an extra-special treat, cooking those beans from scratch instead of opening a can. I have always loved the smell of cumin, a deliciously aromatic spice, but I just didn’t know of any recipes that used it or was afraid nobody would eat it if I added that flavor. So it is a surprise to find out this spice is so popular when it is nearly unknown here until recent years, with the growing popularity of exploring spicier cuisines of the world.

Cumin is primarily known in American kitchens as this tiny little 0.9 oz. bottle of pre-ground spice. It lasts a really long time because it isn’t used in many things unless you’re into Mexican or Southwestern cuisines. It’s a good smell, though, for a moment of kitchen aromatherapy.

I pronounce this QUE-min, don’t you? Oops. Who knew the proper English pronunciation is CUM-min, like the words come in? Um, I think I’ll forget that I just learned that and stick with my much lovelier-sounding mispronunciation. OK, maybe I could just soften it a bit to COO-min. Yes. I like that better. COO-min.

Cumin can be confusing

For one thing, cumin seed is commonly mistaken for caraway seed or fennel seed, because they look so similar. Fennel, caraway, and cumin are all from the same umbelliferous carrot family (Apiaceae), which includes celery and parsley. An umbel is a cluster of flowers with stalks of nearly equal length which spring from about the same point, like the ribs of an umbrella.

Look-alike spices – from left to right: fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), caraway (Carum carvi), and cumin (Cuminum cyminum).

This visual similarity has led to confusing names for cumin in some regions of the world. For example, if you buy what seems to be labeled cumin in an Eastern European market, it could turn out to be caraway.

Another complicating factor is that there are two spices called black cumin.

The best way to sort this out is to organize the three cumin spices under their Latin names.

1. Cuminum cyminum

This is the most common type of cumin.

The dried small, curved, fruit of the herb, Cuminum cyminum, a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae). It is grown throughout the world, but the biggest producers are India, Syria, Turkey, and Iran.

The aroma is described as strong, warm, earthy, and lingering.

The taste is described as pleasantly bitter, piquant, pungent, nutty, and peppery.

Cumin, caraway, and fennel may look alike, but they do not taste alike. Cumin is hotter and more aromatic. Fennel has a strong licorice flavor, much more similar to anise than cumin.

Cumin gets its flavor from the essential oil, cuminaldehyde, which ranges from 2-5%.

Contains a high level of iron.

The color has been described as golden brown (amber), khaki, or ranging from pale green to tan, the color variation depending on the source.

Cumin is a popular ingredient in Middle Eastern, Indian, Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican, and Southwestern-American cuisines.

I’m not the only one who loves the smell. In ancient India, the word for cumin was sugandhan, which was synonymous with “good smell” or “well-smelling.”

Cuminum cyminum (common cumin) is known as:

comino – Spanish
cumin – English, French
cumino – Italian
jeera (jeraka, jira, zeera, zira) – India
jeerakam – Malayalam
jinten – Indonesian
kamoun – Arabic, Hebrew
kemun – Amharic
kimino – Greek
kimyon – Turkish
kmin – Russian
kmyn – Ukrainian (meaning caraway)
kreuzkümmel – German
ku-ming – Chinese
yee ra – Thai

The mysterious white cumin

Although I have seen Indian recipes that call for both amber cumin (jeera) and white cumin (safed jeera), I cannot find white cumin listed, pictured, or described anywhere, including the American Spice Trade Association and several major global cumin trade sites I have researched.

With the abundance of cumin in India, maybe the seeds are graded into color groups that also have slight taste differences. Or, they call regular cumin white to distinguish it from black cumin. Or, white cumin is another spice mislabeled as cumin. It remains a mystery for now, but I’ll come back with an update if I find any new information. If it is something distinct from common cumin, you could possibly find it in an Indian or Middle Eastern market. Can anyone enlighten us?

2. Bunium persicum

This is a wild variety of cumin known as the original black cumin.

Original black cumin is the dried, small, dark-brown, curved, fruit of the herb, Bunium persicum (or Carum bulbocastanium), a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae).

Rare and expensive because it grows wild in Iran and Kashmir, and the harvest is laborious.

Used primarily in the cuisines of Northern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Iran

Practically unknown outside these areas and is not to be confused with the unrelated Nigella sativa, which is what is more widely known as black cumin.

Described as highly aromatic, with a resinous, astringent flavor that is sweeter and more complex than common cumin. Also described as having an unpleasant earthy and heavy aroma and the taste becomes nutty when cooked.

Bunium persicum (original black cumin) is known as:

black cumin
Himalayan cumin
himali jira
kala jeera (black cumin)
kala jira
kashmiri jira
mountain cumin
shahajira
shahi jeera (imperial cumin)
shahi jira
siyoh dona (black seed)
wild black cumin
zireh kuhi (wild cumin)

3. Nigella sativa

Although it’s from a different plant family, this is widely known as black cumin or black seed.

Black seed is the dried, small, black fruit of Nigella sativa, an herb from the Ranunculaceae family, so it is not genetically related to cumin at all.

Originated in the Mediterranean region and is now cultivated in other parts of the world such as Asia, Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Because of the rarity of the original black cumin (Bunium persicum), Nigella sativa is what is widely known as black cumin.

Pungent, bitter taste and aroma.

Note that several of the names for black cumin are the same for both the rare Bunium persicum and the common Nigella sativa, but you can easily tell them apart visually.

Nigella sativa (black seed) is known as:

black caraway
black cumin
black onion seed
black seed
black sesame
habbat al-barakah – Arabic (seed of blessing)
himali jeera – India
kala jeera – India
kalo jeera – Bengali
kalonji – India
karim jeerakam – Malayalam
Russian caraway
shahi jeera – India
siyah daneh – Persian
siyah kimyon – Turkish

Cumin is essential in Indian cuisine

By far, cumin is most popular in India, and they consume most of what they produce. These are just a few of the common uses.

chaunk – a spiced clarified butter (ghee) or oil
curry powder, garam masala, and sambaar
tandoori dishes of Northern India
dhania jeera – a blend of coriander and cumin essential to South Indian and Sri Lankan cuisines
panch phoron – Bengali 5-spice

Cumin popularity varies throughout the rest of the world

Very popular in Northern Aftrica, Eastern Africa (Ethiopian berberé), and the Middle East.

Very popular in Mexican, Central American, and South American cuisines.

Popular in some Southeast Asian cuisines (for example, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese curries).

Not so popular in America (except in Southwestern-style cuisine, curry powder, and chili powder), in Northern Europe (except to flavor cheese in the Netherlands and France), in Eastern Europe (where they favor caraway), in Italy, or in China.

How to dry-roast cumin before grinding

Spices lose flavor and fragrance quickly after they are ground, so it’s best to buy cumin in whole seeds and then grind them yourself when needed. The flavor is better if you roast them first.

Roast cumin seeds in a dry pan over low to medium heat, shaking the pan frequently to roll the seeds around until they are aromatic and a uniform, darker shade of brown. If the pan is too hot, the seeds will pop. Do not burn them, as this will add a bitter taste.

What is the #1 most popular spice in the world?

Black pepper.

15/48

Four-Way Fenugreek: Herb, Spice, Sprout, and Vegetable

2011-07-18T17:45:00.001-04:00

This spice has confounded me. I have a bag of it right here as I write this, but have never used it. It looks like small, tan-colored pebbles. They are hard seeds, with a slight curry aroma. When I carefully grind a few between my teeth, they taste like raw dried split peas. It says on the bag, “Best before Mar 2010,” so I may have just described to you the smell and taste of stale or even spoiled fenugreek (eeeuw…did I just eat rotten food?)

I confidently bought this rather large, 14 oz. (400 gm) bag of fenugreek seeds to go into my berberé Ethiopian spice blend, but they never made it in because they apparently need to be ground first…or roasted? Something too far out of my ability to cope with, so I just skipped them.

