Behind the Scenes

What is Single Origin? We see it emblazoned on tea, coffee, spices and other foodstuffs.  It’s pretty simple really.  If all your potatoes have been grown in the Hunter Valley, they are single origin from that region – they don’t all have to come from the same farm. If, say, a coffee blender buys beans from Africa and South America, and mixes them all

Making your own bespoke gin can be fun and satisfying if you have the right botanicals. Herbie’s Spices Ginspiration Spice Kit, combined with a vodka of your choosing, is a great way to commence your gin journey. Juniper Berries are the main ingredient that must be used to call a product Gin. However there are a number of other botanicals, which when used in

Curry What do you think of when you hear the word Curry?  Does the image of a big pot of a protein swimming in lots of delicious rich gravy, served with rice and pappadams, come to your mind?  When a curry powder is made, it is basically a spice mix, just as Baharat, Chermoula and barbecue blends are spice mixes.  Don’t let yourself be

A modern trend in agriculture is to focus on broad-acre cropping to achieve greater efficiencies. One may be surprised to learn that many spices are still grown on small family-owned holdings, where more than one crop is cultivated. There is a simple logic to this method, one that has served Indian spice farmers for centuries, and has a few key reasons for being sustained.

We receive many questions about the world of spices, and in particular what makes a truly wonderful spice blend. The following article answers those questions, and we hope provides much more useful information. Spice Essentials In spices, we are fortunate enough to have a hobby that is also our passion, our business, and our livelihood … and it’s something that other people also find

There's More to Cloves than Christmas When studding the Christmas ham with cloves last year, in preparation for coating with our special glaze, we thought people may be interested to know some facts about this wonderful spice. Following is an extract from Spice Notes & Recipes by Ian Hemphill with recipes by Kate Hemphill. Although this edition is out of print it has been replaced by The Spice

Yes! Cassia is a variety of cinnamon as previously explained in our “Cinnamon Facts” Blog. Chinese cassia, Batavia or Indonesian cassia, and Saigon or Vietnamese cassia are harvested in a different manner from Sri Lankan cinnamon. Various cassia botanical names are (Cinnamomum cassia, C. burmannii, C. lourerii and C. tamala) and many years ago was called Saigon Cinnamon in the USA, and  Dutch Cinnamon, Baker’s Cinnamon, Bastard Cinnamon and

The Hemphill family has been a key driving force in communicating the wonders of culinary herbs and spices for over 60 years. This is a history telling how it all began, and what the second and third generations are doing to maintain a deeply held family tradition. John and Rosemary Hemphill owned a plant nursery called Somerset Nursery west of Sydney in the mid

WHAT IS ACHIOTE? Achiote is another name for annatto seeds, (Bixa orellana) and achiote paste is the Mexican condiment that gets its main flavour from annatto seeds. So what are annatto seeds? Annatto seeds are collected from a relatively small tropical evergreen tree that grows 5–10 m high. The leaves are heart-shaped, glossy and provide an attractive background to the large bright pink flowers, which have the

Turmeric is receiving worldwide interest, due to the many health-giving properties being debated by scientists, and natural health practitioners. Whatever you believe about turmeric (and a Google search will give you lots of pros and cons), we believe it is a wonderful spice, and one that can be enjoyed culinarily in many different ways. We are not health practitioners, as our expertise relates only

Herbie and Liz visited their USA distributor Williamson Wines, and together with owners Dawn and Bill Williamson, and their winery Executive Chef Tommy, himself a CIA Alumni. they recently addressed the Culinary Institute of America on the effective use of spices and how spice blends work with wines. Here are videos of Herbie’s answers to questions from that session. What does the “Best Before Date” on

For many years Herbie has been frustrated with the inability to source a really good Vanilla Bean Paste. Why is this so? Most vanilla bean pastes are made up of: spent vanilla (that’s the organic material left over after the process of making vanilla extract) sugar syrup various thickeners vanilla extract in alcohol added back in for flavour. These products contain a very small

Want to learn more about spices, their history and how to use them? View Upcoming Events on our website to see where Ian ‘Herbie’ Hemphill is giving a Spice Appreciation Class or engaging audiences in Spice Conversations. If you are looking for a hands-on experience, this special Spice Essentials with Ian and Kate at The Essential Ingredient should not be missed. Some of the aspects Ian will cover in