When I think of saffron, the first thought that comes to mind is expensive, and second, pretty dainty threads of orange, red, and gold. These warm colorful threads are the stigmas of a flower of the crocus family which originated in west Asia and grows in Kashmir and Turkey, and in Mediterranean countries – the largest quantity these days comes from Spain. The use of saffron is very much a part of cuisines of these regions.

Saffron has a delicate fragrance. I find it not-so-easy to pin-point its flavor. For me, it has a somewhat sour, mostly sweet-bitter taste. Some say it’s bitter, or that it has a bitter, honey-like taste. It has also been described as having a bright metallic flavor. The taste is very individual I’d say.

Whatever flavor/s your taste buds detect, you don’t want to actually taste much saffron in a dish. Great chefs say if you can taste the saffron in a dish, there is too much. Use saffron with a light hand, like a pinch, or no more than is needed for a recipe. You’ve probably discovered for yourself a little saffron goes a long way.

But don’t let this or the price sway you from including saffron as staple spice in your kitchen. Have some handy to make great Indian, Mediterranean, Moroccan, and Spanish recipes. Paella is a popular dish using saffron, as well as curry dishes and desserts.

Preparing Saffron
It adds beautiful coloring of golden to pale yellow and give an equally beautiful taste and aroma to recipes. Saffron strands need to be soaked in a little warm water or nut/seed milk to infuse and bring out its gorgeous color. An alternative to release its aroma, flavor, and color is to grind it into a powder, and all you need to do is add the appropriate amount to your recipe – no further extraction is necessary.

Storing Saffron
If stored properly, this precious spice can have a good long shelf life. Keep it stored tightly sealed and in the refrigerator.

The Giveaway
Generally on the last day of the month our monthly herb of the month drawing takes place. The month of June had been kind of hectic and our herb of the month posted on the last day of June. So, this giveaway will run in July until Saturday, July 24th at 11:59pm PST.

If you’ve never or have always wanted to try saffron or have run out and need more, enter this drawing for a chance to receive organic saffron, courtesy of our sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs. Leave a comment below sharing tips, suggestions, ideas, your experience using saffron, or simply your desire to try it. On Sunday, July 25th, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of saffron to the lucky participant.

Are you on Twitter?
For extra entry points, copy this message below and retweet:

@RawEpicurean offers a gift-the most expensive spice in the world SAFFRON courtesy @MtnRoseHerbs Enter drawing here http://bit.ly/aHjDIB

Coriandrum sativum

Historically cilantro is among the world’s oldest spices and said to be one of the first spices to arrive in America. This fresh flavorful feathery flat leaf herb is also referred to as Chinese parsley or coriander leaves. The entire plant [leaves, stalk, seeds, even the roots] is edible and worth singing its praises but, it’s the coriander seeds that are the focus and our herb of the month.

Coriander seed is actually the dried fruit of the coriander plant. It’s used as a spice and has a refreshing, earthy-lemony scent. I like to open the jar and inhale; it smells so delicious. Coriander seed is one of the most popular of all the spices used in Indian cuisine, plus is an essential flavor covering broad culinary territory in recipes from African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern kitchens.

It is a key ingredient in Indian curry powders, curry dishes, and garam masala.
It is used as a pickling spice.
It has been prescribed as a digestive for thousands of years.
It helps relieve indigestion and nausea.
It has antibacterial properties.

The ready-ground coriander powder is a great convenience but it loses its flavor and aroma quicker than if you purchase the whole seeds. I prefer to buy the whole seeds and grind it with a mortar/pestle, or in a coffee grinder.

I like to store my spices in recycled glass jars, keeping the lid closed tight and placed in the cabinet. Glass jars will keep your spices fresh and help retain flavor and aroma for many more months when properly stored, up to a year or two. To preserves the flavor, aroma, and color or coriander seed, store in a cool, dry and dark place.

Leaving a comment below enters you into the drawing. Share your tips, suggestions, ideas, experience using coriander, or your desire to learn more and try it.

