As you've probably noticed, all our hot sauces include one or more spices in their composition. We'll tell you why!
"On the blandness of basic food, come to rest the bright flavors of spices, like so many vivid colors on a blank page." This is how Michel Tournier praised spices in one of his books, entitled Célébrations...
It's also because they conjure up images of travel and distant lands that spices fascinate us with their incredible diversity, shimmering colors and euphoric scents.
In our JAVA sauce, we've chosen to combine jalapeno pepper, celery and fennel with star anise. Native to Southeast Asia, this small 8-pointed star is picked green before being dried in the sun to obtain its dark color. Aniseed aromas are characteristic of star anise, which is also found in 5-spice blends alongside Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, fennel seeds and cloves.
MASTARI TANDAVA is the spicy sauce with the most spices, since we've combined green cardamom, turmeric and cumin: cardamom for its unique aromatic profile and great freshness on the palate, turmeric for its magnificent golden color and slightly musky fragrance, and seeded cumin (ground at the last minute) for its strong, peppery flavor.
In our POLKA hot sauce, we've sought inspiration in comforting winter preparations. Cloves and cinnamon enhance a citrus duo and balance the strength of Thai chili. The clove is dosed in a balanced way so that its surprising aromatic power doesn't overwhelm the other flavors in our preparation. As for our cinnamon, it adds a little roundness and sweetness to our clementine/orange combo.
The sweetness of mango and carrot couldn't find a better ally than ginger in our MAMBO sauce: a touch of heat and pep that brings vigor and warmth to the "background" of our composition of ingredients.
For our TANGO sauce, which features habanero pepper, blueberry and blackcurrant, we naturally turned to Tonka bean and its nuances of vanilla, caramel and almond. Originally an elongated bean from a tree, Tonka is grated and infused into our Tango sauce before bottling. In Europe, the tonka bean was first introduced by the great perfumers (Guerlain with Shalimar), before meeting with the interest of pastry chefs in the 2000s.
Finally, Sichuan pepper closes the spice dance with its perfect integration into our ALEGRIA sauces, in which it blends voluptuously with habanero and naga jolokia peppers, as well as raspberry, redcurrant and fresh mint. Its aniseed and lemon notes give it its characteristic "electric" intensity, reminding us of citrus flavors.
To find out more, we recommend :
> Le site des épices Rollinger pour l'histoire et l'origine des épices
> Le blog de Nomie Epices pour des idées recettes et utilisation des épices
> La cuisine maritime, potagère et tournée vers l'horizon d'Hugo Roellinger (vidéo)
