Herbie's Blog

Garam Masala is a very specific traditional spice blend which can complement many different Indian recipes. Read on to find out more about it.

Tamarind is one of the most popular sourcing agents in Indian and Asian cooking. Read on to learn more about how it can add value to your dishes.

With Bush Tomato, Native Pepperberry and Wattleseed in short supply due to climatic conditions, here are some ideas that could be used as a *substitute for these unique flavours. Bush Tomato (Akudjura): This spice has a caramel-like aroma and flavour with slightly bitter background notes reminiscent of baked Anzac biscuits. Mix these quantities of ground spices together, then use at about half the quantity you would

Have you all enjoyed the Olympic experience this year?  Although not great sport addicts, we took the opportunity to celebrate South America in our own way, calling upon our Tempero Baino and Chimichurri spice mixes to take us, in an armchair kind of way, to all the excitement.  We’re quite addicted to the seafood stew on the back of the Tempero Baiano pack, ringing our own changes with

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

So, the store in Rozelle has closed its doors and the sky hasn’t fallen in.  In the last few weeks of trading, we had many of our dear, long-standing and familiar customers popping in for a chat and to wish us well … all quite emotional!  However, everything went to plan and we know local customers are already very happy with the complete range

Have you tried to find the botanical name of a herb or spice lately?   The Spice & Herb Bible 3rd Edition lists over 350 botanical names of various herbs and spices. To make it easy to find these, we have created a searchable PDF that shows: Every spice and herb in the Spice & Herb Bible 3rd Edition Botanical name/s as some plants

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

We have created a special tangy spice mix to be used as a tasty low sodium option In response to customers telling us that many so-called herb and vegetable salts still contained added salt, and were not suitable for anyone on a salt-free diet, we got to work making a spice blend that would have no added salt, yet be tangy and satisfying. As

For the savvy cook and top flight chef – there has been one only place in Australia to source the best, freshest – and even the most unusual herbs and spices.  And that is Herbie’s Spices run by global herb and spice guru Ian “Herbie” Hemphill and his wife Liz. For the past 18.5 years this iconic red two story terrace on Sydney’s Darling Street Rozelle that

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

You know that our mission is always to bring you the very best that we can.  To this end, as you know, we mix our own blends, including za’atar.  As we now offer our customers a choice of imported or top-quality Australian-grown thyme and oregano, we think it’s only right that our za’atar contains the more premium versions of these herbs.  You’ll see at a