Why spend more money on herbs and spices when you can buy them for less at the supermarket?
Cheap spices often contain only a fraction of their original flavor. They taste musty and lack depth. Often, harvests from multiple years and different locations are mixed to create a mediocre product.
Just check the jars in your kitchen cupboard. Does it say where they were grown? Do you know when they were harvested? Do you know exactly which variety of the spice you have?
Our spices are:
- Single Origin: each spice comes from one specific geographical area
- Traded through short chains: no intermediaries are involved, whereas regular trade chains consist of about 7-9 steps
- 100% spice: with us, ginger is not half cornstarch, nor is saffron partly safflower. No unnecessary fillers in our jars; with us, you get pure spices (and thus much more potent flavors)
- From harvest to plate: the spices are harvested, dried, and shipped. They don't lie in a warehouse for years, waiting for a market price fluctuation so the trader can make more money. Did you know that supermarket spices are often 3-5 years old?
- Grown with natural farming methods: they are unsprayed and cultivated in a traditional, natural, and/or regenerative way. No pesticides. No unnecessary junk.
We compared a few supermarket spices with ours and were actually shocked by the huge difference!
Vanilla
Our vanilla pods also show a clear difference. The pods from The Good Spice are long, dark, oily, and soft and pliable with a beautiful sheen. They have an intense, sweet fragrance thanks to a high vanillin content, which provides a rich and full flavor. Supermarket vanilla is often drier and shorter, sometimes dull and brittle, with little scent or aroma. In some cases, synthetic vanilla is even added, which means the natural depth of flavor is missing.
Ginger
The ginger from The Good Spice immediately stands out due to its sharp, citrusy scent and light gold-beige color. It has a rich aroma and a distinctly spicy flavor, with a fine, slightly fibrous texture. This allows you to truly taste the full power of ginger. In contrast, supermarket ginger powder often appears dull brown or very pale. Its scent is usually musty and somewhat floury, and the product is often diluted with starch. As a result, little true flavor or zing remains.
Thyme
The Good Spice's thyme immediately distinguishes itself with its fresh, citrusy, peppery taste and intense aroma. Because the natural essential oils are preserved, you taste and smell the herbaceous freshness much more strongly than with standard supermarket thyme. Our thyme is also free of chemicals and other additives and is grown in a cleaner and more sustainable way. Supermarket thyme often sits on shelves for a long time, causing flavor and scent to fade. Additionally, it may have been grown with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and it is regularly mixed with leaves that add little to no flavor.
A great example of our natural cultivation method can be seen with the farmers of Valdibella. They plant thyme between and alongside other crops in the verges of their fields to stimulate biodiversity. Bees and other insects love it — and as an added benefit, this method of cultivation also results in exceptionally flavorful thyme.
Paprika powder
In the cultivation of peppers for paprika powder, many chemicals and pesticides are often used nowadays. Additionally, drying and processing are rarely done in the traditional way anymore, as this is a time-consuming process. However, this often leads to a loss of quality. Many paprika powders also consist of a mix of harvests from different years and locations, often even supplemented with peppers from China. As a result, supermarket paprika powder is often brownish in color: a sign that it is older. The scent is usually less potent and fresh as well. With our paprika powder, you immediately notice the difference — you can instantly smell the full, pure aroma of real peppers.