At the end of this month, one name will be drawn from the comment section of this post. Our sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift coriander to the winning participant.

Related Posts
Previous Herb of the Month Giveaways

This months herb of the month is on red clover, a pretty pinkish/purplish flower with narrow petals. It’s one of the many species of the clover family and is considered to be one of the richest sources of isoflavones and it offers many valuable nutrients:

The young fresh leaves and new flowers of red clover are both edible – add them to salads and soups. Also, the sprouted seeds add a robust flavor and crisp texture to salads, sandwiches, and other recipes.

These pretty blossoms, either fresh or dried, makes a delicate sweet and medicinal tea. It is alterative, antiscrofulous, antispasmodic, aperient, detergent, diuretic, estrogenic, expectorant, sedative and tonic – used medicinally to treat a wide variety of conditions, many of them having to do with reproductive functions, and menopause. It’s also known to be a good tonic for colds, purify the blood, and studies suggest it’s an anti-cancer agent.

Red clover is an easily grown no fuss plant from seed. You can even grow it from root cuttings. This plant blooms from April thought out the summer months. Consider growing it in your yard, you can find red clover seed online at Mountain Rose Herbs, or you can enter the drawing for red clover below.

Leaving a comment enters you into the drawing. Share any tips, suggestions, ideas, your experience using red clover, or your desire to learn more and try it. At the end of this month, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and our sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift red clover to the winning participant.

Happy Herb of the Month anniversary Mountain Rose Herbs!
It’s been a year a great fun and learning. Much appreciation and many thanks to everyone at Mountain Rose Herbs for your sponsorship and support, and to Raw Epicurean readers for your interest, participation, and support. We look forward to many more herb of the month posts and giveaway and we hope to inspire you to use herbs and spices in more and more recipes.

xoxo,
Ingrid

ROSE [Rosa]

One of the world’s most beautiful and fragrant flowers, the rose, symbolizes beauty, love, passion, warmth of personality, and compassion. It is a flower one give as a token of their sentiment but you can also use a light kiss of rose to infuse its floral flavor in recipes.

Rose has been used extensively in Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines and its use in cooking dates back centuries, and it has been adopted by fine pastry chefs and chocolatiers as well for quite some time used to enhance the taste of foods and beverages. I always have culinary rose on hand, especially rose water, to flavor and adorn foods.

Edible Rose

It is a natural source of vitamin C, tannins, pectins, and carotene (carotenoids), that helps boost the immune system to prevent illness.

A cup of rose tea can offers a helpful and healthy does of natural medicine. Here’s a list of its benefits [Source :: Health Mad]

Because of the medicinal properties of rose, it is widely used in Ayurveda medicine. One cup of fresh rose hips has the equivalent amount of vitamin C in 60 oranges. Rose tea (tea made with rose petals and hips) is not a new idea. Here are 10 extraordinary health benefits of rose tea.

Why roses are considered an ideal gift to express love? There is an interesting reason for this. Roses soothe heart and emotions. They also balance the mind.

The reasons for the diuretic effects of the roses are they contain Vitamin C, pectin, malic and citric acids.

1. It clears toxins and heat from the body. As a result it has a cooling effect on the body.

2. It can relieve from sore throat, runny nose and blocked bronchial tubes

3. It is useful to people those prone to chest problems by fighting against infections

4. Rose tea helps to fight the infection in the digestive tract and re-establish the normal bacterial population of the intestines

5. It relieves fluid retention and hastens the elimination of wastes through kidneys

6. It is a wonderful remedy for dysentery, diarrhea and gastro enteritis

7. It is a laxative. It works as a remedy for all liver problems including sluggishness and constipation.

8. It cleanses the liver and gall bladder and promotes bile flow

9. Rose petal tea can be used to relieve uterine congestion causing pain and heavy periods. It is an excellent remedy for irregular periods and infertility.

