Fall is definitely in the air, not only in places where the leaves are changing color, but even in South Florida. The reds, golds and oranges of autumn are beginning to appear everywhere, whether by the hand of Mother Nature or by folks decorating for the season. Your spice cabinet should undergo a fall transformation too, and The Spice and Tea Exchange can help.
First off, you should pull out all of your spices and organize them—ones you use all the time, ones you use for special occasions and ones you never ever use. The never-use ones should go directly into the trash. If you haven’t used them by now, it’s unlikely that you ever will, and you can free up space for some exciting seasonal spices and blends.
Now, open the other spices and smell. Some of your spices will still smell very fresh, especially whole spices like star anise or allspice berries. Others will smell a bit milder than they did at first, and you can add a little more of those spices to your recipes than you did when they were fresh. These are all keepers, but the ones with very diminished smells and faded colors should definitely be replaced.
Think about the foods that autumn inspires you to cook—all of the beautiful veggies like pumpkin and squash, the fall harvest burgeoning with apples, the stick-to-your-ribs foods to warm you up like soups and stews, and the holiday recipes for Halloween and Thanksgiving. The Spice and Tea Exchange has plenty of spices and herbs to make your autumn meals pop.
Nothing evokes fall like the scent of cinnamon. Try our Vietnamese Cassia in your next apple pie and enjoy the intense flavor. Use a blend that features cinnamon, like our Autumn Harvest or Pumpkin Pie Spice, on some squash or in a savory dish. Replace the spices in your favorite muffin recipe with the Pumpkin Pie Spice and make pumpkin spice muffins, or mix the spice into cream cheese for pumpkin bagels. You can even use Pumpkin Pie Spice to make chocolate pumpkin truffles.
Make your soups and stews exciting with blends like Colonial, Mariner’s Chowder or Mushroom Paradise. Fall is the time for Mantanzas Chili, or a steaming cup of any of our hot chocolate blends to warm your insides. Try some beer powder in your favorite dip combo to celebrate Octoberfest. Mix up a few dips with our Coastal Blend or our Tailgaters Blend to serve on football Sundays.
The flavors we associate most with fall are the warm ones, and we all have fond memories of those smells coming out of the kitchens of our childhoods. As the weather cools, think about your favorite recipes and check out some new ones featuring products from The Spice and Tea Exchange. Enjoy the season!