Turmeric - does it work for me? Tasty & medicinal versions. [@NLi10]

A new(ish) café has opened on our high-street (one of two highstreets we are in the middle of!)  called Hello Café (Bearwood) and my partner noticed that on the menu they had a turmeric Late.  

I have rheumatoid arthritis and turmeric is one of the many (many) things that has been recommended over the years to help - and the amounts I'd taken in teas etc really didn't make a difference.  Chatting to the lady at the counter she said this is made with powdered turmeric so I thought I'd give it a go.

It looks very pretty in it's drink form - very yellow.  Naturally I had it with a lovely pastry which I think helped with the digestion.  Within 30 mins I had a lovely fuzzy glow which I'd not expected - kind of like I'd taken a lot of ibuprofen but without all the horrible side-effects. This was worth investigating!

In the Holland & Barrett a few doors down they had the Better You spray for Turmeric - half price at £12 as they are discontinuing it!  Probably because it has a tendency to go everywhere when you spray it - which is why there are yellow fingerprints all over this.

Spray in mouth - wait for effects!  Compared to the heap of powdered turmeric in the late this contains very little.  I suspect that the powder is a lot better value for money.

And while it is very convenient, it doesn't really have that massive effect that the first late did.  Useful though as it does make me feel a lot less fragile than I usually do which is a big bonus when you have a day that you want to be more active.

A week later I returned to Hello Café and had another Late (and one of the soft strawberry ice-creams). The effect wasn't quite as profound this time (no pastry to absorb it maybe) but it was still quite pleasing and took the edge off the day.

Naturally - if you are like me and on medications this doesn't replace them (in fact its always worth discussing with your consultant if you plan on doing this long term).  It also doesn't actually prevent the RA from doing the nasty damage that it tends to do - but it does help a lot with the inflammation.  As this is (in the right amounts) proven to be similar in effect to Ibuprofen (but without the IBS style symptoms that causes over time) I think I'll look into other ways of drinking it at home.

Walkers Sensations Streetmix - Mumbai Style (@NLi10)

Living in a pretty Asian area I'd never really considered picking up the westernised version of Mumbai Mix - there are lots of really really authentic versions in most of my local shops.

That said - when these Walkers were presented to me I had to try them.  They look the part, although they possibly have a more nutty focus than the ones we've looked at before these are probably a lot easier to get hold of for most people

So what do we get - crackers & rice sticks, and two kind of peanuts - all with their own textures and flavour and enough spice to keep you interested but not so much you'll be rushing for a drink.

I've never seen coated peanuts in the real versions, but those are the star here - just a little crunchy parcel of flavour.

Perfect for home cinema snacks as you can pick and choose your nibbles and have a lovely tea alongside the spices.

 

Montezuma’s Milk Chocolate with Chai Latte (Ocado) By @Cinabar

One of my favourite drinks, as a cinnamon fan, is a chai tea or a chai latte. I love warming spices so as winter and Christmas approaches I’m always happy to see these flavours gaining in popularity. I spotted on Ocado that Montezuma’s new bar is Milk Chocolate with Chai Latte and I popped one in my basket.
I haven’t eaten a lot of Montezuma chocolate so I was looking forward to revisiting the brand.The bar looks very smart and has a star design on the front. The chocolate is quite thick, but soft and broke easily.
I gave a block of the Montezuma’s Milk Chocolate with Chai Latte a try and immediately picked up on the quality of the base chocolate, it had a thick melt and lovely sweet creamy tones. It was well balanced and the cocoa was of an excellent quality. The spices though were a different matter. Firstly I couldn’t pick up on any cinnamon which from a personal taste was a shame, I would always go heavy on this spice. There was a lot of clove and nutmeg that did work but there was a bitter aftertaste possibly from the coriander which didn’t work with the rest of the warm flavours. What really didn’t work for me though was the texture, the spices were finely milled but I could still pick up on them like hard micro granules mixed into my chocolate, which meant it wasn’t quite smooth. Something either the texture or the spice caught in the back of my throat and almost made me cough a couple of times when I was eating this. It was so near to being good, the base chocolate had a lot of potential, but this bar wasn’t for me.

SpicEntice Yee-Hah! Chilli Con Carne (@spicentice) [By @Cinabar]

This SpicEntice kit is designed to give you all the spices to make a fab chilli con carne meal, and being something a bit special it includes mayan spiced chocolate to add to the flavour. Chocolate is often used as a seasoning in chilli con carne and when done correctly just offers a nice hint of flavour, not an excessive amount of sweetness.
Inside the sachet are neatly measured sachets of mixed spices so that you can then make the chilli from scratch. You do have to add the other ingredients, cue a tin of kidney beans, a tin of tomatoes, minced beef etc. It does give you a full shopping list on the back to make it an easier task.

