Spice Detox with Golden Milk Tea

2015 is here and it's going to be a great year so why not start the year as you mean to go on or at least try!! Ever since coming back from Vietnam (more on that trip later!) I have been feeling a little sluggish and was inspired to create a Spice Queen version of a drink my Mum used to give me as a child to get me over my winter ailments and blues.

Golden Milk is a traditional Ayurvedic drink made with turmeric and milk and then different variations of spices after that, used both for cleansing and improving immunity against colds and flu.

The colouring agent, curcumin, in turmeric, the key spice in this recipe, helps increase bile production which the liver needs to eliminate toxins from our bodies. It is also a powerful anti-inflammatory and so works the digestive system too which is equally important in detoxing. It is important that the better the curcumin content the more effective using turmeric for this purpose will be.

The response I received from viewers when I demonstrated this recipe on TV recently was amazing so here is the recipe that will get you addicted to this beautiful golden healthy drink!

Ingredients (Serves 1):

1 Cup Almond or Organic Milk

1 tsp  Spice Sanctuary Turmeric ( known as a liver cleanser)

1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary Coorg Bold Cardamom Ground (a good diuretic and good for digestion)

1/4 tsp Spice Sanctuary Ginger Powder (known to help blood flow and digestion)

pinch   Spice Sanctuary Saffron (known to help cleanse the liver)

1 tsp   Organic Coconut Oil

Honey to taste

How to Make:

1. Pour the milk and spices into a blender. Blend together for a minute or half that time if you have a high speed blender.

2. Next, transfer to a saucepan, add the coconut oil and honey and bring the milk to a boil on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

How to Enjoy:

1. Drink this golden deliciousness immediately and preferably first thing in the morning and at least an hour before bedtime. If the spices leave a residue on the bottom of your cup, give it a stir as you're drinking.

HAPPY DETOXING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Spicy Christmas Beverages

When we think of the Holiday Season, food always comes to mind but it's always a good idea to have a couple of drink recipes to hand to toast the festivities. I have created the following two recipes which can be served hot after dinner or late evening in front of the fireplace or made in advance and chilled to be sipped as an aperitif or as part of an alcoholic cocktail.

Click on the recipe sheet below to view in larger format. Try them out and let us know what other ways you served them!

Will the Real Saffron please stand up?

Ahead of the imminent launch of our own organic saffron, I came across something quite disturbing. It seems the practice of selling fake or adulterated spices continues even in the 21st century and Saffron is the biggest victim of them all.

Knowing what you buy is just as important for food as it is for anything else. When you buy a computer, you would want to know the memory space, speed, processor details so why not know where your spices come from and what grade they are?

How to tell the True Saffron from the Fake?  Here are some ways to tell the difference:

Name

The fake saffron is commonly known as American Saffron or Mexican Saffron. True saffron is Greek Saffron, Spanish Saffron or true Saffron.

 Botanical Name

Fake saffron is derived from the dried petals of Safflower (or Carthamus tinctorius), a stiff thistle plant (bottom). In India, true saffron is sometimes replaced or mixed with turmeric as another form of adulteration. Strands of dyed gelatin or corn silk have also been used. True saffron is derived from the stigmas of the crocus sativus plant (top).

Colour

As you will see from the photos below, fake saffron (top) is much lighter in colour than true saffron (bottom).

Shape

The fake saffron strands are straighter and coarser. True saffron strands are finer and usually have trumpet like shape ends.

Pigmentation

American Saffron or other fake saffrons do not contain crocin which is the colouring agent found in true saffron and which has the potential brain health benefits of saffron. Fake saffron usually releases a red-orange colour and pretty quickly too whereas true saffron should release its colour slowly to a beautiful golden yellow colour. Some fake saffrons even dissolve in the water or leach the dye colour to leave behind different coloured strands.

Grading

True saffron is usually graded to ISO standards and any good manufacturer or supplier should provide this information on the labeling.

Category I details

 The higher the colouring strength (crocin) the better the saffron and its other attributes: aroma (safranal) and flavour (picocrocin)

Price

True Saffron costs considerably more than its fake counterpart. This is not surprising when it takes  stigmas of approximately 200,000 saffron flowers to produce 1kg of saffron.