Well, that’s exactly why I started this blog. I’m writing what I’m learning, and by the end of this article we’ll all know a thing or two about fenugreek and never have to skip it again. Follow along or check back at some point down the road and I’ll have become savvy enough to acquire all kinds of fancy new spices. I’ll be posting proud pictures of my new stash and gushing about how my authentic berberé now rivals the finest Ethiopian restaurants in South Florida. Hah! Just wait. Meanwhile, I think this bag of fenugreek is trash.

Fenugreek seed

OK, so it turns out that fenugreek IS a legume, or leguminous herb, so I rightly identified that by taste. Like so many other spices, it’s native to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, but cultivated all over the world. Fenugreek is from Latin meaning Greek hay (because it was grown as fodder) and is similar to wild clover.

Young fenugreek leaves look like clover

The seeds are good sprouted and the first few leaflets from the sprouts are also edible. The young leaves are used both fresh and dried, as an herb. In fact, the young seed pods, leaves, and stems of the fenugreek plant are eaten as a vegetable. The stem becomes woody as it matures and no longer good to eat. Fenugreek seed is harvested from the long, mature seeds pods. Every part of the plant, including the seeds, is very nutritious–rich in iron, calcium, protein, and vitamins A and C.

Fenugreek is known in India as methi, referring to both the seeds and the dried leaves. Kasoori (Kasuri or Qasuri) methi from the Kasur region in Pakistan is known for its strong aromatic fragrance.

Kasoori Methi is a well-known brand of dried fenugreek leaves

The aroma of fenugreek is reminiscent of maple, celery, and the curry smell we associate with curry powder. The flavor is earthy, pungent, and bittersweet. The seeds can be bitter and acrid (that raw pea taste), so they are often lightly roasted before use. They can also be soaked in water overnight to soften them and mellow the flavor. It's best to grind the seeds fresh (after lightly roasting them) instead of buying pre-ground fenugreek powder.

Fenugreek seed is best known in Western cuisines as a primary ingredient in standardized, commercial curry powder, a British invention. Authentic versions in India are known as garam masala or sambar. The Indian versions are typically made fresh, with many variations, may include up to 20 ingredients, and do not always include fenugreek. In fact, too strong a fenugreek aroma is associated with a cheap curry powder. Curry blends are used all over the world in many types of cuisine.

In Ethiopia, the Amharic word for fenugreek is abesh (abish). It’s an ingredient in berberé spice blend, a mix of about a dozen spices similar to a masala but hotter. Ethiopian cooks create their own signature berberé, which includes some ingredients that would be difficult to obtain outside of the region, but they often emphasize fenugreek in recipes as essential and not to be skipped (oops).

The Arabic word for fenugreek is hulba (hilbeh). This is also the name of a popular Middle Eastern dish (especially in Yemeni) based on fenugreek paste made by soaking the seeds in water. Other spice, starch, and meat ingredients are added to make a stew, which is scooped up with flat bread. Hulba refers to both the fenugreek paste and the stew.

The Chinese word for fenugreek is hu lu ba, and it is well known in Chinese medicine for its health benefits.

Fenugreek extract is used to artificially flavor maple syrup, vanilla, caramel, and butterscotch. If you eat a lot of fenugreek or take a fenugreek supplement, you may emit an odor of maple syrup.

Allergy caution:

Fenugreek is in the same family with peanuts and chickpeas and can cause an allergic reaction in people who are allergic to those legumes. Many breastfeeding women take fenugreek as a supplement because studies have shown it can increase their milk supply. There has been a lot of concerned discussion about whether the fenugreek could induce legume-related allergy in nursing infants.

14/48

Tart and Tangy Sumac

2011-07-13T18:30:00.001-04:00

I am well-acquainted with sumac, the shrub, because it is super-abundant in Minnesota. Dense thickets of it grow on forest edges. Long banks of it line highways. Clusters of it frame suburban landscapes. Sumac bushes have a fern-like foliage that seems tropical among the deciduous trees and pines of this far-north region. It’s a hardy and ornamental shrub that attracts wildlife. Birds love its berries. Moose and deer snack on its leaves and twigs. Rabbits chew the bark, especially in winter.

Sumac is so common in Minnesota that you take it for granted until the fall, when it puts on a stunning, multi-act show. First you see spikes of crimson berries shooting out of the palmy green foliage. Then the leaves burst into a flaming, brilliant red. As the leaves fade and fall away, the clusters of berries take on a soft, velvety texture. The color deepens to a rich burgundy that offers visual relief throughout the long, bleak winter.

I just never knew it was edible. I heard that Indians used to smoke it and maybe you could make a tea with it. But I considered these bird berries, which is something so unpleasant that you would only eat them if you had to survive. I also heard rumors that sumac was poisonous, so I wasn’t adventurous enough to ever try the tea.

And then one day I was browsing Bill’s Imported Foods on Lake Street. They have ingredients from all over the world, but mostly cater to Greek and other Mediterranean and Middle/Near Eastern cuisines. It’s the kind of place so full of intriguing, exotic foods that you want to slowly cruise down every single isle every time you go there. On this day, at the end of an isle, they had a display rack full of sumac.

Yes. It was sumac. Big bags of dark-maroon, ground sumac. Imported. It was the strangest thing to see something that was so readily available in most everybody’s back yard being sold in bulk at a grocery store. I’ve noticed it since then in regular supermarkets in the International Foods isle. I always see it sold in large quantity, so there must be some common use for this other than smoking it or making tea, but what?

Sumac, the spice

Ground sumac (sumak, sumack, sumach, summac, or somagh) is made from the whole, dried, ripe fruits (berries) of the sumac bush.

Sumac doesn’t have much aroma, but its taste is tart, tangy, zingy, sour, and fruity, similar to lemon. It is an acidic spice, containing both tannic and gallic acid.

Sumac grows extensively throughout the world, and there are many varieties. The most common in Minnesota are Staghorn or Velvet sumac (Rhus typhina) and Smooth sumac (Rhus glabra). Other varieties include:

Sweet sumac (Rhus aromatica)
Dwarf or Winged sumac (Rhus copallina)
Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia)
Southwestern sumac (Rhus microphylla)
Sugar bush (Rhus ovata)
Squaw berry (Rhus trilobata).

There are many others. All of these are edible. Sumac spice in the Mediterranean region is from Rhus coriaria, which grows around the Mediterranean Sea and also in Sicily, Western Asia, Arabia, and Central Asia.

As for the rumor about sumac being poisonous ...

I could only find one variety of poisonous sumac aptly called Poison sumac. It is one of three sumac relatives that botanists have kicked out of the Rhus genus altogether. Their new name, Toxicodendron, serves as a warning label. These toxic sumac relatives include Poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), and Poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix).

The poisonous component is an oil resin called urushiol, which is actually a strong allergen that causes contact dermatitis (a rash with an intense itch) in some people. This allergic reaction is what could be lethal if you ingest the urushiol.

The poisonous sumac has white berries. All nonpoisonous species have red berries when ripe. None of those three distant poisonous relatives of sumac have red berries, so there is really no danger that you will somehow encounter a poisonous batch of sumac spice.

Now that we know it’s safe to eat ...

These are some of the most prevalent uses for sumac spice.

Sumac is popular in Mediterranean and Middle/Near Eastern cuisines sprinkled on food as a condiment. It’s on the table along with salt and pepper in many restaurants. Most commonly it’s sprinkled on hummus and rice for its bright red color and lemony flavor.

Sumac onion salad is a popular side dish or condiment in those regions, especially on sandwiches. Sumac mellows the bite of onions. Just slice any kind of onion very thin and mix with ground sumac to taste. You could also add parsley and salt. It’s best after marinating for several hours.

Sumac is used as a seasoning on grilled meat, especially on Turkish-style doner kebab, that vertically grilled lamb served on rice or in a pita, a fast food now popular all over the world in various renditions. Sumac is also in the yoghurt dressing that goes along with it.

