If you’re anything like me, this pandemic has pushed me to be closer to my kitchen. Spending time at home with family has meant more home-cooked meals and in the process, I’ve had a chance to really sit and reflect on what it is that we’re consuming and how it’s being sourced. For the most part, I was really shocked to see how much of the spices that are ethnically less mainstream are not always given the same care in its preparation. That’s when I found out about Spice Tree Organics, co-founded by two Muslim mothers, Doaa and Freda.
I learned about how the spice industry is severely under regulated here in the US, and that the conventional, non-organic spices we buy everywhere are not only grown with pesticides, but also sterilized using irradiation. This combines with the pesticides to form new toxic compounds and free radicals. “It really angered and crushed us that we were going out of our way to buy all this expensive, organic, meat and produce for our families, but then ruining it with the store bought spices we were cooking with.” says Doaa. “We searched for organic alternatives to the spice blends we normally used in our everyday cooking (shawerma, za'atar, tandoori, sazon, etc) but we found they tasted inauthentic and bland. We could tell no one from those cultures had vetted or taste tested those blends, and we felt we could do it right and do it better, so we started Spice Tree Organics.”
What’s really cool about Spice Tree Organics is that they source high-quality, organic, steam-sterilized spices for their blends, but they do not add salt, nor any fillers or preservatives or anti-caking agents to their mixes. I’ve gotten nothing but pure spice when trying out their blends and they are all found in small batches. Each hand blended spice comes with an info card on why organic spices are a better choice. Because cooking with global spices may be new to some, they also offer recipes on their site and a free recipe card with each of their products.
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They’ve even introduced “street food” blends, like their best seller NYC Halal Cart, or Greek Table (gyro) and Turkish Table (kabab) blends, making it incredibly easy for anyone to recreate these comfort food dishes at home.
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