Spicing Up Your Fall and Winter
As the crisp autumn leaves fall and the chilly winter breeze sets in, the Autumn and Winter seasons come to life with delightful flavors. One of the most remarkable ways to embrace the essence of Fall and Winter is through the use of spices. For our Chefs and home cooks alike, spices hold the key to transforming ordinary recipes into extraordinary culinary experiences. Beyond the exceptional taste they bring to our dishes, spices also offer a myriad of health benefits. This November, you’ll notice Thomas Cuisine offerings will have new spices that boast great benefits for you overall health, while offering exceptional flavor.
The Magic of Spices
This flavorful herb offers a signature flavor in poultry, wild game, lamb pork, steaks, and fish while offering potential health benefits such as improved concentration, digestion, and protection against free radicals.
Rich in Vitamin A and C, Thyme can help your skin and eyes stay healthy while boosting your immune system. Thyme also offers B-complex vitamins (B6) to encourage GABA production, a stress reliever. Also an antioxidant, Thyme is a savory source of potassium, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium and selenium.
Sage is sweet and savory, a bold choice for your favorite winter comfort foods. Its benefits include potential to improve cognitive functioning, promote hair health, control cholesterol levels, and regulate blood glucose levels.
Nutmeg is a versatile spice that can relieve pain, soothe indigestion, strengthen cognitive function, detoxify the body, boost skin health, alleviate oral conditions, reduce insomnia, increase immune system function, and improve blood circulation.
The taste of Fall wouldn’t be half as cozy without Clove, it’s warmth and sweetness makes soups, baked goods, and beverages that much better during cold days and pairs well with cinnamon. Cloves contain eugenol, which may have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. One teaspoon of Clove offers calcium, manganese, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin K.
Ginger is a beneficial addition to baked goods, teas, Eastern cuisines, and soups. Ginger offers gingerol, an oil that reduces inflammation, works as an antioxidant, and soothes indigestion, nausea, and cramping.
It’s hard to go wrong with cinnamon. The warm taste, smell, and pop of flavor is a favorite in savory and sweet recipes alike, especially during Fall and Winter months. The sweetness of cinnamon adds satisfying flavor while encouraging gut health, dental and gum health, reduced cholesterol levels, and lower blood pressure.
Activated by the piperine in black pepper, turmeric’s active ingredient curcumin offers us a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant to combat heart disease, cancer, joint pain, and various degenerative conditions. Enjoy Turmeric in a golden latte, and in your favorite South Asian or Middle Eastern cuisine.
Star anise is widely known for its antiviral effects, and medical researchers agree that this rising star has antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anthelmintic, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective, expectorant, spasmolytic, and sedative properties! We LOVE star anise for its classic spicy licorice flavor that we simply can’t do without in ciders, chai, broths, soups, stews, and a variety of world cuisines.
Great for both sweet or savory recipes, cardamom is great in curries, desserts, beverages, coffee, chai, and even some meat dishes. Cardamom offers benefits for your liver, oral health, preventing ulcers, and metabolic syndrome.
This November, we look forward to bringing you the savory spices of the season as our Chefs, Culinarians, and Dietitians develop menus that support your health through delicious Real Food made for your enjoyment.
