10. Herbs & Spices
Spice up your world!
Asian cuisine is extremely rich in the use of herbs and spices. A herb is a green, leafy part of the plant. A spice can come from the root, stem, seed, fruit, flower or bark of the tree or plant. A plant can be host to both a herb and spice at the same time as for example coriander. The H&S assortment counts numerous herbs and spices which are essential in Asian cooking.
CHILLI (POWDER)
Chilli (powder) is the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties of chilli pepper, most commonly the red chilli pepper. Chilli peppers originally come from Mexico where they have been part of the diet for over 6000 years. Around 1500 AD Portuguese traders have introduced chilli peppers to Asia and nowadays chilli peppers are an integral part of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. Chilli powder is used as a spice to add piquancy and flavour to culinary dishes.
Chilli is used in many different cuisines, including American (TexMex), Chinese, Indian, Korean, Mexi-can, Portuguese, and Thai. A chilli powder blend is the primary flavour of the well-known American dish Chilli Con Carne.
CORIANDER
Coriander is also known as Chinese Parsley. All parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds (as a spice) are the parts most traditionally used in cooking. The leaves have a different taste from the seeds, with citrus overtones. Coriander is used in cuisines throughout the world.
CUMIN
Cumin is the dried seed of the herb Cuminum cyminum, a member of the parsley family.
Cumin has been used as a spice for thousands of years, it was already favourite by the ancient Greek and Romans, where it was kept in a container on the dining table, such as we use pepper nowadays.
Cumin origins from around the Mediterranean Sea area or Egypt, but today, the plant is mostly grown and consumed in India and China. Cumin can be used ground or as whole seeds. It has a strong, fresh and sharp flavour, and gives an earthy, warming and aromatic character to food.
Cumin is a must in spice mixes like Garam Masala, Tandoori and every Curry dish.
CURRY (MADRAS)
POWDER
Curry is a classical spice mix originally from India. Most curry powder recipes include coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and chilli peppers in their blends. Depending on the recipe, additional ingredients such as ginger, garlic, asafoetida, fennel seed, caraway, cinnamon, clove, mustard seed, green cardamom, black cardamom, nutmeg, white turmeric, curry leaf, long pepper, and black pepper may also be included.
Curry powder goes well with meat and fish dishes, brings flavour to curries, chutneys and sauces and is also frequently used in soups. Especially in India but throughout Asia curry powder is a common ingredient.
In India, the typical dish is Curry Madras that is why most of our Curry powder contains ‘Madras’ in the name.
CARDAMON
Cardamom is the third most expensive spice after vanilla and saffron. Originally it is from India.
Two main types of cardamom are:
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True or green cardamom. Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance. Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight but little is needed to impart flavour. It is best stored in the pod, as exposed or ground seeds quickly lose their flavour. Grinding the pods and seeds together lowers both the quality and the price.
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Black cardamom, also known as brown, greater, large, longer, or Nepal cardamom, comes from species Amomum subulatum and is native to the eastern Himalayas and mostly cultivated in Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, and parts of Darjeeling district in West Bengal of India, and southern Bhutan. Black cardamom has a distinctly more smoky, though not bitter, aroma, with a coolness some consider similar to mint.
STAR ANISE
Star Anise is a spice that closely resembles anise in flavour and is obtained from the star-shaped pericarps of the fruit of the Illicium verum which are harvested just before ripening. Star anise contains anethole, the same compound that gives the unrelated anise its flavour.
It is widely used in Chinese cuisine, and in Malay and Indonesian cuisines. It is widely grown for commercial use in China, India, and most other countries in Asia. Star anise is an ingredient of the traditional five-spice powder of Chinese cooking. It is also a major ingredient in the making of Vietnamese Pho.
In India, Star anise is used as a spice in the preparation of Biryani and Masala Chai. Star anise enhances the flavour of the meat.
GARLIC
Garlic (Allium sativum) closely relatives to the onion, shallot, leek, chive and Chinese onion. It is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran, and has long been a common seasoning worldwide. Garlic has a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use. It was known to ancient Egyptians, and has been used both as a food flavouring and as a traditional medicine. China produces some 80% of the world's supply of garlic. Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavour as a seasoning or condiment.
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GINGER
Ginger (Zingiber Officinale) is a flowering plant whose ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice. Ginger belongs to the same family as Turmeric, Cardamom and Galangal and originates from South East Asia (near the Philippines). It is a true cultigen and does not exist in its wild state. Ginger is one of the first spices to have been exported from Asia, arriving in Europe with the spice trade, and was used by ancient Greeks and Romans. Ginger is mostly grown in India, Nigeria and China.
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TURMERIC
Turmeric is a flowering plant of the ginger family. The roots are used in cooking. Most turmeric is used in the form of rhizome powder to impart a golden yellow colour. Turmeric powder has a warm, bitter, black pepper-like flavour and earthy, mustard-like aroma. Turmeric is one of the key ingredients in many Asian dishes, mostly in a savory but also in some sweet dishes.
FIVE SPICES
Five Spices is a spice mixture in Chinese cuisine combining the five basic flavours of sweet, salty, bitter, sour and hot. Its composition can vary but most sources mainly mention cassia, cloves, star anise, fennel seed and sichuan pepper. Cassia is a more robust and cheaper version of cinnamon. Sichuan pepper is often left out or replaced by black pepper. The use of only one tablespoon of five spices mix is enough to give a dish this specific Asian flavour.
PEPPER
Pepper is native to South India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. Vietnam is the world's largest producer and exporter of pepper.
Peppercorns are the berries from an evergreen creeper.Ground, dried and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavour and as a traditional medicine.
CINNAMON
Cinnamon is native to Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), but is already used in the Mediterranean since thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used to embalm mummies. Nowadays, Indonesia and China produce75% of the world's supply of cinnamon.
WASABI
Wasabi is the most important condiment in Japanese cuisine used for traditional sushi, sashimi and buckwheat noodles. The Wasabi root (Wasabia Japonica) is the milder, green, Japanese relative of European white horseradish (Armoracia rusticana).
Wasabi grows in two different ways: in fields (Hatake Wasabe) or – which is much better – along sheltered, fast flowing mountain streams (Sawa Wasabi).
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The pungent taste of Wasabi hits you in the nose and between the eyes.Wasabi is available in paste and powder.
Wasabi pastes mostly contain only horseradish and a green colouring agent because real Wasabi is too expensive. The flavour of horse radish is much stronger than that of genuine Japanese wasabi. However our Premium S&B Wasabi paste (50117) contains 30% real Wasabi.
MSG
Monosodium Glutamate, called "Vetsin" in Thailand, is a flavour enhancer which is widely used in Asian cuisine but also in western products. MSG looks like a white crystal powder and is comparable to adding a pinch of salt, so only a small amount is needed to flavour a dish.
The taste is often described as the sixth taste ’Umami’ next to the other four primary tastes sweet, sour, bitter and salty. MSG enhances the savoury, meaty umami flavour of food.
TAMARIND
The tamarind tree produces pod-like fruit, 12-15 cm in length with a hard brown shell. It contains an edible pulp used in cuisines around the world. Tamarind is cultivated around the world in tropical and subtropical zones. Today, India is the largest producer of tamarind. The consumption of tamarind is widespread due to its central role in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, especially Mexico.
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