10. It has an uplifting effect on the nervous system and can relieve insomnia, depression and fatigue.

Before using rose petals, be certain they are suitable to put in your recipes. There are many reputable sources that carry certified organic rose petal for culinary use. Where ever you purchase your edible rose products look for certified organic products that are grown, harvested and processed without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, GMO’s, synthetic chemicals, growth agents, and free from irradiation and chemical sterilization. That said you can readily find rose products a specialty shops, gourmet markets and online.

The petals look make a beautiful presentation when used to adorn a dish.

A fragrant water made from distilled water and rose petals used to add an exotic taste to drink, smoothie, and other recipes. Be sure to use a light hand otherwise it can overpower your recipe. Online you can purchase rose water at Dayna’s Market.

Rose is wonderful in sweet dishes. Here is one my recipes Raspberry Tarts.

Leaving a comment, or answering one or both of the questions below enters you in the drawing.

At the end of this month, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post. Our sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of rose products to the winning participant. Also, I will draw from the comments and send a bottle of rose water to one participant.

Best of luck, Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

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Dill [Anethum graveolens]

If these first days of this new year are any indication of the year ahead, then it truly does seem like it’s going to be a happy new year. The California weather has been warmer than usual for this time of year, dare I say it’s somewhat Spring-like. The other day it was nearly 80 degrees in Los Angeles.

This incredible weather got me thinking about planning a container garden, so I picked up one of the herb catalogues I recently received in the mail and started flipping through it. Talk about inspiration. I want to plant lots and lots of herbs. There can never be too many herbs in a garden, I say. [... my rationale, my excuse for buying all the herb seeds I can.]

The front of the catalogue advertises dill as the herb of the year. Every year since 1995 The International Herb Association features one herb as the herb of the year. This year it’s the green and feathery leaves of dill that won the honors. It is certain I’ll plant dill in one of my potted containers. Since it’s this year’s herb of the year, I thought it was fitting to feature dill as our herb of the month.

I flip to the page in the catalogue to read what I can learn about dill, also known as dill weed, and what do I see but a list of different dill varieties, like:

Bouquet dill
Delikat dill
Dukat dill
Fernleaf dill
Green Sleeves dill
Hercules dill
Mammoth dill
Monia Dill
Tetra Leaf Dill

Who knew [I sure didn't] that dill had multiple varieties. I wonder if you can easily distinguish the difference from one variety to another? Every time I’ve seen fresh dill it has always looked the same to me, no variance in shape or color, it just looks like dill.

Some Facts About Dill

~ It’s name comes from the old Norse word “dilla” which means “to lull”. This name reflects dill’s traditional uses as both a carminative stomach soother and an insomnia reliever.

~ It is scientifically known as Anethum graveolens and is part of the Umbelliferae family, whose other members include parsley, cumin and bay.

~ Dill is a noted herb in the cuisines of Scandinavia, Central Europe, North Africa and the Russian Federation.

Whether you use fresh or dried, you want to keep it as fresh as possible. I like to store fresh dill as I would flowers, I place the stems in a container of water. Dried dill I store in an airtight container and keep it in a cool, dry cabinet.

Dill To Giveaway

At the end of this month, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post. Our sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of dill products to the winning participant.

I like using both fresh and dried dill in recipes. Chopped dill leaves go well with cabbage, carrots, tomato, and of course beets, and cucumbers. It combines great with cilantro, parsley, and cumin. Make a great salad dressings with it, a creamy sauce, or sprinkle generous amounts of it over a salad.

What are some of your favorite ways to use dill in a recipe? I have a several recipes with dill as an ingredient and I’ll share one of them in the next post.

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Pimenta dioica

I love the scents and flavors of the holidays. Fresh pine from a Christmas trees and burning wood from a fireplace are warm, cozy, and welcoming scents, and allspice is one of the seasonings that we use to flavor holiday recipes.

Allspice is a spice native to the West Indies and Central American regions. You may have heard allspice referred to as Jamaican allspice. It’s used to flavor Jamaican and West Indies cuisine, it’s like their pepper. You’ll also find that allspice is used to season Eastern Mediterranean, Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and North American cuisine. This spice is at home in the kitchen as is salt and pepper. It can be considered an all-purpose spice. In fact, it resembles a large peppercorn.

