Everyday Spices

Lippia graveolens, a species of flowering plant in the verbena family, Verbenaceae, is native to the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America as far south as Nicaragua. Common names include Mexican oregano, redbrush lippia, orÃgano Cimmaron, scented lippia, and scented matgrass. Traditional oregano is one of the most common herbs in modern kitchens. Ever present in Italian cuisine, itÃs earned the nickname Ãthe pizza herbÃ, with its minty undertones justifying its membership in the mint plant family Lamiaceae. Mexican oregano, on the other hand, is from a different plant family altogether, Verbenaceae. YouÃll also find Lemon Verbena in this family, so as you would expect Mexican Oregano has similar citrus-like undertones. It also might taste more grassy or earthy to you. You can store Mexican oregano along with your other spices. Keep it in a cool, dry place and it will last for months.

Whole white peppercorn offers you the perfect way to maintain long-lasting flavor without sacrificing freshness. Known as the Ãking of spices,Ã white pepper is a light beige color, so you can add a mild peppery flavor to your light-colored meals without ruining their presentation. White pepper comes from the same variety of plant as traditional black pepper, but the fruit is fully ripened and soaked to remove the outer hull before drying and packaging.

White pepper consists solely of the seed of the ripe fruit of the pepper plant, with the thin darker-coloured skin (flesh) of the fruit removed. This is usually accomplished by a process known as retting, where fully ripe red pepper berries are soaked in water for about a week so the flesh of the peppercorn softens and decomposes; rubbing then removes what remains of the fruit, and the naked seed is dried. Ground white pepper is used commonly in Chinese, Thai and Portuguese cuisine, but also in salads, light-coloured sauces, and mashed potatoes as a substitute, because black pepper would visibly stand out. However, white pepper lacks certain compounds present in the outer layer of the drupe, resulting in a different overall flavor. White, yellow and red onions may be used.

Why limit yourself to summertime to taste the flavors available during the warmest, brightest months of the season? Enjoy Tomato Flakes year-round for their bright, sweet, zesty, summery flavor and get some sunshine in, even if its too cold to remember what sunshine feels like in the dead of winter. Tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum, are full of vitamin c and lycopene- two things the body needs to help ward off diseases like cancer and heart disease. This includes dried tomatoes, too! They dont lose their nutrients when they are dried, unlike many other fruits and vegetables. Use them in place of fresh tomatoes or use them where you would usually incorporate sundried tomatoes.

Thyme is any member of the genus Thymus of aromatic perennial evergreen herbs in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are relatives of the oregano genus Origanum. They have culinary, medicinal, and ornamental uses, and the species most commonly cultivated and used for culinary purposes is Thymus vulgaris. Ancient Egyptians used thyme for embalming. The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing it was a source of courage. The spread of thyme throughout Europe was thought to be due to the Romans, as they used it to purify their rooms and to "give an aromatic flavour to cheese and liqueurs". In the European Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares. In this period, women also often gave knights and warriors gifts that included thyme leaves, as it was believed to bring courage to the bearer. Thyme was also used as incense and placed on coffins during funerals, as it was supposed to assure passage into the next life. In some Levantine countries, and Assyria, the condiment za'atar (Arabic for both thyme and marjoram) contains many of the essential oils found in thyme. It is a common component of the bouquet garni, and of herbes de Provence. Thyme is sold both fresh and dried. While summer-seasonal, fresh greenhouse thyme is often available year-round. The fresh form is more flavourful, but also less convenient; storage life is rarely more than a week. However, the fresh form can last many months if carefully frozen. Fresh thyme is commonly sold in bunches of sprigs. A sprig is a single stem snipped from the plant. It is composed of a woody stem with paired leaf or flower clusters ("leaves") spaced 1Ã2 to 1 inch (13 to 25 mm) apart. A recipe may measure thyme by the bunch (or fraction thereof), or by the sprig, or by the tablespoon or teaspoon. Dried thyme is widely used in Armenia in tisanes (called urc).

Tarragon, also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the sunflower family. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America, and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes. French tarragon is the variety used for cooking in the kitchen[9] and is not grown from seed, as the flowers are sterile; instead it is propagated by root division. Russian tarragon (A. dracunculoides L.) can be grown from seed but is much weaker in flavor when compared to the French variety. However, Russian tarragon is a far more hardy and vigorous plant, spreading at the roots and growing over a meter tall. This tarragon actually prefers poor soils and happily tolerates drought and neglect. It is not as strongly aromatic and flavorsome as its French cousin, but it produces many more leaves from early spring onwards that are mild and good in salads and cooked food. Russian tarragon loses what flavor it has as it ages and is widely considered useless as a culinary herb, though it is sometimes used in crafts. The young stems in early spring can be cooked as an asparagus substitute. Horticulturists recommend that Russian tarragon be grown indoors from seed and planted out in the summer. The spreading plants can be divided easily. A better substitute for French tarragon is Spanish tarragon (Tagetes lucida), also known as Mexican mint marigold, Mexican tarragon, Texas tarragon, or winter tarragon. It is much more reminiscent of French tarragon, with a hint of anise. Although not in the same genus as the other tarragons, Spanish tarragon has a stronger flavor than Russian tarragon that does not diminish significantly with age.

Our dehydrated spinach flakes make a great addition as flavoring to soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, lasagnas, and any dish that calls for spinach.

Enhance the tastes of your appetizers, entrees, and sides by using this Regal seasoned salt. Thanks to its versatility, it can be added to a variety of foods, including meats, soups, salad dressings, french fries, and vegetables. This seasoned salt has the just the right amount of each item on its ingredient list, giving it the perfect taste. By having a consistent blend ready to use straight out of the container, you wonÃt have to waste time measuring out individual spices.

Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. Like mined rock salt, production of sea salt has been dated to prehistoric times. There is no scientific evidence that consuming sea salt instead of more refined sodium chloride salts has any health benefit. The dilute brine of the sea was largely evaporated by the sun. In Roman areas, this was done using ceramic containers known as briquetage. Workers scraped up the concentrated salt and mud slurry and washed it with clean sea water to settle impurities out of the now concentrated brine. They poured the brine into shallow pans (lightly baked from local marine clay) and set them on fist-sized clay pillars over a peat fire for final evaporation. Then they scraped out the dried salt and sold it. Raking salt depicted on a 1938 British postage stamp