Categorization & Taste

If you look at our grades of taste profiles for spices (hot, pungent, tangy, sweet & mild), the true saffron would be pungent and the fake, mild. The true saffron has a woody aroma with a slight honey taste. The fake saffron often has no taste or if it derived from safflower, a bitter sweetness.

Moral of the story:

I was once asked in a cooking class why you couldn't just buy lots of the American Saffron and use more of it instead of spending so much on the real stuff. The answer is simple: quality over quantity. It is the quality that provides the potential health benefits and superior taste.

In short, Know what you buy and why you are buying it before you buy it!

The Art of Balancing Spices

Have you ever wondered what to do when you put too much of a certain spice into a dish or how to flavour a dish such that you can distinguish between the different spices you have used?

Just as one would pair wine with cheese or food with wine to optimize our eating experience, the same is true of spices. Knowing which spices go well with each other can be crucial to getting an overall balance in flavour in any dish. You wouldn't eat a dish that is too salty or too bitter and nor should you eat a dish where one spice overpowers everything.

The lawyer in me likes to compartmentalize things and so with spices, this is exactly what I do. The taste buds can easily identify the sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and savouriness in a dish. In similar fashion, I like to split my spices into five easily identifiable tastes:  Hot, Pungent, Tangy, Sweet and Mild. They are also in top-down order of the proportions (little-more) in which, in most but not all cases, they should be used when combined with other spices.

Hot - Often but Little

As the name suggests, these spices are the ones with the most piquancy and heat. They are also most prone to overpowering a dish. Hot spices such as chilis and black pepper are known for their health benefits and antioxidant properties so wherever possible, these should be used often but in small doses. The Mild spices and a natural sweetener would be good ways to counter a dish with too much heat.

Pungent - Always and in Equal parts

Pungency is most associated with aroma and the sense of smell but it is also an apt description for the next level of spices in our chart. Spices such as cardamom, cloves, saffron, cumin would fall under this category. There really should be sub-categories as each spice in this category has a different flavour and level of pungency. Cloves would be more at the stronger and more menthol end while saffron and cardamom at a more sweeter and lighter end. However, none of these spices have any heat but they are still strong in flavour and so it is really important to keep proportions equal or as close to equal when using more than a few of the pungent spices in a dish. The key is to get a beautiful balance of flavours and if a dish has twice as much cloves or cumin as cardamom, the dish would be menthol and earthy but lack the aromatic sweetness of cardamom.

Tangy -Occasional and Enough

If you have already used hot and pungent spices, a dish may call for some sourness to take the edge off the spices a little. The spice equivalent to lemon or lime would be curry leaves, tamarind, sumac or amchur powder. Again, as with the pungent spices, the tangy spices are individual in the strength of sourness they would bring to a dish. Sumac and amchur powder are at the lighter citrusy end of the spectrum with tamarind being at the opposite end. Use these when the occasion calls for it in a dish or spice blend and just enough to add tanginess into the flavour pot.

Sweet - Alone and More

Spices such as cinnamon, rose, nutmeg and vanilla are typically associated with baking or desserts and so no wonder these are appropriately allocated to the 'Sweet' category. That said, these spices are also just as effective and flavourful in savoury dishes when used in the right proportions and context. The other beauty of these spices is that they can easily be used on their own in so many ways without needing any other spice to accompany it. The Sweet spices also marry very well with the 'lighter' Pungent ones too such as cardamom and saffron.

Mild - Necessary and Most

The likes of turmeric, coriander and fennel  form part of this group of spices. These spices maintain their individual taste and tones but when combined with other spices, they tend to take a back seat in a dish - either not seen, not tasted or not overpowering. This, of course, means one can use more of these in proportion to other spices and coriander, especially, is a great countering spice with too much cumin or hot spices.

Not every dish requires a spice from each category but a good balance can be just as effectively achieved by some of the following combinations:

Hot + Pungent + Mild  

E.g. Chili + Cumin + Coriander

Pungent + Sweet + Mild 

E.g. Cardamom + Cinnamon + Fennel

Pungent + Sweet

E.g. Saffron + Rose

Hot + Sweet + Tangy + Mild 

E.g. Chili + Cinnamon + Amchur + Turmeric

Pungent + Tangy + Mild

E.g. Nigella + Curry Leaves + Turmeric

What pairing combinations do you use?