Spice mixes can lift the most boring of meals to something truly special. This piece of knowledge can be very handy if, like me, you make the same quick ‘n’ easy meals most nights. I buy my herbs and spices in bulk from this company, then I spend a little time refilling small single spice jars or making up a few mixes to easily throw into my meals while cooking for the flavour burst I’m craving at the time.
It’s incredibly cost effective to buy spices this way and the leftovers after concocting my favourite spice mixes are kept in a cool dry place, or in my chest freezer. Making your own favourite blends is also a much healthier way to enhance your cooking with flavour as you control the sodium levels and avoid some of the unfavourable ingredients in store bought mixes – e.g. maltodextrin, monosodium glutamate, food acids, sugar, ‘flavour’ or vegetable oil.
When I saw the Recipe Redux theme of the month was “Add Merriment to Mixes” I felt pretty ecstatic. As my first ever time participating in Recipe Redux it could not have been a better theme for me as I love giving and receiving food gifts! By sharing the spice-love with my nearest and dearest for their holiday cooking adventures I might even nab myself a fantastic future meal!
I settled on five mixes that I would call my essentials due to their broad uses in the kitchen. You’ll also need to find some cute jars, hand-write a note for gifting and get the ribbon ready!
- An All-Purpose Mexican Seasoning to be used for tacos, fajitas, burritos etc. or any recipe where you would like a little heat and pungency.
- An Everyday Herb Mix mix for meat rubs, salad dressings, stuffing, and any other recipe that calls for mixed herbs.
- A Mild Curry Powder that would add some heat and glorious colour to curries (obviously!) and soups or add some kick to marinades, dressings and sauces.
- Apple / Pumpkin Pie Spice that can also be added to muffins, cakes or pancakes to complement seasonal fruit flavours in the ingredients.
- A Basic Pickling Spices Mix for adding to pickling recipes or to brine for lacto-fermenting.
- 2 parts chili powder
- 1 part cayenne peper
- 1 part garlic powder
- 1 part ground cumin
- 1 part coriander
- 1 part dried oregano
- ½ a part black pepper
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Add 1-2 tbsp per 500g of meat for tacos burritos etc., or sprinkle over casseroles, eggs etc for a touch of seasoning.
- 1 part dried tarragon
- 1 part dried oregano
- 1 part dried dill
- 1 part dried thyme
- 1 part dried rosemary
- ½ a part cracked black pepper
- ¼ a part ground fennel
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Use as part of a marinade for chicken, in stuffing, in soup, mix into a salad dressing or use a salt-alternative at the table for seasoning.
- 2 parts. dried coriander
- 1 part ground turmeric
- 1 part ground fenugreek / fennel
- 1 part ground cumin
- ½ of a part ground cloves
- ¼ of a part ground cardamom
- ¼ of a part tsp. cayenne powder
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Use in curries, soups or any recipe that you want the pungency of curry.
- 2 parts ground cinnamon
- 1 part nutmeg
- 1 part allspice
- 1 part ground cloves
- 1 part vanilla powder
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. Use 1 - 2 tsp in apple/pumpkin recipes, muffins, cakes, waffle or pancake batters.
- 2 parts mustard seeds
- 1 part crushed bay leaves
- 1 part whole cloves
- 1 part celery, nigella or caraway seeds
- 1 part white peppercorns
- Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. As a few teaspoons to pickling liquid or the brine for lacto-fermenting vegetables.
Comments 13
I am really loving all of these spice mix ideas! So creative!
Author
Thanks Alex, they’ve got pretty much any meal covered which is what I love!
That’s quite a nice collection of spice mixes you have there Alison. I really like the look of the Everyday Herb Mix and the Apple/Pumpkin Pie Spice Mixes.
Author
The every herb mix would probably be the one I use more often – in and on anything I can think of. It really boosts any kind of meal if you need a creative spark. Thanks for the comment Glenda 🙂
I love the pickling spices in particular. I just love to pickle veggies. It would be great to have these spices around.
Author
I used to buy the TINY little bags of pickling spices at my supermarket way back when and it ended up being very expensive! I find that not only is it cheaper to make my own mix, but the resulting pickles and lacto-fermented vegies are more flavourful too 😀 Thanks for the comment Christie, great to see someone who loves picking too!
Ooh… yummy mixes. I love them 🙂
Author
Thanks Marianne, I love spices!
Ally, this is such a neat idea! I am doing a recipe round up for homemade food gifts. May I include this (plus image)?
Thank you 🙂
Author
Thanks Rose 😀 You can absolutely include it in your food gift round-up, I would be honoured 🙂
WOW – these are all fantastic gift ideas!
Author
Thanks Deanna, I love giving the gift of ‘cooking’ to people 😀
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