Sumac is a primary ingredient in many versions of za’atar, a spice blend containing sumac, sesame seeds, salt, and various green herbs such as marjoram, oregano and thyme. Za’atar is most commonly used on barbecued meat or combined with olive oil as a dip for bread. The Egyptian spice blend called dukkah is similar.

In Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, sumac is cooked with water until it is a thick paste, which is then added to meat and vegetable dishes.

Now that I’m living in Florida and don’t have anyone looking over my shoulder, I think I will generously sprinkle some bright red, tangy, lemony sumac on my deviled eggs instead of paprika.

13/48

Licorice-Flavored Herbs and Spices

2011-07-10T00:07:00.002-04:00

Not many are indifferent about whether or not they like the flavor of licorice. Opinions are as strong as the taste of it. Those who dislike it hate it with a passion, and that is only the beginning of a hostile rant that quickly descends to loathing. They describe the flavor of licorice as disgusting, revolting, and much worse. They want to scrape their tongue at the very memory of ever having tasted the stuff. It’s licor-ISH.

The flavor of licorice is very distinct and can easily dominate a whole dish. Given the highly opinionated reactions to this flavor, I thought it would be a good idea to group all licorice-flavored herbs and spices together. That way, if you or the loved ones you cook for dislike the taste of licorice, you’ll have this whole definitive list to completely and utterly avoid like the plague. Don’t even use a smidgeon of any of these. On the other hand, if you love the taste of licorice or enjoy a subtle hint of it here or there, you might see something here you’d like to try.

Licorice

Licorice is a legume native to Europe, Asia, and the Mediterranean. The flavor is extracted from its roots.

The licorice flavor is from the anethole compound it contains. Its sweetness is from glycyrrhizin, a compound as much as 50 times sweeter than sugar.

Licorice root is used as a flavoring for a wide variety of products including candy, beer, soft drinks, cough drops, and medicines; although most licorice candy is now flavored with anethole extracted from star anise.

Does anybody cook with licorice root? I had a hard time finding any recipes. Even the folks over at Chowhound were stumped about what to do with a piece of licorice root except for this intriguing beef stew. Not only does this concoction contain four inches of licorice root but also balsamic vinegar, prunes, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, rosemary, and…malt beer. Oh, and the prunes must be macerated, but only slightly, in brandy. So far, one person has indicated they like it, but its only been posted for a year.

Anise

This spice is the best known licorice-flavored spice in North American cuisine, most commonly teamed with cinnamon in spicy cakes and cookies.

Also known as anise seed or aniseed.

Not really a seed but rather the dried whole ripe fruit of Pimpinella anisum, a flowering plant native to the Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia.

Licorice flavor is from the anethole it contains.

Flavor is sweet, but fennel is considered milder and sweeter.

Star Anise

This spice is widely used in Chinese (5-spice), Indian (garam masala), Malay, and Indonesian cuisine.

The dried whole ripe fruit of Illicium verum, an evergreen tree native to China.

Not at all related to anise.

Licorice flavor is from the anethole it contains.

The most flavor is in the pod, not the seeds.

You can either grind the pods or add whole pods to a dish and then remove them (and any loose seeds) before serving, as you do with bay leaves.

Flavor is hotter, stronger, more pungent, more bitter, and less sweet than anise.

Also contains safrole, which gives it a faint aroma of root beer.

Fennel

This spice is used a lot in Indian cuisine, known as Saunf, which is sometimes translated as fennel and sometimes anise.

The entire plant is an edible vegetable from the parsley family.

Fennel seeds are the dried whole ripe fruit of the plant.

Licorice flavor is from the anethole it contains.

The flavor is milder and sweeter than anise.

Fennel seed and anise seed are so similar in flavor and appearance that many regions of the world do not distinguish between them very well or at all.

Tarragon

This herb is an essential ingredient of fines herbes, a combination of fresh herbs used extensively in French and Mediterranean cuisine, containing parsley, chives, tarragon, and chervil.

An herb from the daisy family, which are known for their volatile oils such as wormwood used to flavor vermouth and vodka.

Native to a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere.

Licorice flavor is due to estragole, which is similar to anethole.

Chervil

This herb is also an essential ingredient of fines herbes.

A parsley relative.

Mostly used in salads.

The taste is also said to be peppery.

Cicely

This herb is sometimes included in fines herbes.

A parsley relative.

Also known as Sweet Cicely, Aniseroot, Licorice Root, and Wild Anise.

Like fennel, the entire plant is an edible vegetable.

Leaves are very sweet and may be used as a sugar substitute in some recipes (as long as you don’t mind the licorice flavor that goes along with it).

Thai Basil

This herb is a variety of sweet basil native to Southeast Asia.

Three other aromatic basils popular in Thai cuisine are lemon basil, cinnamon basil, and Holy basil, which tastes like cloves.

Thai basil is used both fresh and cooked. The flavor holds up under high temperatures.

If reading this article made you hungry for licorice, you may enjoy browsing Licorice International. They offer nearly 160 types of licorice from 12 countries. Or try some Licorice Spice Herbal Tea!

12/48 This article earned 8 points!

Highly Piquant Capsicum Cultivars (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

2011-07-07T15:10:00.004-04:00

Growing up in Minnesota, my exposure to chili peppers was slim to none. We lightly sprinkled a bit of paprika on deviled eggs for a fancy garnish, but that’s about it. Someone was likely to hover over you to make sure you didn’t overdo it, because if you put too much on, people might not eat them. A small tin of paprika would last a really long time. It was probably the bright red color that was so alarming because despite our worry I really don’t remember any taste associated with it at all.

We ate lots of hot dishes, but hot meant that it was fresh out of the oven or simmering in a crock pot. If someone of Hungarian descent brought a hot dish to a potluck, folks would approach it with caution. Those people were known to use an awful lot of that spicy paprika. Of course, back then, soy sauce was pretty darn exotic. I’ve known for some time since then that paprika is a mild spice, but when I saw its position on the Scoville Scale, I had to laugh. You can’t get any milder except for green pepper, which rates as zero! This sure does illustrate how severely deprived of taste my childhood was. It’s no wonder I’m so fascinated with the vast world of flavor now.

The sad extent of my early exposure to anything related to chili pepper. The amount of paprika on this one would be considered a bit overdone by mid-century Minnesota standards.

The Scoville Scale is a rating system that indicates the piquance of a food expressed as a number on a scale between 0 and 16 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The highest number represents pure capsaicin (cap-SAY-eh-sin), the active component of chili peppers. Law-enforcement grade pepper spray has a score of 5 million.

Piquant is a more precise term than “spicy hot” to mean exactly the painful sensation experienced when you taste something like Tabasco sauce versus the temperature of a food or the amount of spice in it. A food can be both hot and spicy without being piquant. Conversely, pure capsaicin is the ultimate piquant taste, without being hot or spicy, unless you heat it up and mix it with other flavors, which you probably wouldn’t taste because your mouth would be on fire.

All forms of chili peppers, including paprika, are derived from the fruit of a pepper plant from the genus Capsicum. There are only five domesticated species of Capsicum, but over 3000 varieties, which are the result of cultivation and hybridization. These cultivated varieties of peppers are also called cultivars.

There are so many varieties of chili peppers grown throughout the world that it is almost impossible to associate qualities such as piquance or a unique flavor to a specific species. You can find a wide range of varieties within the same species. For example, paprika used to mean only chili pepper from sweet red bell peppers that contained no capsaicin whatsoever and rated zero on the Scoville Scale. Now there are piquant varieties of paprika. These are either from a hybrid that contains a low level of capsaicin or from another pepper plant altogether but sold as paprika.

