Taking risks in the kitchen is one of the great joys of cooking at home. Chef, restauranteur, consultant and flavor expert Laura Santtini’s unique products have held the attention of our tastebuds for some time—from her…
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Making the farmers market rounds, but also available online through outreach, Mamacita’s Gourmet Hot Sauce is a Virginia’s Finest product and a local merchant favorite in its hometown of Richmond. The spicy blend carries more than…
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Longtime Washington DC resident Rano Singh, on a mission to prepare traditional Indian meals, became frustrated with the lack of spices available in her town. Even with regular trips to suburban Indian grocery stores, she found that often what greets customers are spices…
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There are few people as enthused by spices as Ethné and Philippe de Vienne. The couple has spent the last two decades traveling the world in search of spices to satisfy their exploratory palettes. And more than that, they wanted the inside scoop…
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Jim Meehan, Managing Partner of New York City’s no-longer-a-secret cocktail venue PDT (Please Don’t Tell), regularly uses ingredients from Lior Lev Sercarz’s biscuit and spice shop La Boîte à…
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The E-Seasoner is an innovative Willy-Wonka-style gadget… only for spices instead of gobstoppers! At the top, various spices are sectioned in separate containers. Simply input your desired combination and the device will do the mixing and dispense a single strip of the combination which can then be thrown in a pan or food mixture to flavor. Great for camping or lunch on the run, the user can take spice combinations for meals without carrying around a bunch of different jars!
Designers: Chikuai, Wudengxin, Huangshu
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(The E-Seasoner was originally posted on Yanko Design)
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Established New York food critic and author David Rosengarten continues to surprise and delight foodies with his wit and passion for flavors of all types. He’s just launched his new line of special finds called “Gastronomic Selections,” and the first products are a trio of varietal chile extracts made…
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Four small-batch food sellers dish up delicious spiced flavors
No matter what the weather, chai remains a perennial favorite for its mix of sharp spices and pleasant sweetness, balanced out by a milky base. Coming away from the 2012 Fancy Food Show, we found four small businesses who are channeling the classic blend in various forms of food and drink.
The Chai Cart
Paawan Kothari left her Silicon Valley career to take advantage of the food truck movement in San Francisco, dealing out childhood flavors to curbside pedestrians. The business quickly took off, and now Kothari offers her goods in concentrate form. This is our favorite of the bunch with good reason; Kothari personally sources her ingredients and no sugar is added to the final product. The Chai Cart offers masala, rose and chai latte concentrates in addition to a line of loose teas.
Founded in 2008, the goods from Bhakti Chai have stayed mostly in the Rocky Mountain region. Serving up Original, Unsweetened, Decaf and Coffee Blend chai concentrates, the flavors are also available in massive 64oz. growlers for the serious chai fiend. Ginger overtones are balanced by the sweet anise notes from fennel. The organic, fair trade tea is given its punch from evaporated cane juice and a series of fresh spices. Bhakti Chai also dedicates a portion of their proceeds to charitable organizations, including the Global Fund for Women and Girls Education International.
Third St. Chai
Another Colorado brand, Third St. offers six flavors of concentrated chai that is prepared simply by adding milk. The microbrewed beverage can be served hot, iced or blended, and is only slightly sweetened. Showing responsibility at every turn, the Third St. facility is fully wind-powered, and the ingredients they use are composted for local farmers.
Hippie Chow
Complement your hot cup of chai with a similarly flavored handful of Hippie Chow granola. While they make a number of mixes, the aggressively spiced chai version is definitely the standout. The all-natural ingredients list includes organic oats, almonds, honey, canola oil, spices, sugar, vanilla extract and salt—exactly the kind of wholesome goodness you would expect from a brand called “Hippie Chow”.
Repurposed casks add distinctive notes to small-batch sauces and spices
Based in Louisville, Kentucky, the city known as the gateway to bourbon country, Matt Jamie has found a new way to repurpose barrels that have been used to age the region’s signature spirit. Bourbon Barrel Foods makes micro-brewed and barrel-aged soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, marinades and sorghum salad dressing, as well as barrel-smoked salt, sugar pepper and paprika once the whiskey has been drained.
The barrels can only be used once to make bourbon, and are then typically exported to make scotch, Irish whiskey, rum and tequila. Bourbon Barrel Foods stood out from the crowd at the Winter 2012 Fancy Food Show for the company’s new local, sustainable approach to reusing bourbon barrels with delicious results.
Each small batch of soy sauce is made with non-GMO soybeans grown in southern Kentucky, soft red winter wheat, and limestone-filtered spring water, and then aged for 12 months in the whiskey casks, which infuse the liquid with a distinct, smoky flavor unusual to the traditional Japanese marinade.
Bourbon Barrel Foods is a member of the Original Makers Club, known for their cultural business guide to Louisville that champions the work of unique local companies. Products can be found in the Bourbon Barrel Foods online shop.
Chef Nobu spices up the “fifth taste” with a new blend for flavor specialist Laura Santtini
Giving her “little tube of magic” new meat-free appeal, London-based restaurateur and flavor specialist Laura Santtini recently teamed up with renowned chef Nobu Matsuhisa to create Taste #5 Umami Far Eastern Vegetarian. This savory, garlic-based puree is a follow-up to her popular Taste #5 Umami Paste—a blend that includes anchovies and favors the piquancy of black olives, tomatoes and porcini mushrooms. The Far Eastern Vegetarian packs the same umami punch, but in a mixture that leans more heavily on miso, shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce and green tea with hints of sugary mirin, tangy ginger and citrusy yuzu. Whether using the paste to spice up a stir-fry or as a stand-in for soy sauce on sushi, a small dollop of the Nobu-developed blend will undoubtedly turn any dish into a greater culinary delight.
Santtini also cleverly turned the original Mediterranean-inspired Taste #5 Umami Paste into a powder, aptly called Umami Dust. The dry version is perfect on popcorn, as a rub on beef or fish, or in any situation where you would typically add salt.
Taste #5 Umami Far Eastern Vegetarian Paste and Umami Dust will both sell from Williams-Sonoma this Spring 2012.
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