Spice of the Month Club- The Best Value Offered!
Was the trip to Provence canceled again this year? The dream vacation throughout Southeast Asia just that-a dream? No worries, through the pleasures of our herb and spice blends you can transport yourself and family to these far way places. It's a culinary trip of a lifetime without leaving your kitchen or spending a fortune. It's also a great way to gain confidence using herb and spice blends and increase your spice pantry.
A subscription makes a great gift for a foodie friend, college graduate or newlyweds and don't forget, Valentine's Day is just around the corner! Make it a spicy year they'll never forget.
You'll receive:
- One 2.0 oz tin of hand mixed spice blend
- Information on blend ingredients and/or country/region the blend is popular
(See March 2011 letter below)
- Recipe to get you started and suggestions on other ways to use the blends
- One 3/4 oz. bonus blend, enough for two or three recipes of your choice
Subscriptions will immediately start the month payment is received unless another start month is requested (Please provide this information upon check out). Packages ship on the 10th day of each month.
Main Spice Blend Bonus Blend
January -Hungarian Tahoe Blend
February - Herbed Pepper European
March - Asian Egyptian
April - All-Purpose Moroccan (Berbere)
May - Caribbean B-B-Q (Texas)
June - Italian Italian- Zesty!
July - Scandinavian Lemon Pepper
August - Meat Mix #2 Persian (Bahart)
September - Tandoori Herbs de Provence
October - Lemon Seafood Curry - Hot
November - Poultry/Dressing Pumpkin Pie
December - Tahoe Taco Turkish
Our 12 month subscription is the best value of any Spice of the Month Clubs.
Scroll down the page to read the newsletter that was sent out in March.
Thanks for considering our club, we hope you join.
- Please record the information of the recipient if it differs from the purchaser, use second line to complete address if necessary.
- If your purchase is a gift, you will be able to, upon check out, state the month in which you would like the membership to begin.
Please supply information under: Special instructions to the seller.
Six month subscription $59.95
Twelve month subscription $99.95
Shipping cost: included!
A note from a satisfied member:
My husband's sisters gave us your spice of the month club for Christmas this past year.
It has been such a wonderful treat every month when we get our new spices!! We have been introduced to spices and combinations that I wouldn't normally buy. I use the All Purpose
blend every morning in my eggs!!
I think that you have a wonderful company and I want you to know how great of a job you
are doing. The handwritten note when our 6 months were up made all the difference, it is so
nice to feel special and I really felt that our business mattered!!
Thank you again and keep making your wonderful spices,
The D. Family
March Spice of the Month- Ras el Hanout
Tahoe winters can bring a ton of snow-many years the most in the country. As I write in mid February we’ve received over 350 inches for the season and 42” in the last 48 hours. It’s a curse or blessing depending on which side of the snow shovel you stand. As a gardener I realize we need the moisture for our spring daffodils and tulips, it’s waiting until mid May to see them that can cause major cabin fever! So in winter I cook… a lot.
Last winter a number of Thunderbird Lodge gardeners (a Historic site on the East Shore of Lake Tahoe) participated in one of my cooking classes. It’s no surprise that the use of dried lavender buds for cooking is a perennial favorite with this group, but we needed more flower power than that. While researching recipes, I found one that used a spice blend that not only called for dried lavender but also dried rose petals. I was ecstatic! It’s called Ras el Hanout and is now a favorite blend. A seed was planted...
Ras el Hanout means “top of the shop”, the best combination of spices that can be provided by a Moroccan spice merchant. It can contain more than 30 different ingredients within hundreds of variations. Ours is representative of what you’d find in many Arabic countries.
There are stories of spice merchants creating custom blends for special clients that included hashish and even Spanish fly! Our own version nixed those but does include traditional spices such as cardamom, allspice, coriander, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, cloves, black pepper, and grains of paradise besides the lavender and rose petals. A good Ras el Hanout is a great example of how well a variety of spices can meld to create an ingredient that is greater than its individual components. It’s somewhat curry-like with a spicy kick and floral fragrance with subtle nuances within an overall robust flavor. Sounds like we’re wine snobs describing the latest vintage of pinot noir! Yes, it’s complex but extremely versatile. Use as a spice rub on lamb chops before grilling or pan-frying, in chicken tagines and pork braises, add to grains like rice, quinoa, and cous cous and ground fine as a condiment. You can’t help but love it!
We discussed cardamom and coriander in December with the blend Gram Masala; however a brief mention for our new members may be helpful as these two spices are major components of Ras el Hanout.
Cardamom is an herbaceous perennial shrub in the ginger family. It produces pods that are harvested when green, sun-dried in the air like peppercorns and once opened reveal three segments, each with a tiny row of brownish-black seeds. As a spice they are costly, luckily their potent flavor justifies the cost as a little imparts a lot.
Coriander is a popular annual plant because all parts are used: leaves (known as cilantro), seeds (coriander) and roots. In Europe, it’s considered an aphrodisiac- no wonder it’s popular! The common coriander imparts a lemony, mustard flavor that works well as a base in curries, barbecue rubs and most Middle Eastern spice blends.
Although not a prominent ingredient in this blend, grains of paradise (love that name) is worth mentioning because it’s an unfamiliar spice to most of us. Also a member of the ginger family, grains of paradise come from a perennial reed like plant native to West Africa. Its flowers, shaped like lilies, produce a tough leathery husk that looks like a giant brown cardamom pod, each of which contains about 80 seeds. The seeds emit little aroma until cracked or ground. When dried they’re a cross between pepper and ginger with an undercurrent of clove and cardamom. Here’s the wine speak again, but this spice has such a diverse flavor it’s warranted.
Because it was less expensive than black pepper and was readily available, it became fashionable to use in medieval days. It fell out of favor when the trade for the latter became more accessible. Today, you’ll see it used in everything from beer brewing to confections. The exotic tales surrounding this interesting spice no doubt have something to do with its modern day popularity among chefs.
Enjoy the lamb recipe Chef Stephen created for this wonderful spice blend.
