Indigenous Chilean Spices and Sea Salt

Chile, a land of diverse climates and scenery, including the Atacama Desert (most arid in the world), beautiful lakes, native forests and the ancient glaciers of Patagonia, is bringing spices and sea salt to the U.S. Prepare to bump up the flavor profiles of your favorite dishes. 

Tacama’s spice line is a mixture of herbs and indigenous ingredients from Patagonia in southern Chile. Use Criollo on pasta and pizza; Pebre goes well with lamb, poultry, fish and sausage; Tropero is specially created to go with all kinds of cheeses and in the preparation of grilled provoleta (a cylindrical provolone cheese); Adiaulo, only for those who love heat, is perfect to use with red meat; and Merquen, which comes from a red hot pepper that is first dried and smoked, then mixed with cumin, dill seeds and salt, is delicious in mashed potatoes, on all kinds of beef and poultry, and is ideal to flavor lentils, garbanzo beans or minestrone soup.

Delicate and delicious Tacama sea salts are flavored with organic rosemary, dill, thyme and sage. They are produced from rock crystals built in the Gran Salar of Tarapaca, located in the north, 2,000 km from Santiago on the border of the Atacama. These salts will not only enhance the flavor or your food, they provide essential minerals good for your health.—Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog.