Spicing it up!

As Valentines is coming up we have put together a little list of some of our favourite spices to add a little bit of heat to the proceedings.

As well as Chocolate, Raw Oysters, Strawberries and more, spices are often cited as being aprodisiacs and are often use in many cultures when preparing recipes for a special occasion. Not only do they taste amazing, without getting too scientific, many do create a “buzz” in the body and the brain.

• Ginger –  an integral component of the diet of many cultures and valued for its aromatic, culinary and medicinal properties for thousands of years. The Romans first imported ginger from China and by the middle of the 16th century, Europe was receiving more than 2000 tonnes per year from the East Indies. s scent is thought to stimulate the circulatory system, allowing the blood flow to reach every corner of your body.
• Cardamom – An aromatic spice indigenous to south India and Sri Lanka, cardamom seeds come from a plant belonging to the ginger family. They are contained in small pods about the size of a cranberry. Cardamom has a wonderful aroma and an enticing warm, spicy-sweet flavour. We are used to picking these out from rice dishes but toast the seeds and grind them and they add an amazing flavour to any dish!
  
• Vanilla
  
  The sun-dried seed pod of a type of climbing orchid, vanilla has an inimitable soft, sweet fragrance and flavour. The labour-intensive process involved in hand-pollinating and nurturing the flowers, together with the long drying time necessary makes it a highly prized – and highly priced – ingredient.

  of. Long, black, thin and wrinkled, vanilla pods contain thousands of tiny black seeds, which are used to flavour mainly sweet dishes, and go particularly well with chocolate. The presence of tiny black specks in a vanilla-flavoured dish is confirmation that real vanilla has been used.

  It is said that the seeds located inside of the vanilla bean have euphoric properties.

• Cinnamon – The main type of cinnamon is Ceylon cinnamon, from the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum plant which originates in Sri Lanka. The other main type is Cassia cinnamon which has a stronger taste and is slightly cheaper. To maximise the medicinal value and health benefits of cinnamon, regardless of type, the key thing is its freshness.  Cinnamon has large amounts of anti-oxidants.
• Cayenne pepper – a red, hot little spice with origins in South and Central America, the West Indies and Mexico. Dried and powdered, it produces a powerful heat that can enhance a plethora of foods – in the right amounts! But better than that, an active ingredient called capsaicin gives cayenne and other hot peppers their intensity and is also a powerful pain reliever.Native Americans understood both the culinary and medicinal potency of this ingredient around 9,000 years ago. Cajun and Creole cooks, as well as those in Italy, Mexico and Asia, use it to make their dishes a little – or a lot – spicier, while Korean, Japanese and Chinese healers and Indian Ayurvedic traditions have relied on this ingredient for a number of cures.

We hope you’ll give these spices a go in your recipes. Enjoy!