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Speculaas Spice: Do-it-yourself instructions

You don’t have to buy speculaas spice in the store: you can easily mix it yourself at home. Here you can find out what ingredients you need and how to do it.

Speculaas Spice: You need these ingredients

Christmas time is speculation time! What makes the crispy brown biscuits so popular is their unmistakably spicy note. A special spice mixture is responsible for this taste, which you can not only use for speculoos: speculoos spice is just as good for refining Christmas dessert creams, cakes, tarts or hot chocolate.

You can find ready-made speculaas in most supermarkets. But you can also mix it yourself: You probably have most of the spices you need at home. Tip: To save yourself more effort, it is best to use spice powder when mixing. Of course, you can also grind or grate ingredients such as pepper or nutmeg yourself.

For homemade speculoos spice you need the following ingredients:

7 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cloves
0.5 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp white pepper
Buy the spices for the recipe in organic quality and it is best to pay attention to a fair trade seal. This way you can be sure that your spices are free of chemical pesticides and have been fairly traded. If you’re not sure where to find what you’re looking for – this way: Buy organic spices: the most important brands and online shops.

Tip: You can easily modify the speculoos spice to suit your taste. For example, if you don’t like ginger, you can just leave it out. You can add some anise instead.

Making speculoos spice: Here’s how

Making speculaas spice is easy: once you have all the powdered spices you need, it will only take you a minute.

Put the spices in a small bowl and mix them together thoroughly.
Then pour the speculoos spice into a container with a lid – for example a screw-top jar. Close the lid and then shake the jar vigorously again. So the ingredients are definitely well mixed.
If necessary, you can add a sticker to the glass. This way you will know immediately which spice is in it in the future.
If you don’t have some ingredients in powder form at hand, but for example a whole nutmeg or coarse peppercorns, the preparation will take a little longer: You then have to pulverize these spices before you mix them with the speculoos spice. If you have a good food processor, you can let it do this step. Otherwise, you can easily grate the nutmeg with a kitchen grater. You can grind the peppercorns in a pepper mill or in a mortar.

Tip: You can also easily powder ginger yourself. To do this, leave a piece of ginger in a warm place until all the moisture has evaporated. Then you can crush the ginger in a food processor or in a mortar and use it in the speculoos spice.

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Food

Mushroom Salt for Seasoning: Do-it-yourself Recipe

Mushroom salt is versatile. It goes well with warm dishes, refines salads, or seasons your bread. We’ll tell you how to make it yourself with just three ingredients.

Mushroom salt is an interesting alternative to conventional table salt. The mushrooms give the salt an earthy, nutty note. It goes particularly well with vegetable dishes or salads, and the salt also tastes good on bread and butter.

Herb salt or chili salt are already known in many kitchens. With this mushroom salt you bring variety to your dishes. It is also a great gift for family and friends.

If you buy the ingredients, then pay attention to organic quality. Organic seals such as Demeter, Naturland, or Bioland are good indicators of ecologically sustainable cultivation. Choose the products from regional trade. This saves long transport routes and thus reduces the ecological footprint of your food.

Make mushroom salt yourself

WHO recommends eating salt in moderation. Therefore, use the mushroom salt carefully and use a salt substitute if necessary. Gomasio, Japanese sesame salt, is also suitable for this.

Ingredients:

  • 60 coarse salt
  • 60 g dried mushrooms of your choice
  • 1 teaspoon of colored peppercorns

Directions:

  • Place the mushrooms, salt, and peppercorns in a mortar or high-powered blender.
  • Grind the ingredients very finely.
  • Pour the finished mushroom salt into clean screw-top jars.

Tip: Store the mushroom salt airtight and protected from moisture. Then it can be kept practically indefinitely.

The mushroom salt consists of two main ingredients: mushrooms and salt. There are many different types of salt. In this recipe, we recommend using a fairly coarse one. Simply choose your favorite varieties for the mushrooms in this recipe. Dried porcini, oyster mushrooms or chanterelles taste particularly good.

You must dry the mushrooms before preparing the mushroom salt. You can find dried mushrooms in an organic supermarket or gourmet specialty store.

You can also collect or grow your own mushrooms. You should note a few things:

Wild mushrooms are in season in autumn. Then they grow in the forest and garden.
Choose local edible mushrooms for your recipe. In this way, you avoid high CO2 emissions due to long transport routes.
If you are collecting edible mushrooms, use mushroom identification tools.
Grow mushrooms yourself to be absolutely sure it’s the right kind.
Air or oven-dry the mushrooms. Then they have a long shelf life and you can use them for the mushroom salt.

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