The five Capsicum species and some common examples of their cultivars are:

Capsicum annuum (the most common species) – Ancho, Anaheim, Bell, Cayenne, de Arbol, Jalapeño, Mirasol, Paprika, Pimento, Poblano, Serrano

Capsicum baccatum – Ají, Peppadew

Capsicum chinense (some of the hottest) – Datil, Habanero, Madame Jeanette, Naga Jolokia, Scotch Bonnet

Capsicum frutescens – Malagueta, Tabasco, Thai, Piri Piri (African Bird’s Eye)

Capsicum pubescens – Rocoto

I guess you can blame it on my bland beginnings, but my own preference for piquance is limited to around 2500 and below, so I’m unlikely to write much about the majority of Capsicum varieties that tower way above that range! Anyway, information about Capsicum derivatives abound on the internet, so I'll just step aside. One of the best sites in the chili pepper genre is The Official Scott Roberts Web Site. Scott is a self-proclaimed chilehead and writes extensively about hot sauce and hot, spicy food. One of the most useful features of his site is the Scoville Scale Chart for Hot Chile Peppers and Hot Sauces. Here is a simplified version:

Compliments of Minorcan Datil Pepper Products, St. Augustine, Florida. Check out their exceptionally hot dried whole and ground datil peppers and just about every kind of product you can imagine creating with datil peppers, including BBQ sauces, hot sauces, marinade, mustard, pepper relish, vinegar, salsa, mayonaise, jelly, jam...and gift sets for your chilehead friends!

One way a chart like this is useful is for recipe modification. You can look at the Scoville rating for a specific type of pepper and make a logical substitution. For example, Cayenne, Ají, and Tabasco peppers are all rated around 30,000 - 50,000. You could taste-test different peppers in the same range or go up or down on the scale to adjust the recipe to your own taste for piquance.

4/48

Welcome to Seasonality!

2011-07-06T01:19:00.000-04:00

I recently started this blog and posted a handful of articles without much of an introduction other than my About page. Well, now that everything seems to be working properly, and I’ve shaken the construction dust out of my fancy hat, it’s time to say, “Hello there and thanks for stopping by my corner of the blog-o-sphere!” Here’s a bit more about what incited the creation of Seasonality and why you might like to stay tuned.

Some reasons why I started this blog

The big, fat mess of spices in my kitchen.

Over the last few years, I’ve developed a growing taste for spicy, flavorful foods and started picking up new spices from the grocery store on a regular basis. When I discovered how to make my own Ethiopian berberé, my stash grew exponentially. It’s getting out of control, and I haven’t even started making garam masala yet.

I need more than just organization. I need better spices!

This is embarrassing for a writer of articles about gourmet seasoning to admit, but all of my spices are from the grocery store. None of them are even a premium brand. I bought some in bulk from the produce section based on price. Some are even from the dollar store. Of course, you get what you pay for. Most of my spice is obviously bland and lifeless.

On the next go-round of spice acquisition, I intend to know exactly what I’m buying.

I’m on a quest to research a myriad of spices so I can start building a collection of real flavor value and dump all my crap spice.

I figure I’m not the only one interested in upgrading their spice from flat and tasteless to complex and delicious but finding the world of gourmet seasoning a confusing jungle.

It really is a quest! I'm applying my geeky skills as a technical writer and information designer (it’s sort of like library science) to write what I hope are simple, accurate, and interesting articles that will give you confidence and inspiration to try some gourmet-level spices and start your own collection of unique seasonality.

I love all the cool accoutrements that go along with gourmet seasoning.

Spiceware gadgets like quality salt and pepper grinders, cute little salt cellars, various mortar & pestle sets made of stone or beautiful marble, and so on.

It’s a pleasant indulgence to contemplate all kinds of exotic spices and the things associated with them–similar to pouring over a toy catalog as a kid.

At the top of my wish list? I really need a spice rack. This one, specifically:

My dream spice rack

Constructed like a piece of finely-crafted furniture, this hard rock sugar maple rack has an ultra-smooth surface and turns on industrial strength ball bearing swivels. Serious cooks will appreciate the 48 bottles it includes. The 3.5-oz. glass bottles have snap-on sifters, white screw-on caps, and labels.

Wow. What a seductive description, especially that flattering “serious cooks” line. I fell in love even before I read all that. The color matches my kitchen cabinets, and I’ve got the perfect spot for it in a corner of my counter to the left of my stove. If I ever want more counter space, this would work so perfectly inside a cupboard because it spins. What a relief that it does not include spices, as I’m sure they would have been the same crappy stuff I already have that I’m planning to ditch as soon as I can decide on my list of quality replacements.

My ~~incentive~~ deservation plan

That spice rack is such a luxury item that I feel I must to do something to truly deserve it. Since it holds 48 bottles of spices, I have set myself the task of writing 48 articles about different seasonings. I will then deserve it. It’s my deservation plan.

I’ve written about 3 seasonings so far: salt, pepper, and cinnamon. From now on, you’ll see my secret code tally at the bottom of each of the next 45 articles that are about a unique seasoning (multiple articles on the same seasoning don’t count). It will look like this example, which signifies I’ve completed 3 out of 48. The next one will be 4/48, and so on. When I reach 48/48, it’s time to Add to Cart!

3/48

This incentive is just for fun, because I really don’t need any prodding to write about something that I am so interested in and excited about. Sometimes to avoid spending too much time trying to decide what to write about next out of so many possibilities, I ask my husband to pick a spice at random. He has no problem thinking of one, and off I go to investigate and find out all kinds of useful and interesting things about it. By the time I publish the article, I know which quality, brand, or type of that spice I would definitely buy for my new spice rack. I hope my articles help you sort it all out, too, so you can make your own choices for better taste.

This will create a nice foundation of reference basics, and then I’ll continue on to explore about a gazillion other topics about the world of gourmet seasoning that I have so many questions about.

I hope you will bookmark me and come back often. To automatically receive each article as I publish it, you can subscribe as a follower, through e-mail, or through your favorite RSS feed. Please feel welcome to comment on any article. You don’t have to log into Blogger to do so. Let me know if you have any specific questions you’d like me to address in a future article by commenting or e-mailing me at logovida@gmail.com.

Thanks for joining me on my journey!

~ LogoVida ~

If Only One Cinnamon is True, are All the Other Ones Lies?

2011-07-03T17:26:00.000-04:00

Rumors have been circulating for the last few years about the existence of a real cinnamon and the possibility that we have been scammed into accepting a fake cinnamon substitute. In a way, this conspiracy theory is true, but we’re not exactly unwilling victims of some evil plot. This article will help you sort out the facts behind the allegations.

Cinnamon is produced from the inner bark of a small evergreen tree belonging to the Laurel family with the genus Cinnamomum. Although there are four commercial species of Cinnamomum, the global cinnamon market recognizes the product from only one species as true cinnamon. The product from the other three species, widely sold as cinnamon, is actually cassia.

The four species of Cinnamomum

You can think of these four species as relatives. Technically, only one is true cinnamon. Cassia is a cousin. The other two are second cousins more closely related to cassia than cinnamon. Here’s a list showing how the four species are related and all the names they are commonly known by.

1. True cinnamon – Cinnamomum verum

Cinnamomum zeylanicum (old Latin name)
Ceylon cinnamon
True cinnamon
Sri Lanka cinnamon
Mexican cinnamon
Canela (Spanish for cinnamon)

2. Cousin cassia – Cinnamomum aromaticum

Cinnamomum cassia (old Latin name)
Chinese cinnamon
Cassia
Tung Hing

3. Second cousin – Cinnamomum burmannii

Indonesian cinnamon
Korintje
Padang cassia

4. Second cousin – Cinnamomum loureiroi

Vietnamese cinnamon
Saigon cinnamon

The three cassias

About a hundred years ago, American traders started importing cassia because of a rise in the price of Ceylon cinnamon. Ever since, it continues to be the main variety sold in supermarkets here and in Canada. American labeling laws do not require that a distinction be made between cassia and cinnamon in the retail market, so we just know it as cinnamon.

Cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum)

Even though cassia has long been considered inferior to true cinnamon, North Americans have come to prefer its strong, spicy-sweet flavor. In a taste test, we would probably reject the real, true, Ceylon cinnamon as being too bland. If anything, we crave an even stronger taste. So yes, it’s true that we’ve been misled, but we actually prefer the mislabeled cassia as our cinnamon over the real deal.

The strength of the flavor in cinnamon is due to the amount of essential oil it contains, which is expressed as a percentage between 1 and 5. The actual organic chemical is cinnamaldehyde. The amount of cinnamaldehyde can vary within the percentage of essential oil.

We are most familiar with the taste of Indonesian Korintje cinnamon. The beloved Watkins cinnamon is a high-oil Korintje cassia, which they openly advertise as such. The cinnamon used in those delectable Cinnabons is a high-oil Korintje cassia they have trademarked Makara®. You can buy it at Cinnabon shops. Grade A Korintje cinnamon contains 3% essential oil. Generic grocery store cinnamon is typically grade B and C Korintje, the cheapest and least flavorful of all cassias.

Cassia is native to Southeast Asia (especially southern China and northern Vietnam) and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is grown in many other subtropical regions, but all of it comes from the same three species. Factors such as climate and soil affect the taste and other qualities. Cassia is carefully graded for the global cinnamon trade, but this is rarely accurately labeled for the retail market. Hopefully, these summaries, in addition to the above list of names will help you identify exactly what you are buying.

Indonesian (Korintje) cassia (C. burmannii) has the lowest oil percentage and is the cheapest. The flavor is smooth, with a mild bite. This is our standard, favorite cinnamon taste. You could upgrade the intensity of the flavor with a higher quality version such as Watkins or Makara®. The best Korintje is grade AA.

Chinese (Tung Hing) cassia (C. aromaticum) is grown primarily in the southern provinces of Guangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan. Cassia is known there as Tung Hing. This cinnamon is stronger than Korintje and has more bite. This would be the best choice for making spicy hot curry blends, Chinese 5 spice, or other recipes that originate in regions of the world where strong cassia is the norm.

Vietnamese (Saigon) cassia (C. loureiroi) has the highest amount of both essential oil and cinnamaldehyde, which makes it the most rich, sweet, spicy, and strong cassia. The highest quality Saigon cassia is so intense that it is recommended that you cut down the amount you use in recipes by half.

The one true cinnamon

Cinnamomum verum is native to the lush, tropical forests of Sri Lanka, a country formerly known as Ceylon. The type of cinnamon produced from this species in Sri Lanka or elsewhere is known in the cinnamon trade as Ceylon cinnamon.

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum)

Not only is the species of Ceylon cinnamon different than the three cassia species, it is also cultivated and harvested differently. When the tree is two years old, it is drastically pruned. This causes the tree to send out many new twigs. A year after pruning, the young shoots are cut down. The outer bark is stripped off and the inner bark carefully peeled off in one piece. The tubes of bark are very thin and smooth, so they are layered together in several plys. The long rolls are called quills. The dried quills are cut into standard lengths. The cinnamon sticks we buy are short pieces of these long quills.

Ceylon cinnamon has a citrusy fragrance, and its flavor is less sweet, more complex, and mild, without any bite or bitterness. It is recommended for sweet dishes, fruit, sprinkled onto food as a condiment, and in recipes that originate in countries that primarily use Ceylon cinnamon, such as Mexico.

How to distinguish between cinnamon and cassia

Unlike the cultivated small shoots used to produce true Ceylon cinnamon, cassia is harvested from whole branches and small trees, resulting in a much thicker and rougher texture.

You can easily distinguish between cinnamon and cassia in their stick form. True cinnamon sticks are a light tan color and have many thin layers rolled together like a cigar. They are soft and easily ground into fine powder. Cassia sticks are a reddish brown color, usually only one layer, and are extremely hard, producing a rough texture when ground.

The left stick is true Ceylon cinnamon. The right stick is cassia

Indonesian cassia is often sold in quills that are only one thick layer. Chinese and Vietnamese cassias are always sold as broken pieces of thick bark because it is not supple enough to be rolled into even a single-layer quill.

A note about medicinal use of cinnamon

Many people are interested in cinnamon as a nutritional supplement or herbal remedy. For that reason, I felt it worth mentioning that cassia contains up to 5% coumarin, a known anticoagulant (blood thinner) that has been linked to health problems. True Ceylon cinnamon contains only 0.004%, a negligible amount. This is a controversial topic, as many foods naturally contain coumarin. Nevertheless, Germany has banned the importation of cassia because of this concern.

The Best Grinders for Gourmet Salt

2011-07-02T12:53:00.000-04:00

Many gourmet salts are sold in a coarse form and need further mechanical processing to get the desired texture. A salt grinder (salt mill) is a convenient way to grind fresh salt as needed while cooking or at the table. Always use a salt mill with a ceramic or plastic (nylon) grinding mechanism. Metal, including stainless steel, will corrode or rust after prolonged contact with salt. Most (cheap) pepper mills have a metal mechanism.

With the growing popularity of gourmet coarse salts, you’ll find many different styles of salt mills on the market. It’s a good investment to buy the highest-quality grinder you can afford, because it’s something you’ll use everyday.

These are my top three picks

The OXO Good Gripssalt grinder has an adjustable ceramic grinding mechanism. The salt is ground out from the top, so it doesn’t scatter salt all over the counter when you set it down. It sits flat on the counter when you turn it upside down to refill. It also has a soft, non-slip grip.

Both the Unicorn Magnumand the Unicorn Keytopsalt grinders have an adjustable nylon grinding mechanism. I like the sleek, easy-to-clean design of these mills. Both are easy to fill and hold a lot of salt.

The Magnum model comes with a tray to contain spillage. The Keytop model is easy to turn, which is great for arthritic hands and in the kitchen when your hands are greasy or wet.

These models are available in black to signify there's pepper in it instead of salt. Many people also use these to grind spices that they use a lot.

Serving Your Gourmet Salt in the Style It Deserves

2011-07-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

Coarse salts are best served from a grinder. But many gourmet salts are soft, moist, or flaky and can’t be served in either a shaker or a salt mill. These types of salts are served in small containers made of a wide range of materials, including glass, crystal, ceramic, porcelain, marble, wood, and pewter.

Containers designed especially for salt are called salt boxes, salt cellars, or salt keepers. Any little serving dish will do. Some are open and others have lids. Some come with matching spoons or you can buy them separately. You’ll find so many different types of containers that you’ll want to get more varieties of salt to justify the need for more containers!

Salt keepers are often made of beautiful woods like bamboo, olive, maple, or walnut. This one is hand crafted in France from a single piece of olivewood and has a swiveling magnetic lid. It measures just 4 x 4 x 4 inches but holds a half pound of salt. This is like a beautiful wood sculpture and is a fabulous luxury gift idea.

Don't forget the matching spoon!

These adorable mini salt cellars are imported from France, come in six different colors, and each one has a matching spoon. They are very small, only 1 by 2 inches, and are intended to be used at individual place settings. You can buy them individually or the whole set.

If I had to pick just one, it would have to be the orange because that is my favorite color.

Martha, Martha, Martha! I’d put four different salts on the table in this elegant set of 1-ounce white porcelain salt cellars from Martha Stewart’s Foliage Whiteware Collection.

Did you know that ALL salt is Kosher?

2011-07-01T12:20:00.000-04:00

The stuff commonly known as Kosher salt available at the grocery store is neither premium nor gourmet. It is the same highly refined, industrial-grade sodium chloride known as table salt except that it does not have additives and its texture is lighter so it dissolves more quickly. Why they call this salt Kosher is because of its texture. The fluffy flakes are highly absorbent, making them better for the koshering of meat, which means to draw the blood out. So a better name for it would be koshering salt rather than Kosher salt with the capital K, because all salt is considered Kosher, unless maybe if it is infused with bacon or something.

I can’t sum it up any more vividly than this quote from salt expert and connoisseur Mark Bitterman, coiner of the term selmelier, and author of the extensive guide, Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes:

"I think if squeeze-tube margarine is your butter, hot dogs are your meat, and spray-whiz nacho sauce is your cheese, then I suppose kosher can be your salt. Otherwise, reach for a natural salt."

