A Guide To Spicing Up Any Meal - No Seriously

How To Spice Up Your Food

In truth, a lot of people fail to realize just how much they're missing out on with herbs and spices. To a lot of people, when they season their food, they'll use salt, and maybe pepper if they feel like getting a little bold. And that's not to knock salt and pepper - we use both plenty in our food! But, for as good as they are, there is more to spices than that!

There are a number of different ways you can combine spices to try something completely new. Below, I'm gonna go down just a few of the many examples of great spice combinations that you should absolutely try.

Blackening Seasoning

If you're a big meat eater, you simply must try seasoning your meat with blackening seasoning. Whether you're a fan of beef, pork, poultry, or seafood, blackening seasoning has you covered. Blackening seasoning can be made using only paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, ground black pepper, dried oregano, basil, and thyme. If you want to make it a little spicier, you can also add cayenne pepper. At that point, all you need to do is mix the ingredients up thoroughly.

If you're worried about whether your blackening seasoning is going to go bad, the good news is that you don't have to. Well, for a while, anyway. Blackening seasoning should run you for a few years, so you'll at least be able to make a lot without too much potential waste.

While blackening seasoning is often used on foods that themselves are not the healthiest, blackening seasoning itself is not unhealthy. After all, it's pretty much just dry herbs, adding virtually no calories while enhancing the flavor immensely. In fact, the seasoning is recommended on health-oriented blogs like This Healthy Table. 

Curry Powder

Despite being commonly used in India as well as other Asian countries, it was made with British consumption in mind. Specifically, it was crafted to mimic the taste of Indian sauce, and it can be compared to garam masala, a blend of ground spices. Speaking of, consider trying that out as well!

Curry powder is a great way to spice things up, and it has an excellent combo of both sweet and savory tastes. Curry powder features a number of different spices, ranging from the more savory flavors of turmeric and cumin and the sweeter flavors of cinnamon and clove. It can be used in a wide variety of ways, including meat, vegetables, soups, and more.

Not only does it taste great, but there is cause to believe that there are health benefits associated with its consumption. People who use curry powder tend to show a lower rate of high blood pressure, and the turmeric in the powder may help fight colon cancer. Additionally, you could make years worth of curry powder without having to worry about it going bad, making it a great thing to have in bulk.

Everything Bagel Seasoning

Everything Bagel seasoning is an excellent mixture of salty and savory. It's a mixture of sea salt, garlic, and onion, among other things, and you can buy a pretty decently sized container of it for around $13. It's obviously a great seasoning for anyone who enjoys Everything Bagels, as it captures the flavor of those perfectly.

If you want to make your own homemade Everything Bagel seasoning, it's actually quite easy, and cheaper than buying it at the store. The recipe calls for poppy, sesame, and black sesame seeds, as well as minced dried garlic, minced dried onion, and flaked sea salt. There's no complex process involved, either - all you need to do is mix them up and season your food! Do note, however, that it will expire after roughly six months (give or take), so don't make more than you think you'll use.

There are a lot of delicious tastes that are enhanced with this seasoning. For instance, the next time you try out pita chips and hummus, try adding this to spice it up. The best part is, this seasoning enables you to add more seeds to your diet, which really helps if you're low on fiber.

Jerk Seasoning

Jerk seasoning is another great way to make your meat taste 10 times better than usual. This seasoning includes allspice, cayenne pepper, and thyme. Other ingredients commonly featured in a good jerk seasoning include brown sugar, parsley, smoked paprika, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, onion powder, garlic powder, and more.

Despite being a great fit for meats like beef, pork, seafood, and poultry, you can also make good use of it in stews and even soups. It lasts a decently long time as well; on average, it is safe to keep it for one to two years.

There are a variety of health benefits associated with the ingredients that go into jerk seasoning. For example, nutmeg can be used to aid digestion, while cinnamon can be used to manage blood sugar and cholesterol. 

Can Cannabis Be Used As An Ingredient for Seasonings?

Now, cannabis is not nearly as common an ingredient as many of the other ingredients mentioned in this article, and for good reason: cannabis seasoning is niche. This is especially true in cooking, despite cannabis' medical benefits. 

However, the growing social acceptance for cannabis means that this beloved plant is increasingly finding its way into food and drink. In addition, there is a wide variety of health benefits associated with cannabis use, and the list of benefits only grows as research on it becomes less taboo. However, that should not be taken to mean that it's not worth a try if you're willing (and a legal adult, of course).

Cannabis can be used in a variety of ways of cooking, and weed brownies are just the start of what you can do with it. Making seasonings that use cannabis is totally doable, and it can even enhance the flavors in a lot of cases. So, whether you want to enhance a blackening, Everything Bagel, jerk, or curry powder seasoning, a dash of cannabis can add an exciting twist. There are a lot of different experiments with such seasonings online, so go check some out and see what works for you and your tastebuds.

Enjoy!