International Fire

Berbere is an intriguing blend; I haven’t found anything else at once so hot and subtle. I think of Berbere as a spiced cayenne; that is, the base is chili (with a fair amount of pepper and ginger) and this is accented (or almost scented) with sweet, aromatic spices (like coriander, cardamom, and fenugreek). Like American Curry Powder or Chili Powder there is no set recipe. While, I was at Portland Spice, I had a customer who brought samples of several Berbere blends to share from a trip to...

Harissa:ReginaSpices’ interpretation of the spicy North African condiment. Native to Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco Harissa is a paste of chili, garlic, olive oil, caraway, coriander, cumin and sometimes mint and other aromatics. It is delicious! Most of us in the U.S. are familiar with its use as a tangine condiment (tangine is a North African/Moroccan stew)—but that is really too limiting, and according an NPR article in North Africa it’s used in away similar to our use of ketchup. When...

Tuscan: Three simple ingredients in PERFECT harmony! I first made a version of this Tuscan blend for Portland Spice Co. Our favorite customer couple (the giggle twins) spent some time in Florence and returned with this spicy-flavorful, AMAZING blend—I immediately copied it! It was an instant best-seller at Portland Spice. I’ve made one change to Tuscan, and it’s a major one. I switched the chili from a standard chili pepper flake to Calabrian Pepperoncini. It may not be quite as hot but it is...

I’ve been reading a lot about chili peppers recently in The Field Guide to Peppers by Dave DeWitt and Janie Lamson. One of the things I’ve found particularly interesting is how the chili came from the New World and enmeshed itself (so quickly) into cultures all around the world. And we can thank the Portuguese for that. So, with this in mind I started researching Vindaloo thinking it would be a great fit for my International Fire line; much to my surprise I learned that Vindaloo itself has...