(The Washington Post, Food Section, March 5, 2010)

How to Choose a Gourmet Salt like a Selmelier

2011-06-30T13:46:00.000-04:00

The growing popularity of gourmet salt is probably due to the concept of reverse psychology. The more they tell us too much salt is bad, to cut back, and now even threaten to legislate its limitation in restaurants, the more we crave this tasty mineral. And if we do the right thing and adhere to our meager daily allowance, then we have certainly earned the right to indulge in the very best of this crystalline substance. It’s a matter of quality over quantity.

What makes a salt gourmet?

Gourmet implies having qualities better than ordinary. All salt, in its natural state, starts out with gourmet potential. It becomes ordinary after it is stripped of all other minerals except for sodium and chloride, ground into fine crystals, bleached, and bolstered with chemicals such as calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide, and sodium ferrocyanide to help increase shelf life and pour-ability. Iodine is added to some table salt as a nutritional supplement, to help prevent health problems due to iodine deficiency. Variations of this highly refined, ordinary salt include iodized or non-iodized table salt, Kosher salt, lite salt, pickling salt, popcorn salt, pretzel salt, rock salt, and seasoned salt. None of these are considered gourmet.

Gourmet salt is any salt other than ordinary highly refined salt and its variations. With well over a hundred gourmet salts currently on the market, alternatives are abundant and interest is booming.

Just as it is difficult for someone to tell you which wines are best, the answer to that question is very subjective. An expert can only educate you on the choices and make suggestions. A salt expert is called a selmelier (sehl-muhl-yey). The term was made up by salt connoisseur Mark Bitterman, author of the extensive guide, Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. It isn’t in the dictionary (yet), but it’s a great twist on the French word sommelier (suh-muhl-yey), meaning a wine expert. A selmelier is someone who can suggest an appropriate gourmet salt to complement your food. But ultimately, it’s a matter of personal preference that may be based on multiple factors.

The language used to describe gourmet salts is creative poetry, and taste is subjective, but there are many objective facts about gourmet salts that can help you decide which ones you might like to try. Gourmet salts are less refined, so they retain small amounts of other minerals, which affect the taste and color of the salt. Colored salts are used to enhance the presentation of food. Some minerals are desired for their nutritional value; for example, iodine and iron. The amount of sodium chloride varies in gourmet salts, and those lower in this mineral are sometimes marketed as a healthier choice.

Gourmet salts are available in many different textures, depending on how they are harvested and processed, from superfine to coarse. Many feel that texture is a more important factor in taste than the mineral content. A fluffy flake salt sprinkled over food dissolves quickly on the palate and gives a saltier burst of flavor than larger crystals that take longer to dissolve. A coarse salt with hard, dry crystals works the best in salt grinders.

How gourmet salts are categorized

Gourmet salts are categorized by various attributes such as source, color, texture, or region of origin. Some salts are known by their distinct name. A few examples are given below.

Salts by source

Himalayan Pink

All salt is from the sea. It is either evaporated from sea water or mined from deposits left by ancient dried seas. You may choose a salt based on its source because of desired qualities such as taste, purity, or mineral content. Some people prefer a mined salt because they are concerned about contamination from the pollution in our seas and oceans. They reason that the mined salt has been protected from pollution and therefore may be more pure. Some examples of the two types:

Sea salt – Most gourmet salts are harvested from sea or ocean water.

Mined (quarried) salt – Himalayan Pink, Utah Pink

Salts by color

Hawaiian Black

You may choose a salt for its color because you want it to contrast (or blend in) with the food or because the mineral that causes the color is associated with a desired taste or health benefit. Most gourmet salts are white or off-white. Some examples of colored salts:

Grey – Celtic Grey (Sel Gris)

Pink – Himalayan Pink

Black – Hawaiian Black

Salts by texture

You may choose a salt for its texture because you want a salt that grinds easily in a salt mill, melts quickly on the tongue, or provides a crunchy coating on meat. Some examples of salt textures:

Superfine – Velvet de Guérande, Himalayan Pink Brine Grind

Coarse – Himalayan Pink, La Baleine, Maine Sea Salt

Flake – Cyprus Mediterranean Flake, Maldon Sea Salt

Finishing – Fleur de Sel, Murray River Pink Flake, Halen Mon

Celtic Grey (Sel Gris)

Superfine salt has a powdery texture like flour. It is great on popcorn or nuts. It is also used in pickling to make brines.

Coarse salt is a good choice for both everyday cooking and at the table. Most coarse salts work well in a salt grinder, making them easy to serve. Coarse salt tends to be drier and less sensitive to moisture than finer-grained or flake salts.

Flake salts are fluffy crystals of various sizes and shapes. Some have beautiful crystalline forms like snowflakes or pyramids. Flake salt is most often used as a finishing salt – sprinkled on food at the table.

Finishing salts are considered the most premier of all gourmet salts and are most always served on food at the table rather than in cooking. They are known for their unique textures, usually moist crystals or delicate flakes, which provide a crunchiness that quickly dissolves in the mouth with a burst of flavor.

Salts by region of origin

Salt is produced all over the world. You may choose a salt because of its region of origin for many reasons, including the reputation of salts from that area regarding taste, purity, or mineral content. Some of the most renowned and popular salts come from France, Hawaii, Utah, Maine, Wales, New Zealand, Italy, Portugal, Japan, India, the Philippines, and the Himalayan mountains of Pakistan, to name just a few.

Salts by distinct name

Fleur de Sel

You may choose a salt by its distinct name because it has achieved a reputation and status apart from any singular attribute. Some examples:

Fleur de Sel de Guérande – An artisan salt from the salt marshes of Guérande in the Brittany region of France, harvested by hand with wooden tools

Kala Namak – The black salt from India with a sulfurous hard-boiled-egg aroma reminiscent of rotten eggs

Halen Mon – The Welsh salt. Prized by Martha Stewart. Enough said.

Flavored gourmet salt

Flavored salt starts with a base of high-quality gourmet salt. Flavor is added by smoking, infusing, or blending.

Naturally smoked salts are smoked over real wood fires to infuse the crystals with smoke flavor. Special woods are used to impart unique flavors; for example, Alderwood, Applewood, Cherrywood, Hickory, and wood from old wine or liquor barrels. Artificially smoked salts are infused with smoke flavoring. A couple of well-known smoked salts are Halen Mon Smoked and Chardonnay & Oak Smoked Fleur de Sel.

The labels “infused salt” and “salt blend” are often used interchangeably. Infusion implies that the flavor is permeated into the salt so that the flavor is absorbed and the salt carries the flavor. A blend indicates that another ingredient is ground up with a gourmet salt to create a mix. Many people make their own infused salts and salt blends. The flavor possibilities are endless. Some examples are rosemary, garlic, lemon, peppercorn, chipotle pepper, lavender, black truffle, and wild porcini mushroom.

Organic certification

Murray River Pink Flake

The United States USDA does not consider salt as a food that can be certified as organic, as it contains no carbon compounds. Salt makers in the US and throughout the world may have impeccable quality standards, but the only three countries that officially certify salt as organic are France (Nature & Progrès), New Zealand (BioGro), and Wales (Soil Association). The entire salt-making process must meet their standards for water purity, salt bed cleanliness, and how it is harvested and packaged. The following salts are examples of certified organic salts:

La Baleine – France

Grey Sea Salt or Sel Gris – France

New Zealand Natural Sea Salt

Murray River Pink Flake – New Zealand

Halen Mon – Wales

Improve Your Daily Grind with Gourmet Pepper

2011-06-30T11:54:00.000-04:00

For most Americans, anything other than generic, pre-ground, black pepper from the grocery store would be considered gourmet. Most generic black pepper is a mixture from many sources bought at the lowest possible price. The least expensive grades of black pepper are from Brazil, and these are the least flavorful. This article will introduce you to many other kinds of pepper and entice you to consider a fresh approach to this every-day seasoning. Why not leave the mundane behind for a better class of gourmet pepper?

Black and white peppercorns

Pepper gets its distinctive flavor from the chemical piperine. The outer layer of the peppercorn seals in and preserves this flavor. After grinding, the piperine starts to evaporate. Exposure to light also destroys the piperine. Pre-ground pepper that has been sitting on the shelf or in a glass shaker for some time can become quite tasteless.

One of the first steps you can take to improve the quality of your pepper is to invest in a high-quality peppermill and some whole peppercorns. Grind only as much as you need as you cook or serve the food. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have better taste. Even cheap, generic black peppercorns will taste better, if freshly ground. A high-quality peppermill is a good investment because it’s something you will use every day.

The pepper plant (Piper nigrum)

All true peppercorns come from the same pepper plant, which has the Latin botanical name of Piper nigrum. The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine that takes four to five years to mature before it begins to produce fruit called drupes (berries), which are the peppercorns. As they ripen, the berries change in color from green to bright red. The final color of preserved peppercorns depends on the stage of maturity when the berries were picked and how they were processed. Other than color, the two factors that connoisseurs of gourmet peppercorns evaluate are flavor and aroma. These factors vary depending on the region in which the pepper was grown. Piper nigrum is a tropical plant, so these regions are limited.

Gourmet peppercorns come in a variety of different colors, including white, green, black, and red. The preference for certain types of pepper varies throughout the world.

Black peppercorns

Black pepper is the most popular pepper in the United States. The berries are picked while still green but beginning to ripen. They are boiled briefly and then allowed to ferment and dry naturally in the sun (or by forced-air heating) until wrinkled and black. Black pepper is hot, pungent, and aromatic.

Malabar pepper is from the Malabar Coast in Southwest India, where the cultivation of peppercorns originated. Malabar is a very high-quality pepper. The aroma is complex, with a robust flavor.

Tellicherry pepper is from the largest, ripest Malabar berries. Tellicherry is considered to be one of the finest black peppers. The aroma is complex and spicy, with hints of cedar, flowers, and cherries. The flavor is highly pungent and aromatic.

Sarawak pepper is from Malaysia. The aroma is fresh and fruity, with hints of chocolate and syrah (a dark-skinned grape used to produce dry, red wines). The flavor is mild.

Lampong (Lampung) pepper is from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This variety is mostly sold in the UK. The aroma is earthy and smoky. The flavor is similar to Sarawak, but hotter.

Vietnamese pepper is from Vietnam, which is currently the world’s largest producer of pepper, both black and white. The aroma of the black version has a hint of lemon-citrus. The flavor is similar to Lampong.

Madagasacar pepper is most popular in France, and most of this pepper is exported to France. The aroma has a hint of hickory smoke or charred oak barrel.

Kampot pepper is from Cambodia. Most of this pepper is exported to Japan and France. The aroma is crisply sweet, with overtones of guava and eucalyptus. The flavor is crisp, with a mildly smoky finish.

Pohnpei pepper is from Pohnpei, a small island in Micronesia. These are deep black, with a sweet flavor.

White peppercorns

White pepper is the most popular pepper in Northern Europe. The berries are picked when they are fully ripe. After soaking in water, the outer layer is rubbed off, and the remaining white inner seeds are dried. Depending on the variety, white pepper may be either milder or hotter than black pepper, but less pungent and aromatic.

Muntok pepper is from Bangka, a small island in Indonesia.

Sarawak pepper is from the Malaysian portion of Borneo. These are a more uniform white than Muntok and have a robust flavor.

Green peppercorns

Green peppercorns are popular in French, Creole, and some Thai cooking. The berries are picked while immature and green and then air-dried, freeze-dried, or pickled in brine or vinegar to preserve the color. Green peppercorns are aromatic. The flavor of green pepper is slightly tangy, clean, and fresh, but not pungent.

Red peppercorns

Not to be confused with the red pepper made from ground red Chiles (like Cayenne), red peppercorns are extremely rare and only recently available. The berries are picked at maturity in their red form and then dried whole or preserved in brine. Most red peppercorns available in the United States are actually pink or rose peppercorns, which are not true peppercorns but the seeds of another species of tree or plant.

Peppercorns that are not really peppercorns

Rose peppercorns are actually the berries from a small mastic tree related to the rose bush found on the French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. They are often used whole in some nouveau cuisine dishes. The flavor is most similar to black pepper, but milder and more acidic, with a hint of sweetness.

Pink peppercorns are actually the fruit of the Peruvian pepper tree (Schinus molle) or the Brazilian pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius). The flavor is delicate, fragrant, sweet, and spicy. Schinus molle is pictured on the right.

Szechuan (Sichuan) peppercorns are actually the berries from a prickly Ash tree native to China. They are common in Asia and an essential component in many Chinese and Japanese dishes. The peppercorns are often lightly roasted and then crushed with a mortar and pestle. The flavor is aromatic and resinous. It can cause tingling, numbness, and lingering heat to the tongue and lips.

The Biggest Reason Why I Want Some Black Salt

2011-06-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

Tiny sandbox salt and pepper cellars with spade and bucket scoops!

I want to put Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt in one of these instead of pepper to look like dirt in a garden box. And a nice white salt in the other. I don't use pre-ground pepper, only peppercorns in a grinder. Each cellar is only 2-1/2 inches square. The little scoops remind me of the old metal Monopoly game pieces.

Metal Morphosis by Kaycee Binns makes these incredibly charming pewter salt and pepper cellars in several different cute shapes. They are made of 100% lead-free, high-quality, FDA-approved, CPSIA-certified pewter.

Incredible Deal on Trio of Premium Molokai Sea Salts

2011-06-30T10:37:00.000-04:00

I just happened to run into this when I was researching my article on Black Hawaiian Sea Salt.

Hawaii Kai, the company that makes the great Molokai sea salts, is offering a 42% discount when you buy a trio of their premium Soul of the Sea Papohaku White, Haleakala Red, and Kilauea Black sea salts, one each in beautiful 12-oz. Corning Glass jars.

I have these listed in The Seasonality Shop for $39.95 each (from Amazon). That would be $119.85 for all three. This deal is all three for $69.95…plus FREE shipping. That’s a savings of $49.90. Plus, you’ll have those nice jars that you can refill with more salt or something else.

This would make a great gift, especially for someone who has everything, even someone who has to cut back on salt! This is a natural, mineral-rich, healthy salt. If you have to cut back, it’s all the more reason to have the really good stuff.

The offer is only good in the contiguous 48 United States. They say quantities are limited. I’m not sure how long this sale has been on, but with the sinking economy throughout the world, I’d bet this will be available for a while.

Order online (it’s through Paypal) on the Hawaii Kai Retail Products page.

Shock Value: Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt

2011-06-29T11:49:00.000-04:00

The concept is so oxymoronic. What kind of mineral would make a salt black? Is this some kind of volcanic salt from deep within the earth?

Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt

I was a bit disappointed to find out there isn’t such a thing as naturally black salt or volcanic salt. This black salt gets its color from activated charcoal. I was still curious about why anybody would eat salt with charcoal in it, so I had to investigate.

Here’s what I found out about Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt:

It's harvested on the undeveloped, tiny Hawaiian Island of Molokai vs. near major sources of industrial waste or sewage. I don’t know about “pristine,” but when you see where this is on a map, it is plausible that the sea water there would be less polluted.

It's an artisanal product harvested on small salt farms vs. mass-produced by a large chemical company. I like supporting small business and feel more confident about their level of quality.

The location of Molokai (the red bit in the closeup)

The SaltMasters Guild of Hawaii oversees the saltmaking operations. This conveys that they really care about the quality and purity of the product.

It's a natural salt. That means it is handled gently through a slow and careful process of solar evaporation on hermetically sealed, food-grade solar pans, allowing the salt crystals to form with the trace minerals and electrolytes intact.

The Hawaiian Island of Molokai

The salt is about 81% sodium chloride. The remaining 19% is comprised of some 80 natural elements–the electrolytes and trace minerals that provide the unique taste and nutritional value.

