Let’s be honest for a little bit… From cook to cook, or maybe just food-lover to food-lover; doesn’t it get so difficult sometimes, having to keep up with spices, their individual tastes, health benefits, and all that other stuff? Even more so, we understand that sometimes, navigating what spices are best for particular meals can be exhausting, and sometimes you might not have a particular spice in your pantry, and you have no idea what to substitute it for.
But that’s why we’re here! We’re your personal food genie, and we’re bringing you a spice guide. When you’re done reading, you’d be giving cooking tips to your friends. Here you go:
| S/N | NAME | USES |
| 1. | Iru (locust beans) | Iru is great for soups, and for native stews, like ofada stew, for instance. It gives a bold aroma and flavor to food |
| 2. | Efirin (basil leaves/ scent leaves) | From pottages, to soups and vegetable stews and sauces, scent leaves give a wonderful aroma to food, while providing medicinal benefits |
| 3. | Achii | Serves as a thickener, and is used to thicken traditional soups like oha and onugbu soups |
| 4. | Ground crayfish | If you’re looking to give a depth of flavor to your traditional meals, or almost any meal actually, ground crayfish is a really good choice |
| 5. | Cameroon pepper | While some people use this in cooking regular stuff like noodles, Cameroon pepper is actually best for stews and soups for spice and that fiery peppery goodness. You could also use it to boil meat for pepper soup |
| 6. | Bay leaf | You know that dried leaf you see in your jollof rice? Yeah that’s the bay leaf. And it is great for jollof rice, fried rice, and for meat stocks and broths |
| 7. | Kaun (potash) | Kaun is popular for its ability to soften foods. It is majorly used by the Edo people of Nigeria in native meals such as “olene” (native beans) and “ohwo” (a kind of sauce used to eat boiled yam and plantain). It is also used in ewedu and gbegiri |
| 8. | Uziza seeds | Uziza seeds are tiny black seeds that are used to add flavor to soups. They are a major ingredient in banga soup and pepper soup, and are popular for their peppery flavour |
| 9. | Thyme | Majorly used for seasoning meat and fish, thyme is amazing for rice dishes, and in soups and stews |
| 10. | Onions | If you’re an onion-hater, we apologise. Sincerely. It’s just that onions are one of the most versatile things to have in your kitchen. Onions are great for pretty much anything you want to cook – from noodles, to omelettes, to soups and stews… pretty much any savoury food gets better with onions |