Four spice blend

Which Dishes to Use Four Spice Blend In?

Our recipe ideas to use the four spice blend in your cuisine:

• four spice chicken: add 2 tablespoons of four spices to your chicken before browning it in a pan;

• spiced shortbread cookies: add 1 tablespoon of four spices to your shortbread dough;

• four spice cake: sprinkle 1 teaspoon of four spice blend into your cake batter;

• wild boar terrine: add 2 teaspoons of four spices to your preparation before cooking it in a terrine;

• spiced wild boar shoulder: in your marinade, add 2 tablespoons of four spice blend.

The Fresh and Sweet Aromas of the Four Spice Blend

The sweet, highly aromatic nose of the four spice blend reveals slightly peppery notes, burnt wood, and vanilla on the palate.

What Is the Four Spice Blend Made Of?

The four spice blend is composed of Penja black pepper, Ceylon cinnamon, Sri Lankan nutmeg, and clove.

Penja black pepper grows in Moungo, a fertile province in western Cameroon. It comes from the species Piper nigrum, a vine that grows on a support. Piper nigrum berries flourish thanks to a warm and humid climate. In Penja, in the province of Moungo, volcanic soils provide a perfect balance for piper vines, allowing the production of high-quality pepper.

Ceylon cinnamon, originating from Sri Lanka, is the bark of the cinnamon tree, a member of the Lauraceae family, coming from the same family as the avocado tree or laurel. Cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, whose harvest requires very great precision, comes from a tree that can reach between 10 and 15 meters high. New branches are cut and stripped of their fragrant outer bark. Once dried, they become cinnamon sticks that can be directly used in cooking, or ground to produce cinnamon powder. Cinnamon is mainly cultivated in Sri Lanka, but also in other tropical regions of the world.

Nutmeg is a nut that comes from the nutmeg tree, a tree that can reach up to 16 meters in height, belonging to the Myristicaceae family.

Cloves are actually dried flower buds of the clove tree. This tropical tree of the Myrtaceae family has its original cradle in the Moluccas archipelago in Indonesia. The flowers are hand-picked when the buds turn slightly red. Cloves are then sun-dried on mats and stirred to prevent fermentation before being calibrated and sorted by hand.

The History of the Four Spice Blend

The four spice blend originally came from a single spice: Jamaican allspice, whose extremely rich aromas recall cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. Its English name is indeed "allspice". Since Jamaican allspice was not always available, and to be able to use these flavors daily, the four spice blend was created.

Used in the Middle Ages to marinate game meats, poultry, or to prepare liqueurs, the four spice blend has always been used in our European kitchens and has its rightful place there!