Flavour Fields Spices it up With Lafayette Spices

As four wise women known as the Spice Girls once said, “Spice up your life!” Alright, we know it’s a little cheesy but that is exactly how we feel over here at Flavour Fields. YOLO, so why not spice it up! And, with the addition of our line of exceptional spices, salts, and peppercorns from Lafayette Spices, we can certainly spice up your dishes, drinks and believe it or not, even your desserts! You’ll have to trust us on that one. Lafayette Spices will find their flavors from all over the world and only source the ones, to be frank, that have remarkable flavor. Not, good. Not even great. They have to be remarkable. That’s what we like.

Since peppercorns can get a little tricky, we have boiled it down to four different classifications for you. They are Round, Fruity, Long and Tailed. The novice might not recognize the differences, but a trained chef like your self could easily identify the finer nuances. So without further ado, let’s dive right in!

Round Peppercorns, believe it or not, are all round shaped. Makes sense, huh? But they all vary in flavor. Our Fermented Green Peppercorns have a briny flavor and come flecked with tiny specs of salt. The fermentation process also makes it softer so this wouldn’t be a type of peppercorn that you would toss inside a grinder. Then there is the Sarawak Black Peppercorn, which is the type of peppercorn you would grind. It is vine-grown in Malaysia and of course tastes like pepper, but has musty and floral notes as well. Then there’s the Kampot Red Peppercorns from…. That’s right! You guessed it! Kampot! This variety definitely has more floral notes and we wouldn’t be surprised if you got hints of dried apricot.

Then there’s the real fruity ones which is why we call ‘em Fruity Peppercorns (are you noticing a pattern here?). We have two of them and they include the Timut Peppercorns and the Sichuan Green Peppercorn. Put your nose right up to a Timut Peppercorns and tell us you don’t get grapefruit. You can’t! Because it’s totally grapefruit! Timut Peppercorns are grown in Nepal. Our other Fruity Peppercorn is our Sichuan Green Peppercorn. And actually, it’s not technically a peppercorns but that is something done industry-wide. For example, all those pink peppercorns out there are berries too, but you don’t hear anyone complaining about them?!? We digress… Sichuan Green Peppercorns are actually related to the citrus family and this is why you get notes of lime. In true Sichuan form, you get a slight numbing quality on your mouth, which makes them excellent in Chinese cooking; and, was even used in Chinese medicine.

They’re long. They’re thin. They’re cylindrical shaped… They’re our Long Peppercorns! And that’s about the only thing they have in common because each one has a very different flavor, and different in look. The Smoked Long Peppercorn comes from Ethiopia and it inherently has a natural smoke flavor, which is amazing! It’s so subtle and soooo good. Then you have the Assam Peppercorn, which totally looks like a mini, hard blackberry. But it sure doesn’t taste like it. Assam Peppercorns have a light spiciness and you definitely get some earthy notes, but what really set it apart is the slight numbing effect it has. You don’t get it right away, but it creeps in afterward. So cool! And our Kampot Long Red Peppercorns are probably one of the spiciest peppers we got! The red color comes from the maturing process, and it is left on the vine longer than any other pepper.

At first glance, Tailed Peppercorns look like Round Peppercorns. But then, you notice that they have only a small almost wick-like tail that protrudes from their sphere. This is part of the vine it’s grown on. The two Tailed Peppercorns that we carry are the Wild Tailed Peppercorn from Madagascar, and the Cumeo Tailed Peppercorns from Nepal. Call us crazy if you want, but we would totally use the Wild Tailed Peppercorn with chocolate or strawberry due to its fruity and woody notes. What you call crazy, we call GENIUS! And, if you have a looking for something to jazz up a Lemon Tart, than you should totally try the Cumeo Tailed Peppercorn! It contains e-citral and citronella, which are what give it all that bright citrus flavor. All we have to say is, don’t knock it ‘til you try it!

Alright, and if were doing pepper, than we also gotta do salts. Here are three finishing salts that are bound to knock your sock off! These include Pyramid Salt, Crazy Salt and the Cabernet Salt. Pyramid Salt is derived from Cyprus and is harvested in large ponds that are agitated and when settled they form a natural pyramid shape. The salt itself adds a great crunch to whatever it’s finished with. The Pyramid Salt is then used as the base for both the Crazy Salt and the Cabernet Salt. We’re going to go out on a limb and say Crazy Salt is crazy good! Its blended with Paprika, Rosemary and a whole bunch of other spices. It’s fantastic as a finisher for grilled meats and vegetables. Then for all you wine-o’s, Cabernet Salt is just the salt for you. It is bright purple and comes soaked in Cabernet wine from the Bordeaux region in France. All the wine without the headache.

Besides salt and pepper, we also carry a line of Toasted Sesame Seeds. These include Wasabi, Yuzu, Tex- Mex, and Curry. The seeds are sourced from Japan. Each batch is sauced and dried on five separate occasions, which helps it attain that perfect flavor and perfect crispiness. These are all great for finishing plates but what would really knock it out of the park would be rimming a spicy Margarita or Bloody Mary with the Toasted Tex Mex Sesame Seeds. And last; but certainly not least, we have an herb mix called Herbs De Provence. It embodies all the flavor of French cuisine rolled into one perfect package.

So, to bring it back to the Spice Girls, spice up your life! And when you do, check out our line of salts, spices and herbs because there is more to life than just crushed black pepper and iodized salt. You just gotta find it!