Behind the Scenes

Herbie visited Pampore near Srinagar in Kashmir to see the first saffron flowers bloom in 2015 The famous Kashmiri Saffron is grown over many hectares in Pampore, not far from Srinagar in Kashmir. Click here to watch a video of Herbie's Experience Learn more about saffron and how to distinguish the real from the fake here.

You may wonder why various spices, especially the Australian natives, are often in short supply or simply unavailable. The answer is simply climate change. Spices are agricultural commodities, and as such are affected by a number of factors. These include: The soil and climatic conditions where they are grown The expertise and experience of the growers The harvesting, post-harvest handling, cleaning and grading The

You have visited our website because you are either an existing customer, or you are looking for a particular spice of exceptional quality. At Herbie’s Spices we have always taken pride in consistently keeping to our core strategic values that we inculcated when we opened our retail store in Rozelle on the 7th of July 1997. Those values are: To have the largest range

Although exotically named, this wild harvested member of the cardamom family has enjoyed renewed awareness as followers of West African cuisine, and boutique gin producers, discover its true potential.   The economy of Sierra Leone, a major exporter of Grains of Paradise, was devastated during the last ebola epidemic. Therefore we were pleased to hear from our supplier who advised us: "We also out here are

There are two spices commonly referred to as cinnamon. As many spice companies prefer not to name them correctly, confusion continues to prevail about what type of cinnamon consumers are actually purchasing. In this blog post we demystify the facts on cinnamon, so you can readily identify which one you have. May we start by saying these are both excellent spices when used appropriately,

ALSO KNOWN AS DAGARFUL, IT IS THE MOST UNUSUAL FLAVOUR CONTRIBUTOR WE’VE SEEN IN YEARS! What would you think if we told you we’d come across a lichen traditionally used in the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu in South India, and that we simply love it? What we are referring to is the lichen known as Dagar Phool, or Dagarful (Parmotrema perlatum) which has an

Why are we calling these ‘Makrut” Lime Leaves these days? “What’s in a name?” For many years this tree has been called a kaffir lime tree, as the fruits are rough and seen as inferior. Kaffir was a term used to denote inferior persons in the former South Africa and other nations involved in the slave trade. In some Asian countries the term means “non-believer”. This word

Have you ever been confused by the variation between brands of cinnamon? When many consumers buy products labelled as cinnamon, they often seem to vary greatly. Why is this so?  The answer is that there are two different types of cinnamon, and many brands do not label them correctly. One is Sri Lankan or Ceylon Cinnamon and the other is Cassia (also known as Baker’s Cinnamon, Dutch Cinnamon or

Cardamom is featured in many recipes, however are you using the right one? Cardamom Green Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) is the most common and we refer to it as your ‘default’ cardamom when a recipe simply calls for ‘cardamom’. Green cardamom is native to the mountain ranges of the south western Indian state of Kerala, known as the western ghats, (ghat being the name given to steep

These Australian grown dried herbs have to be experienced to be believed. There is a common misconception that dried herbs are inferior to fresh. The reality is that dried herbs are different to fresh. When a herb is dried correctly, the moisture content is greatly reduced, and the volatile oils that give these herbs their flavours are concentrated, and remain stable when exposed to

Herbie visits Kashmir to see the 2015 flowering and explains a little about the world’s most expensive spice, Kashmir Saffron. The Truth About Saffron

In 2010 Herbie & Liz visited the Hungarian Paprika Festival, a feast for the senses.

Herbie’s Saturday Curry is an easy way to get into the joys of curry making. In this video, Herbie shows the basic steps that can be used for a wide range of beef and lamb curries. Curry Powder Medium Madras Curry Mix with Whole Seeds & Spices Sri Lankan Curry