Sugar and Spice and everything nice is the best way to describe Zoitsa Homely Produce’s – Sweet Spice Blend!
Our gorgeous Sweet Spice Blend is absolutely, positively, sublime and a wonderful addition to any bakers arsenal or ammunition.
Our Sweet Spice Blend is an original recipe created by yours truly and consists of brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, cardamom and the secret ingredient? Mahlepi.
When winter hits Melbourne I tend to do a lot of baking. I love making bread. As I knead the dough, I tend to pound out my problems into the dough. I get captivated as I knead and turn the dough around and over and over and over. Rather therapeutic, you should try it sometime.
This recipe came about as I was just about to start making a sweet loaf for my family. I was going to add our Apple Pie Spice Mix into it but had used it all up in my morning protein shake. (Do try adding our Apple Pie Spice into a vanilla protein shake – TO. DIE. FOR!) when I had a light bulb moment. I ran to my spice cupboard and literally threw open the doors and looked at all my jars. I was opening jars whilst I was on speaker phone with a friend, and she asked me what I was doing. I think she could hear me grunting and sniffing things. I told her I was in my “creative” mode, and I had just come up with an idea.
I added all the ingredients and threw the whole spices into my spice grinder and whizzed the bejesus outta them and then added this blend to my dough.
I waited hours for the dough to rise and then to bake the loaf. I swear our entire house smelt divine as the loaf was baking away. The end result…well the loaf was devoured by all within 45 minutes…need I say more?
It has just the right amount of brown sugar, the right amount of spices but the Mahlepi is what stole the show!
I wonder, have you ever heard of Mahlepi? Have you ever tasted it before? Mahlepi is also commonly known as Mahleb. Mahlepi is commonly used in Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, Turkey and of course Greece. It is used mainly around Easter time for the Greeks, and we add it to our Greek Easter bread and into our Christmas baking. The scent of Mahlepi, for me (and most likely to a whole ton of Greek people) evokes Easter and Christmas.
Mahlepi is the most aromatic spice my senses have ever experienced. It is made from the seeds of the St Lucy cherry. It’s actually the seed kernel of a cherry seed. Flavour wise it’s a cross between a cherry and an almond and vanilla. It can be found in a kernel form or a powdered form. My personal preference is a kernel form as I grind the living daylights out of it. It is so aromatic and the best way for me to describe it is like it’s a food perfume! It is such a truly unique taste and aroma, and it adds a magical dimension to not only breads but to cakes, slices and muffins. I love the stuff! Its sweet and the smell…. I honestly, I can’t explain it.
The only downfall is that Mahlepi is very expensive, like VERY expensive. To give you some insight a 50 gram sachet of Mahlepi seeds costs like $40 or a 450 gram pouch will see you forking out over $150! It may be expensive but man it’s so good! A few countries export their Mahlepi, but I only use Mahlepi imported from Greece as that’s what I know, what I have grown up with and what I will only use.
Our Sweet Spice Blend is without a shadow of doubt is a flavour infusion that once you taste, smell and cook with it you will be as addicted to it as I am.
The flavour infusion is truly something else!
Too good not to share our Sweet Spice Blend . I would LOVE to see how you use it. I would love your recipes.
Bon Appetit
Irene