I’ve seen those gorgeous allspice berries up close right on the tree when I visited Jamaica. In the summer these tropical Pimenta dioica trees are covered with clusters of small white blossoms and the air is filled with its spicy perfume. All parts of the tree is scented – the bark, leaves, flowers, and berries.

As for taste, allspice mimics an combination of other spices. Some say it reminds them of a mix of cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg; others claim it has a touch of black pepper, and others say it has a hint of ginger. I’ve taken a handful of allspice berries and my nose tells me it has a multi-scent mixture of clove, nutmeg, and black pepper. Maybe a very subtle hint of ginger but I don’t get the cinnamon scent at all. With all the various notes, it’s no wonder how allspice gets its name, and because it smells like a combination of spices, allspice has been misunderstood to be a combination of spices. I’ll be honest, at one point in time I believed allspice was a combination of a mixture spices. I know better know.

I’m definitely giving allspice more play time in recipes. It goes well with apples, apple sauce, beets, cabbage, nuts, onions, pineapple, spinach, salsa, sauces, tomatoes, root vegetables, and winter squash. It’s compatible with herbs and spices like cinnamon, cloves, coriander, curry powder, garlic, ginger, mace, mustard, nutmeg, peppercorn [esp. black], rosemary, and thyme. If you need a substitute for cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and nutmeg, allspice is a good replacement.

Allspice is used like pepper in some cases and one of its flavor notes is like pepper, so I’ve made my own special blend of peppery allspice mixing equal amounts of allspice, black, white, and green peppercorns. I put my peppery allspice mixture in a grinder called The Everything Mill by Kyocera. This works out great and I’m able to incorporate more allspice flavor easy and effortlessly.

How often do you use allspice in recipes?

At the end of this month a name will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and our wonderful sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of Allspice to the winning participant.

Thank you, good luck, and have fun spicing things up with allspice.

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Peppercorn is one of the most popular of spices. It is universal in appeal; a must have staple in any kitchen. When pepper runs low in our house I don’t know who gets to the store quicker, me or my husband, neither one of us can image eating without it. A pinch or more adds hot taste without the “heat”. We use pepper in every type of recipe imaginable.

Varieties

Black, green, red, and white peppercorn are all from the same flowering vine plant, Piper Nigrum. Green peppercorn is unripe black peppercorn. Red peppercorn are fully ripened berries. White peppercorn is actually the inner kernel of the ripened black peppercorn [the outer haul is removed to reveal the inner kernel].

I had no idea [until now] that pink peppercorn comes from a different plant and isn’t even peppercorns! They are the dried berries from a rose plant called Baies.

Talk about interesting, I hadn’t heard of Long pepper until I stumbled across this rare find while perusing Mountain Rose Herbs site. Long pepper also comes from a flowering vine plant that is a close relative of black, green, and white pepper.

Saving what is considered two of the finest peppers in the world for last, Black Tellicherry and Black Malabar peppercorn both are larger peppercorn in size that have a robust and less pungent flavor than other black peppercorn.

Taste, Aroma, and Pepper in Recipes

Pepper has a hot taste with out the “heat” and is considered a warming spice. The flavor of each type varies, and of them all, black peppercorn has the most sharp, pungent aroma and flavor, followed by the less pungent Tellicherry and Malabar. Green and red peppercorn is milder in flavor, and white peppercorn gives a gentle punch. Pink peppercorn, or should I say pepper berry, has a delicate, pungent, sweet and spicy flavor. According to Mountain Rose Herbs, long pepper has a taste very similar to regular black pepper but with a much hotter taste and an almost earthy, sweet overtone.

For an inconspicuous monotone look, consider color coordinating the peppercorn to the color and hue of a dish or recipe. You might use white peppercorn in light-colored dishes or soups, for example. But you don’t have to conceal the fact that pepper is there, you can use pepper to play off the color of a dish too. Pepper isn’t limited to savory dishes either. Have you ever tried fresh cracked pepper with strawberries? It’s really nice. Pepper adds a delicate warm spiciness to fruit dishes and desserts. Pink pepper berries go especially well in fruit sauces and desserts.

