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Spice up your life! How new ingredients have changed our kitchen cupboards

Mystified by the wealth of new spices now available in the shops?

June 17, 2015 09:42
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By

Victoria Prever,

Victoria Prever

3 min read

Parsley, pepper and perhaps dill or garlic were probably the only spices our Ashkenazi grandparents would have had in their larders alongside the salt cellar.

But recently, spice sections in supermarkets have become an explosion of new flavours and names.

Sumac, baharat, za’atar, mahlab, ras el hanout — the list goes on, most as unfamiliar as the dishes being introduced by the Israeli chefs arriving on our shores.

As foods from different countries come into vogue, the trickle-down effect to home cooking adds yet another jar to your kitchen shelf. But how many of these new ingredients do you really need?