The recipe was easy to follow too with it telling you when to add which of the sachets of goodies, and of course the other ingredients. IT smelt lovely when cooking, and we were easier to plate up.
The first thing to note is how different this chilli con carne tasted. It was really fragrant, and all the spices shone through, even the mayan chocolate nibs delivered a subtle cocoa background taste and a gentle hint of sweetness. I could pick up on cumin and also of lovely ingredients. The flavour was so much fuller then other chillies I’ve tried. It is quite spicy with all sorts of hints of smokiness and complex flavours. It is labelled on the website as having a medium heat but I think I'd call it more medium-hot, as it had a good kick without being too hot. We had our Yee-Hah! Chilli Con Carne with rice, nachos and sour cream dip to make the most of it, and we were all thoroughly enjoyed it. It is so much nicer than using a jar of sauce and the easy to follow recipe with prepared and measured spices means it's not much more difficult either!

By Cinabar

Spicentice are available at: http://www.spicentice.com/home.php

Holy Lama - Spice Drops [By @Cinabar]

This is a bit of a new product on the market. These new Spice Drops consist of droppers which are filled with concentrated liquid spice. The first advantage is that they take up a lot less room in the spice drawer than traditional pots, but the other key point is that they mix with liquid a lot easier. Not to mention they are easy to measure out exact portions with too. For me these new Spice Drops meant one main thing, flavoured lattes!

I am a big fan of flavoured lattes, we have a Tassimo at home and I do have a few bottles of syrups to add variety. My main problem with them is that they don't just add a bit of spice they add an extra hit of sugar too. That's okay but if truth be told I don't put sugar in my coffee, so I'm never that fused by the calories of the extra added sweetness. I’d rather just have the extra flavour, which is why these Spice Drops sounded perfect.

The drops don't add the sugar, they are just spice and they mix really easily into my hot drinks as they are already liquid. I have tried both cinnamon and cardamom in my lattes, and both are heaven. You just add a few drops and they mix in really well, and add a lovely natural none-syrupy taste. The packet advises how much to put in (the different spices do vary) but they add a lovely spicy hint to my hot drinks. I feel it is a much truer cinnamon latte than I’ve had before, with its woody warm hints making a brilliant soothing winter drink. The cardamom in coffee was a magic find. It was one of those that I wasn’t sure whether it would work or not, but again the clean spicy flavour was natural and added a lovely twist to the drink.
I also have tried the mulled wine spices, and I’m sure they would be fab being used with their intended purpose, but I still had hot drinks on my mind. I added it to hot chocolate and discovered it makes the most wonderful Christmas drink in the world! The chocolate just works so we well with all those seasonal spices. It’s my new favourite hot chocolate flavour!
And while I’m being creative I have every intention of making mulled wine flavour cupcakes using these drops as a seasonal treat too!

Holy Lama Spice Drops are available at: http://www.holylama.co.uk/

By Cinabar

Ceylon Cinnamon (@cinnamon_hill) [By @Cinabar]

I’ve talked a lot on this blog about my love of cinnamon. And it’s true, it is by far my favourite spice, I love the way it makes my taste buds tingle. Recently the nice folks at Cinnamon Hill got in touch with a simple email stating that if I tried their cinnamon I would never again buy my regular brand. That’s quite a statement, so I took them up on their nice offer of a sample.
I have to be honest though, even with my love for the great spice I have never thought much about the brand, or even that cinnamon from different areas may taste different. Cinnamon is just cinnamon isn’t it?
Well apparently not. I made myself some toast, and spread it with a little of my dad’s fabulous honey (benefit of a beekeeper in the family) and went to prepare my new cinnamon. The grater they sent is fab looking, don’t judge me but I’ve never ground cinnamon before, I’ve only ever bought the powdered stuff. I love the smart box too, and every stick is individually packaged for the ultimate freshness. When I opened the first stick, I could tell it smelt different; it had almost a floral edge. When I actually started grating it onto the toast everything became clear, this really was something special. It’s like cinnamon, but there is extra element to it, it’s far more aromatic and the aroma has so much more depth.
I tried my toast, and just couldn’t get over how the cinnamon tasted, it was like it had a sharpness too it, it was tangy, but floral and so much more fragrant than any cinnamon I’ve tried before. The warmth and usual buzz was there, but it felt cleaner with loads of flavour packed in.
It is hard to explain the nuances between this and regular cinnamon in words, but for me this was like cinnamon mark two – a better improved version of my favourite spice. When Cinnamon Hill offered to send me a sample I feared I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but one thing is for sure you can consider me converted.

By Cinabar