Freshly Cracked or Ground

I usually buy whole organic peppercorn. I prefer to buy whole instead of pre-ground pepper because for my taste, there’s nothing like freshly cracked or ground pepper. Whole peppercorn has a longer shelf life and will keep its flavor far longer than pre-ground pepper when stored properly. Whether you buy ground or whole, be sure to store your pepper in a cool, dry place.

Freshly cracked or ground pepper is the best and there are a few ways to get the job done: 1) use the side of a wide chef’s knife, 2) use a spice and pepper grinder, or 3) use a mortar and pestle. It is convenient to buy ground pepper, and that is your choice, there is certainly nothing wrong with doing so. One other great thing about grinding whole peppercorn is that you can grind it to the consistency you need.

Tip: finely ground pepper powder dissolves easily and seasons food more evenly than coarser pepper grains.

The Giveaway

At the end of this month, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and our wonderful sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift assortment of peppercorn products to the winning participant. Thank you, good luck, and have fun experimenting with the variety of peppercorn!

Theobroma cacao

Raw unprocessed cacao is pure bliss and chocolate perfection. It’s a super food, it’s delicious, and you don’t have to feel guilty about eating it, not one bit, because it is good for you.

When I mention cacao to those who aren’t familiar with it, I often hear “What is Cacao?” or “You mean Cocoa?”. Did you know that the word cocoa is a British term? It is said that the British found it difficult to pronounce the word cacao, so they turned it around phonetically to suit their language. So what is cacao?

What Is Cacao?

Plain and simple, it’s pure natural raw chocolate. It is the fruit that grows from an evergreen herb tree native to Mexico and was so valuable the Aztecs used it as their currency.

The fruit of the cacao tree, referred to as the fruit of the Gods, is also known as the cacao pod. Within the pod is where you will find the seeds which are referred to as cacao beans, and from this bean comes cacao nibs [which are crushed whole beans with the husks removed]. Cacao powder is the ground nibs, and cacao butter is the fat extracted from the seeds [which contains up to 40 percent fat] of the cacao pod.

From bitter to sweet

Cacao is dark chocolate that is naturally bitter in taste. The whole bean or nibs can be eaten as is, if you like bitter chocolate. For those of us who prefer our chocolate less bitter adding agave or xylitol, for example, makes it a whole lot sweeter.

Nutritional Profile + Benefits of a Superfood

Cacao is a very potent little bean full of nutritional compounds to keep you healthy and happy. It is one of the richest sources of anti-oxidants, jam packed with minerals, like iron, magnesium, and zinc. Cacao butter is wonderful. It provides essential fatty acids and is a good fat that won’t raise cholesterol levels like other fats.

On the happiness scale, cacao contains mood-elevating serotonin, which helps put our brain in an active state of happy bliss. If you haven’t tried raw chocolate, you are in for a real treat.

Purchase + Storing

As with all other food purchases, look for the highest in quality cacao you can find, like certified organic, wild-crafted and fair trade certified, that is unroasted and unsweetened.

Store cacao nibs, powder, and butter in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight. It also stores well refrigerated.

Suggested Uses

Use cacao to make truffles, tortes, chocolate dipped fruits, cookies, cakes, brownies, drizzle on to of raw ice cream, and desserts of all kinds. Add it to your favorite smoothies, make chocolate drinks of all sorts, and sprinkle it on drinks or your favorite recipe.

The Giveaway

At the end of this month, one of your names will be drawn from the comment section of this post, and our wonderful sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs will send a gift of cacao products to the winning participant. Thank you, good luck, and have fun experimenting with the flavor of cacao!

This recipe is a simple way to make a yummy silky smooth chocolate sauce, perfect as chocolate fondue, or drizzles over raw ice cream or fresh fruit.

Chocolate Sauce

Make this sauce ahead; keep refrigerated up to two weeks.

Blend all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.

Makes 3/4 cups

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