Spice Blends, Seasonings and Sauces

Appears in

Published 2008

About

Along with indigenous crops and cooking methods, traditional spice blends give national cuisines their special character and flavour. Not so long ago these mixtures could be found only in far-flung markets, and intrepid cooks would bring back mysterious packages smelling of distant lands.

As a result of our desire for the authentic and the exotic, many of the blends can now be bought in the West, ready-ground and mixed. Though the quality and authenticity of ready-made spice blends is steadily improving, manufacturers still tend to standardise them to make them acceptable to a mass market. In doing so, the intriguing quirks and nuances of flavour found in blends made by a native cook are diluted or even lost. Garam masala and the ubiquitous curry powder are two prime examples.