Ehlert’s Spice Guide – Spice up your meals now!

What exactly are spices?

The term ‘spices’ refers to a wide variety of flowers, fruits, buds, seeds, bark, roots, rhizomes or bulbs. These are usually already dried. So are spices and herbs the same thing? No, because herbs include not only flowers but also shoots and parts thereof. Furthermore, spices can be divided into these five sub-categories:

Spices are available as blends, mixes, salts, preparations containing flavouring ingredients, flavouring mixes, flavoured salts, seasoning pastes or sauces.

What should you look out for when buying high-quality spices?

Not every spice is automatically a good one. There are a few criteria you can use to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff:

A good spice has a high concentration of flavour- and aroma-giving ingredients. This concentration falls within specified ranges, as indicated by the manufacturer. This helps to prevent the dish from being over- or under-seasoned.

Furthermore, spices and spice blends must be free from impurities, contamination and residues. This is ensured through manufacturing practices and legislation.

Where do spices come from and how are they produced?

• Indonesia

• Sri Lanka

• Brazil

• Thailand

• Malaysia

These are just a few of the tropical and subtropical regions from which spices are exported. There, they are usually grown using traditional methods. Once imported into Germany, random checks are carried out here to assess various factors. These include

• the proportion of chemical ingredients,

• Smell,

• Flavour,

• Appearance,

• the content of essential oils,

• Moisture and

• the possible presence of bacteria.

The checks are based on the quality parameters of the German Food Code and the specifications of the European Spice Association (ESA). If the spices pass this meticulous inspection, they are processed or refined. This involves further cleaning, gentle grinding, sieving and filling into special packaging. “Why special packaging?”, you might be wondering. The reason is simple: light, oxygen and moisture cause the spices to spoil. Under certain circumstances, they can lose their flavour and thus become bland. Exposure to light causes chillies, pepper and the like to fade and become unattractive. These external factors and their potential consequences lead us straight to the next question:

How do you store spices properly?

The following applies to all spices: oxygen, light, heat and moisture are harmful to them. You should therefore store them in dark, dry, cool places away from light, or in suitable packaging. If you store pepper, nutmeg and all other spices correctly, you will prevent them from becoming hard, losing their flavour or, in extreme cases, going mouldy. Special storage conditions and ambient temperatures? In most cases, this isn’t necessary – normal room temperature is perfectly adequate for storage. It is important that, when stored correctly, the oxidation of the spices is delayed, meaning they have a longer shelf life. In some cases, refrigerating spices can further enhance their colour or flavour, but there is always a risk of them absorbing moisture. In rooms that are too warm, micro-organisms and mould can spread much more quickly.

Which spices go with what?

Hardly any food can do without seasoning. Whether it’s salad, cheese or sausage – curry, marjoram, caraway and the like give the dish its flavour. A pinch of heat, a knife-tip of sweetness and a few crumbs of fruitiness lend many dishes their characteristic taste. Below, we’ll show you some of the ways in which food and spices can be combined.

• Marjoram: Not only Blood sausage and liver sausage, as well as roast duck and goose benefit from this spice. This also means that many Ragouts, such as fish ragouts, refined. Furthermore, the sweet, woody leaves with a herbaceous, tart note, for example, are used in Potato dishes and soups, sauces, as well as pulses, dark mushrooms, stuffed tomatoes and carrots is used.

• Mustard seed: Spicy Minced sausage, mustard gherkins, mixed pickles and so on pickled vegetables, roulades, salad dressings, stews, sauces or marinades – The uses for this spice, which can be mildly nutty or bitter and pungent depending on the variety, are virtually limitless. Did you know, for example, that mustard seeds only develop their heat when they come into contact with liquids such as human saliva? This is down to the so-called mustard oils, which contain the pungent compounds. There are brown, black and white mustard seeds – the latter are used to make table mustard, whilst brown mustard is used to season Indian dishes.

• Curry: This spice, also known as curry powder, is modelled on Indian cuisine, even though it is not one of the standard spices used there. The most famous German dish seasoned with curry or curry powder is the Currywurst. Other international dishes include the British Coronation Chicken, Japanese Kare Raisu, Dutch Joppiesauce and Swiss Riz Casimir.

• Caraway: Caraway is considered to be the oldest spice in Europe. Its leaves usually have a mild flavour, comparable to that of parsley or dill. The spice is often used in Salads or soups are used. In addition, caraway roots can be used as Vegetables be cooked. Caraway seeds – or caraway fruits, as they are properly called – add a touch of flavour Cabbage dishes. In international cuisine, caraway is used in Jewish, Scandinavian and Eastern European dishes, for example in . But even the gets its distinctive flavour from caraway.

What does the term ‘spices’ mean when listed in the ingredients of food products?

Food ingredient lists often simply state the cryptic term ‘spices’. But what does that actually mean? Is there a legally binding definition? Can every manufacturer do as they please, or is there an official list?

As a general rule, there is no legally binding definition of the term. Nevertheless, food producers cannot simply do as they please; they must comply with generally accepted standards. To be more precise – the Guidelines for spices and other seasoning ingredients. It is there that these specific definitions for herbs and spices are set out.

In the list of ingredients, various herbs and spices may be grouped together under the single term ‘spices’, provided their proportion in the final product does not exceed the 2 per cent threshold. As soon as it does, the spices must be listed individually. Allergens are an exception: celery, mustard and the like must be listed even if they are present in only a small amount in the food.

Spice mixes may also contain ingredients such as yeast extract or salt. For this reason, they must be listed individually in the list of ingredients, in addition to the description ‘spice preparation’.

Guidelines for spices and other flavouring ingredients

In this guide, which you can read in full here can read about, will

• general assessment criteria, which include definitions and characteristics, as well as designations,

• specific assessment criteria for spices, as well as

• the levels of acid-insoluble ash in herbs and spices, which are generally not exceeded,

clearly defined. According to these guidelines, parts of plants which, due to their constituents, are intended to be used as ingredients in foodstuffs to impart flavour and/or aroma are referred to as spices and herbs. Spices are usually dried flowers, fruits, buds, seeds, bark, roots, rhizomes, bulbs or parts thereof. Herbs, on the other hand, can be either fresh or dried leaves, flowers, shoots or parts thereof.

What would you like?

Have we whetted your appetite for spicy food and drinks? Or is your recipe still missing that final, crucial touch? No problem: we’ve got something to suit every taste.

• Organic spices

• Spices used for decoration and as a coating, for example on natural casings

• Herbs & herb blends

• Whole spices

• Different varieties Pepper

• Barbecue and roast seasonings

• Herb and speciality seasoning mixes

• Spice blends

Whether spicy, bitter, sweet or savoury: on Ehlert GmbH & Co. KG’s virtual spice shelf, you’ll find a wide selection to spice up your dishes. Do you have any questions about our spices or would you like further information? Our team will be happy to assist you.