Essential Herbs and Spices for Springtime Cooking

With spring in the air, nature is able to rejuvenate itself and life comes into bloom once more after the cold winter months. Our meals also change from saucy, warm stews to fresh, cool salads.

Springtime is the ideal time to try new herbs and spices in your kitchen. Spring herbs and spices are fresh, tart and flavourful. In this article we’ve identified five taste profiles that you should bring into your cooking this spring - and what better way to do so than with the best spring herbs and spices from Robertsons?

Five Tastes Profiles To Try This Spring

Spring is a playful time where we emerge from the cold wintery depths with new expectations and reborn creativity. Our food should follow suit. So, here are the top tastes you can achieve using spring herbs and spices:

1. Candied Sweetness
2. Fresh and Minty
3. Rich and Robust
4. Spiced Savoury
5. Terrific Pepper

1. Candied Sweetness

Delightful, candied flavours are part and parcel of plants coming into bloom. To bring a little sweetness into your home add sweet basil whether fresh or dried, into your cuisine.

Ideally paired with tomatoey dishes, sweet basil is used in all Mediterranean cooking, making it a versatile herb to use. Try this Baby Meatball Lasagne to take your tastebuds on an Italian cruise to happiness. Yum!

Fresh And Minty

In line with the rebirth that comes with Spring everyone will be craving fresher, sharper flavours. One of these flavours is mint. Mint is peppery, aromatic and grassy which means it works a treat in salads.

Fresh mint can even be added to many drinks, for a invigorating, cooling effect on the palate. For a hot weather festive meal try mint in these Crispy Karoo Lamb Ribs with Mint Pesto. Serve with buttered baby potatoes and blow your friends and family away with your herb and spices wisdom.

Rich And Robust

There are few spring herbs and spices that can compete with the versatility of rosemary. If you are craving savoury meaty flavours, you cannot go wrong adding this rich and robust herb.

Rosemary has a distinctive aroma that drifts through the whole house and brings nostalgic images of big family lunches or dinner celebrations to mind. For a recipe that will become a firm favourite in your home try these Bacon and rosemary wrapped roast potatoes. We’re convinced that rosemary is the best spring herb to have in your pantry or garden due to its delicious smell and multiple, masterful uses!

Spiced Savoury

No spring menu would be complete without a few Asian dishes to tickle the tongue and surprise the senses. The one and only spring flavour that gives you spicy savoury notes is ginger.

Ginger is popular in Asian cuisine from Chinese wok-fried noodles to Vietnamese chicken broth. To take your tastebuds on a spicy trip to Shanghai, check out this recipe: Ginger, Chilli & Garlic Barbecue Chicken Rice Paper Rolls. These beautifully presented rice paper rolls are perfect spring finger food that leave a delectable gingery aftertaste.

Terrific Pepper

Spring is a time of waking up from a long, slow slumber and there is no taste that will surprise and awaken the senses quite like pepper. Black pepper ground over lemony chicken or on a pizza filled with mozzarella, capers and avo is a zingy, sharp sensation that can become slightly addictive!

If you want to “travel” to France this month try this recipe: Pork Chops in Creamy Black Pepper and Mushroom Sauce. The sauce combines black pepper and mushrooms for a virtual taste jouney to Paris!

Springtime Taste Refreshers

That’s it from our side; five spring flavours that you simply need to work into your menu this year. From the delicate taste of sweet basil to the deep aroma of rosemary, your taste buds will be travelling this spring. Add these herbs and spices to your list to rejuvenate your palate.