The Importance of Spices
Spices are the main staple in any meal and without them many things would not taste the way we are used to them tasting. Cardamom seeds are used in lozenge form after meals to help aid in digestion and vanilla is used in chai to give the tea its distinct taste as well. But many dishes such as holiday meals wouldn’t taste the way they taste without the spices that are used during the making process. Your stuffing wouldn’t taste like stuffing if you didn’t use parsley or sage, depending on what style of stuffing you are making. Your turkey needs a bit of salt and pepper one the skin when it is cooked to give it the seasoning taste it needs to be yummy.
But why are spices that important? Herbs are the main suspect behind spices. And through the experimenting process herbs have come a long way since the first one was used way back when. Growing your own herbs is a great way to experiment with many spices and discovering which ones are the ones you enjoy and can be used for any dish or recipe.
Fresh spices can be ground into powders and used on different food items, like garlic is ground to be garlic powder to make delicious French bread and parsley can be used for decoration as well as in many dishes.
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Earthly Eating Recipe
Sweet Potato Al Gratin
Serves: 4
1 tsp. saffron
8 cups plus 1 tbs. whole milk
1/2 cup ghee
2 cups sweet potatoes, finely grated
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1 cup sugar
Soak the saffron in 1 tbs. milk for 10 minutes.
One the stove, heat the ghee and sweet potatoes and stir occasionally until the potatoes are light brown and fragrant.
Pour the remaining milk over the potatoes slowly, stirring well. Add the cardamom, soaked saffron and sugar. Stir a few times and bring to a boil.
Continue stirring to keep the khi from sticking to the pot as it thickens as it boils. Boil for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Happy Eating!
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