The rich, deep-black color is due to the addition of activated charcoal. This is a natural antitoxin (detoxifying) and digestive aid.

The charcoal is from burned-up coconut shells. I like to imagine they collect these from the ground around those swaying palms right there on the island. Charcoal from coconuts is certainly more appealing than if it was from old shipping crates or something.

Hawaiian coconuts still in the tree

It doesn't contain any lava. The black color is not from lava. I’ve seen claims that purified black lava rock is used in the evaporation process to add additional minerals to the salt, but haven’t been able to confirm this.

There are black salts from places other than Hawaii (Black Cyprus Flake, for example). But anything marketed as black salt is just salt plus activated charcoal, except for the black salt from India (Kala Namak), which is not really black. I can’t wait to tell you about that one later.

I haven’t tried it yet, so I can’t comment on the taste (smoky? nutty? peppery?). I will definitely try black salt, but only from Molokai and only for the dramatic novelty of it (with its nutritional value as a bonus). I’ll report back if I’m impressed enough by the flavor to comment.

You can read more about how they make Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt and where you can buy it on the Hawaii Kai Corporation website. They produce four lines of salt: Soul of the Sea, Palm Island Premium, Hawaii Kai Gourmet, and Molokai Gourmet. I've listed three varieties of their premium Soul of the Sea in The Seasonality Shop.

Honolulu Magazine published an interesting article about a salt farmer in Molokai: From Wave to Table: Worth Their Salt

The grilled pineapple recipe in that article looks delish.

Grilled pineapple with Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt

You can buy a smaller quantity than a 6-pack, but the listing below has customer reviews that you may find interesting. I love reading Amazon comments as part of my own research. Amazon usually has good prices and trustworthy service (not a sales pitch, just sayin’ from experience).

Sel Gris is Gross

2011-06-28T11:56:00.000-04:00

There. I said it. You lovers of Celtic Grey (Sel Gris) can rave to me all you want about how tasty and nutritious it is. I know, I know. It’s such a wonderful salt. But this is what it looks like:

Sel Grit

Do you really want to put this on your food? I’ll take the nice, white, cream-of-the-crop Fleur de Sel that they carefully scoop off the top, but the stuff they dredge up from below is nasty looking.

Scraped from the bottom of the beds. Unprocessed, unrefined, unadulterated. Eeeuuw.

They say they change the clay in their beds every 30 years. When was the last time they changed their clay? Eeeuuw.

Two Great Gourmet Salts to Try

2011-06-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

If you have a new interest in gourmet salts, you’ll quickly discover that the choices are vast. The reasons for choosing one over another are also plentiful. I’m not an expert (yet), but I’ve done a great deal of research on gourmet salts and what distinguishes them.

If you are completely new to the very notion of gourmet salt and what it is (and isn’t), you might want to check out my article How to Choose a Gourmet Salt like a Selmelier. It’s a very basic overview, like gourmet salt 101.

Taste is subjective, and there are reasons other than taste that influence a preference for a certain salt. So I’m not claiming these are the best, just a couple of well-known, respected, and popular ones, which makes them two great gourmet salts to try!

Himalayan Pink Salt

Authentic Himalayan Pink Salt is from the Khewra salt mine located in Punjab, Pakistan, in the foothills of the Himalayas near Islamabad. This is the second largest salt mine in the world, and salt has been mined here since 320 BC.

Inside the Khewra salt mine

In its rock form, salt is called halite. Rock salt that contains a high level of impurities is used for industrial purposes such as melting ice on roads. The pure, edible form contains only a slight amount of minerals, which makes it tasty and healthy. Pure halite is colorless or white but may be a shade of almost any color, depending on the mineral content.

The pink color of Himalayan Pink Salt is due to the iron oxide content. The color can range from transparent to deep red. When it is all ground up together, it looks pink. You can see the variation in the walls of the salt mine and in the close-up of the coarse salt grains.

Himalayan is not synonymous with pink. Other pink rock salts containing iron oxide are mined in many other regions of the world, including Utah, Hawaii, Bolivia, Australia, Peru, and Poland. These may or may not be the same quality but should not be mislabeled as Himalayan.

Himalayan Pink Salt Crystals

Many people prefer a quarried salt because they reason it has been protected from our modern, industrial pollution. Quarried salt is from an ancient sea bed that existed when the Earth was a pristine ecosystem without toxins such as heavy metals or pesticides. Many believe the mineral content of Himalayan Pink Salt has health benefits, and they enjoy its unique flavor, which is typically described as mild.

Himalayan Pink Salt contains a full spectrum of 84 natural minerals, all of which the human body is comprised. One of the most interesting attributes of this salt is the structure of its crystals. The salt and minerals are connected in a harmonious pattern which is thought to be more easily metabolized by the body. You can actually see this through a microscope as compared to the crystals of even the most unrefined sea salts, which appear disjointed and broken up.

Himalayan Pink Salt is a dry salt that works well in salt grinders (salt mills). It is a good everyday, all-purpose salt for cooking, baking, and at the table. You can buy it in block form (and shave it into a fine powder), as pre-ground fine crystals, or as coarse crystals that you can grind into the desired texture.

Fleur de Sel de Guérande

Fleur de Sel means “flower of salt.” It is a premier finishing salt considered by many chefs to be the caviar of salts for it flavor and light, moist texture. Other salt aficionados love it because it is completely natural, unrefined, unprocessed, and high in mineral content. It is an artisan salt, meaning it is carefully harvested by hand using the same techniques as in the Middle Ages. Many people like knowing that it comes from an area of protected wetlands. There is no such thing as organic salt, but this salt does meet the high standards required for the Nature & Progrès certification of France (similar to the American USDA). It is also rare, which always make something more valuable.

Fleur de Sel is produced in three saltmaking villages in the Brittany region on the west coast of France: Guérande, Noirmoutier, and Camargue. Fleur de Sel de Guérande is considered the best of them.

The salt marshes of Guérande

Water from the Atlantic is guided through a labyrinth of winding waterways into narrowing channels and ultimately into the salt marshes (œillets). Ocean water has about 27 grams of salt per liter. By the time it reaches the marshes, it not only has been cleared of undesirable ocean creatures and debris, but it has been naturally concentrated to contain 300 grams of salt per liter.

In the salt marsh beds, the water further evaporates down to a depth of only half an inch (about 1 cm). At this point, a fine layer of salt forms on the surface. The young crystals are delicately raked up with a tool called a lousse à de fleur, a wooden rake designed to gather up the salt without disturbing the fragile crust too much. Those who specialize in this task are called paludiers, a job which was formerly entrusted only to the gentle touch of women.

The salt beds of Guérande and a pile of harvested Fleur de Sel

Fleur de Sel de Guérande is one of the most expensive salts because its production is very limited. It is harvested only from the uppermost layer of the evaporation ponds and represents no more than 5% of the total production. The other factor that makes it rare is that the weather conditions have to be just right to produce a good harvest, and the process can only be completed once a year, in the summer.

After skimming off the cream of the crop, the remaining 95% of the salt produced from the Guérande salt marshes is known as Celtic Grey (Sel Gris), which is also highly esteemed as an excellent-quality salt. Sel Gris is collected by vigorously raking the salt (also with a wooden lousse) from below the surface of the water. The grey color is from argile, the dense clay lining the marshes, which is also what gives it its unique flavor and high magnesium content. Every 30 years the marshes are drained, cleaned, and replenished with argile to begin the process again.

The premier Fleur de Sel is slightly grey due to the clay beds and is sometimes a light pink due to a type of algae commonly found in salt marshes. It is a finishing salt which is naturally fine-grained. It is neither crushed nor ground but rather served from a salt cellar (a small dish) at the table. Because it is a moist salt, it holds up when sprinkled on food, instead of melting into it. The sensation and taste have been described as first of all crunchy and then filling the mouth with a burst of flavor that fades to a sweetness at the back of the tongue.