Beyond The Holidays: Uses For Nutmeg & Nutmeg History

Nutmeg is one of the so-called warm or sweet spices, delivering a subtle blend of sweet and spicy notes. Nutmeg grows on trees but it’s not a tree nut. Rather, it’s the seed of a fruit of an evergreen tree. If you have a nut allergy, fear not. While it’s a year-round asset in your…
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Cooking Tip: What To Do With Celery Seeds

Do you have a package of celery seeds languishing in your pantry? Here’s what you can do with them. First…     WHAT ARE CELERY SEEDS? Celery seeds are tiny brown seeds (photo #1) that are harvested from the flowers of the wild celery plant (photo #2)—a different variety from the celery we eat. They…
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Za’atar: A Staple Spice Of The Middle East & How To Use It

Za’atar is a flavorful spice blend used in many dishes throughout the Middle East. It’s also found its way to American fare from crusted tuna to hummus to chicken wings. The spelling is also romanized as zaatar, zahtar, za’tar, and zatar. Za’atar (ZAH-tar, American pronunciation ZAH’tar) is both a culinary herb and a spice blend.…
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Shake Your Sriracha Sauce, A Dried Sriracha Spice From Pereg

August 19th is National Hot & Spicy Food Day. You could slice up some jalapeños, or add hot sauce to your dishes. Or, you could shake on this new dried Sriracha spice.     SOME LIKE IT HOT Spice manufacturer Pereg has re-formatted Sriracha sauce in a dried form. You can now shake Sriracha on…
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TIP OF THE DAY: How To Toast Nuts, Seeds & Spices

[1] A goat cheese crottin with toasted almonds and a drizzle of maple syrup (photo © Vermont Creamery). [2] Toasted (a.k.a. roasted) pumpkin seeds. Here’s the recipe from Simply Recipes (photo © Elise Bauer | Simply Recipes). [3] Snow peas with toasted sesame seeds. Here’s the recipe from Chef Curtis Stone. Note that toasted sesame…
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