Seasonings & Spice Blends

🇭🇺Hungary

Poppy Seed

Mák

Poppy seed is an ingredient used in Hungarian desserts and usually ground before it is mixed into a filling.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Potash

Potasse

Alkaline salt extracted from plant ash; used to tenderize tough cuts, reduce gas in beans, and as a key ingredient in sauces and bean dishes; the traditional Burkinabè seasoning.

🇵🇷Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican Adobo

Adobo

A dry rub of garlic powder, oregano, black pepper, turmeric and salt, or its wet version loosened with vinegar and olive oil, worked into meat before cooking.

🇩🇿Algeria

Ras el Hanout

رأس الحانوت

A Moroccan spice blend whose shop-specific mix may include cumin, ginger, pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric.

🇧🇿Belize

Recado Rojo

Recado

Annatto seed ground with oregano, cumin, garlic and vinegar into a hard brick-red paste, dissolved into almost every stew in the country.

🇵🇷Puerto Rico

Recaíto

Recao

Culantro, cilantro, ají dulce peppers, onion and garlic blitzed raw into a green paste — the base every stew on the island starts from.

🇷🇪Reunion

Reunionese Massale

Masalé

The local version of garam masala; a spice blend used in Reunionese cooking; the foundation of massalé dishes; a key ingredient in cari and massalé; a TasteAtlas-listed must-try; the masalé that is the soul of Reunionese cuisine.

🇱🇰Sri Lanka

Roasted Curry Powder

තුනපහ

Coriander, cumin, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom and curry leaf roasted dark and ground, the base of the island's black curries.

🇦🇪Kashan, United Arab Emirates

Rose Water

گلاب

Rose water distilled in Kashan each May from Damask roses, used in sweets, tea, stews and rice.

🇾🇪Yemen

Sahawiq

Green chillies, coriander, garlic and tomato pounded in a stone mortar into a raw, fiery relish that goes on and into everything.

🇵🇪Cusco, Peru

Sal de Maras

Pink mineral salt harvested from the terraced salt pools of Maras near Cusco.

🇪🇨Costa (Coastal Ecuador), Ecuador

Salprieta

Salprieta is a Manabí dry seasoning of ground roasted maize or peanuts, achiote, cumin and salt, sprinkled over plantain and seafood.

🇰🇷South Korea

Salted Pollock Roe

명란젓

Pollock roe salted and fermented, with a firm texture and bright orange color, eaten as banchan or used as a seasoning.

🇲🇩Moldova

Sauerkraut Brine

Zeamă de curechi

The sour brine drawn off barrelled cabbage, drunk cold by the glass in winter and used to sour soups and cure hangovers.

🇵🇷Puerto Rico

Sazon

Sazón

A Puerto Rican seasoning blend of annatto, garlic, cumin, and other spices, used to color and flavor rice and meats.

🇩🇴Dominican Republic

Sazón Dominicano

A Dominican seasoning blend of garlic, oregano, cubanelle peppers, cilantro, sour orange, and bouillon. Used in stews, rice, and meats, the signature flavor profile.

🇮🇩Indonesia

Serundeng

Serundeng, coconut toasted with spices until dry and sprinkled over rice and meat, is a named Indonesian accompaniment bought by the packet.

🇸🇴Somalia

Somali Spice Blend

Xawaash

The foundational Somali spice blend; a heady combination of cumin seeds, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cinnamon bark, cardamom pods, cloves, and turmeric; the word literally translates as 'spices' in Somali; used in bariis iskukaris, suqaar, and almost every savory dish; the seasoning that defines Somali cuisine; every family has its own ratio; the soul of Somali cooking.

🇧🇫Burkina Faso

Soumbala

Fermented locust bean (néré/Parkia biglobosa) seeds; pungent with a blue cheese-like flavour; the essential seasoning of Burkinabè cuisine; produced heavily in Houet province.

🇨🇮Côte d'Ivoire

Soumbara

Locust beans fermented for days into hard, black, pungent balls that are crumbled into sauces as a savoury base.

🇸🇷Suriname

Surinamese Masala

Massala

A roasted, ground blend built on coriander, cumin, fenugreek and mustard, coarser and darker than Indian curry powder.

🇬🇪Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Georgia

Svan Salt

Სვანური მარილი

Coarse salt pounded with garlic, blue fenugreek, coriander, marigold, dill seed and hot pepper, used on everything from potatoes to grilled meat.

🇮🇷Iran

Verjuice

آب غوره

Juice pressed from unripe grapes and bottled as a souring agent for stews, soups and salads — sharper and less fruity than lemon.

🇯🇵Japan

Wasabi

わさび

Pungent green rhizome grated fresh, served with sushi and sashimi; real wasabi is rare and expensive.

🇯🇵Kyushu, Japan

Yuzukoshō

柚子胡椒

Yuzukosho, the fermented paste of yuzu peel, chilli and salt, is a named Kyushu condiment bought by the jar and now used worldwide.

🇱🇧Lebanon

Za’atar

زعتر

A Levantine blend of dried thyme or oregano, sumac, toasted sesame and salt, used on flatbreads, with labneh and as a table seasoning.

🇲🇦Morocco

Zerradoun Salt

Named Moroccan rock salt collected from the Zerradoun area and used as a mineral seasoning.

🇨🇳Jiangsu, China

Zhenjiang Black Vinegar

镇江香醋

Glutinous rice vinegar fermented in open jars and aged, dark brown, faintly sweet and much softer than a Western vinegar.