Refreshing spice know-how and herbology

Often a few leaves or a small pinch of the right ingredient is all it takes to give your dish a refreshing twist. All year round. Used correctly, you can enhance any dish that needs to have a certain amount of freshness.

These tips are dedicated to the following spices:

• Basil
• Dill
• Aniseed
• Coriander leaves
• Lemon grass
• Fennel
• Cardamom
• Mint

There are many ways to enhance your food with refreshing accents. Depending on the recipe, adding acid, ideally in the form of lemon juice or vinegar, fresh vegetables or cooling dips are good options. However, the right herbs and spices have the most convincing effect, creating a bright fruitiness on the plate.

• Basil is a versatile herb that can be used fresh or dried in soups, pasta and salads. It goes particularly well with tomatoes, as it actually enhances their own flavour.
• With fresh basil, you should cut the leaves off the plant and tear them with your hands so that the essential oils can develop best.
• Remember: Add fresh basil leaves towards the end of cooking, otherwise the aromas will be lost. This does not apply to dried basil, which develops its strength more slowly during cooking.

Like coriander, dill is a spice with a very characteristic flavour. It goes wonderfully with seafood and fish dishes, complex sauces and marinades.
If you sprinkle fresh, chopped dill over your dishes, you give them a slightly tangy note reminiscent of Scandinavian cuisine. Again, add dill, whether dried or fresh, only at the end of your dish.

KOTÁNYI TIP: For making aromatic dill vinegar at home, put dill tips in a bottle and pour wine vinegar over them. After about two weeks, the drained vinegar enhances salads of all kinds.

Aniseed lingers long on the palate and provides a spicy, fruity fragrance. Indispensable in bakeries – whether for bread or for biscuits and cakes – aniseed also cuts a fine figure in soups, vegetable and meat dishes.
Be careful with aniseed: its flavour dominates a dish very quickly, so start out with a small amount.

KOTÁNYI TIP: For the very best aniseed effect, roast the fruits without oil before using them and then grind them!

Fennel adds a subtle hint of aniseed to your dishes. The fresh bulb is a popular vegetable, leaves can be used as a herb like dill and the seeds are a popular bread seasoning and add a fresh, tangy flavour to all savoury dishes.
The fennel aroma goes perfectly with aniseed, caraway, coriander and garlic.
To intensify their flavour, you should roast the fennel seeds whole for a short time without oil.

KOTÁNYI TIP: For healthy fennel tea, crush a tablespoon of fennel seeds with a mortar and steep them in hot water in a tea strainer for roughly seven minutes.

Cardamom is deeply rooted in Indian cuisine. Here it is prized for its lemony, spicy, mildly pungent flavour. It enhances curries, lentil and rice dishes, vegetables and meat dishes, but also desserts.
The most intense flavour comes from whole cardamom pods, which should be lightly crushed and then added during your cooking process.
If you want to boost your creation with cardamom, you should peel the capsules first (do not eat the shells) or crush them with a mortar.

KOTÁNYI TIP: Simply add crushed cardamom capsules to your morning coffee and look forward to a taste explosion!

 

Mint is probably the most classic refreshment – it is fundamental in drinks and desserts, in fresh as well as in dried state. It has an intense menthol fragrance and adds an oriental note to savoury dishes.
Spearmint is found in many sweets and radiates a cooling freshness. In England and in Middle Eastern countries, it is part of many dishes, and it also works well in our domestic cuisine.
Unlike most refreshing spices, you can cook dried mint for a long time so that its flavour can flourish.