Oak City Spice Blends

09/13/2026

A salad dressing is more than oil and vinegar.

Fat carries flavor. Acid brings brightness. Mustard, yogurt, mayonnaise, or peanut butter helps hold everything together. Then the seasoning decides where the dressing travels.

In my newest article, Beyond the Bottle, I share six dependable homemade dressing recipes: Lemon, Balsamic, Peanut Butter, Herbed, Green Goddess and Shallot Dressings

More importantly, we explore how Oak City Spice Blends can transform each base into something entirely new.

You will also learn why vinaigrettes separate, how mustard helps create an emulsion, when seasonings should be hydrated instead of bloomed, and why you should always taste a dressing on the food it will accompany. Make the base. Choose its direction. Give the flavor time to open.

Read Beyond the Bottle: Six Homemade Salad Dressings and the Seasonings That Transform Them here: https://wix.to/7WEmAfd #

I follow flavor through time.

Learn the simple structure behind homemade salad dressing, then turn six dependable base recipes into new flavor experiences with thoughtfully chosen seasoning blends.

09/10/2026

What does a 13th-century chicken pie have in common with the chicken pot pie on our tables today?

More than I expected.

I started down this particular rabbit hole because I was making four little chicken pot pies for dinner. Chicken, carrots, potato, peas, mushrooms, shallot, homemade gravy, Eastern Mediterranean seasoning, and pastry.

But then the Spicekeeper in me started wondering: How long have we been putting chicken beneath a crust?

Quite a while, as it turns out.

I followed the humble chicken pie from a medieval coffyn, where hen was baked with bacon, pepper, cumin, egg yolks, and saffron, through Hannah Glasse’s wonderfully extravagant 18th-century version, and into Amelia Simmons’s American kitchen in 1796.

The ingredients changed.
The seasoning changed.
The pastry changed.
Even the job of the crust changed.

But the idea endured.

And that may be my favorite part of food history. Our ancestors did not simply hand recipes down unchanged. Cooks adapted them to their ingredients, their kitchens, their tastes, and the people sitting at their tables.

So that is exactly what I did, too.

Come explore The Humble Chicken Pot Pie: Centuries Beneath a Crust (Coffyn), and then come into my kitchen for the Eastern Mediterranean Chicken Pot Pie recipe that put me on this trail in the first place.

Taste is how memory travels.

The Spicekeeper
Oak City Spice Blends

Read more: https://wix.to/i2TRUws

Chicken pot pie has been changing for centuries. From medieval chicken baked inside a sturdy pastry coffyn to Hannah Glasse’s elaborate eighteenth-century pie, Amelia Simmons’s American version, and the four little pies in my kitchen today, follow how the ingredients, techniques, and flavors evo...

09/09/2026

Where can a cookbook take you?

For me, this one took me somewhere I absolutely did not expect.

I randomly pulled Cookbook no. 59 from my shelves: The Best of Shaker Cooking. One sentence about the Shakers’ generous use of herbs sent me down a research trail that led through Shaker gardens, herb drying houses, commercial canisters, peddlers’ route books, nineteenth-century cookbooks and eventually...a rather suspicious dumpling.

What I discovered was a story much bigger than Shaker cooking.

The Shakers grew culinary herbs at a remarkable scale. They dried them, ground them, packaged them, and sent them out into “the World.” They weren’t simply selling sage and thyme.

They were selling preserved flavor. And then I found a dumpling recipe that reminded me why checking the original source matters.

“Ma’am, step away from the cream of tartar.”

Come step inside the Shaker Pantry with me and follow the journey from hands to work, herbs to market, flavor to table.

Read the newest story from the Spicekeeper on the Oak City Spice Blends blog. https://wix.to/4h4WcWb

A random cookbook opened the door to the Shaker pantry. Follow the trail from herb gardens and drying houses to canisters, peddlers and nineteenth-century kitchens, and discover how one dumpling recipe changed the investigation.

09/06/2026

If you’ve ever wondered how Viking Salt got its name, the answer involves medieval scrolls, Viking clothing, Danish salt archaeology, a borrowed book that never came home, and a bowl of smoky salt that simply wasn’t Viking enough yet.

And then I added the gold.

Well... turmeric.

Viking Salt was never intended to recreate a seasoning found in a Viking Age kitchen. It is something I describe as a historically informed interpretation, inspired by years of research, historical recreation, Norse art, salt history, and one wonderfully impractical idea.

The turmeric was never meant to be accurate.
The turmeric was meant to be gold.

I finally sat down and wrote the whole story, including where the history ends and where my imagination stepped in.

If you love Viking Salt, historical food, or simply enjoy seeing how one research rabbit hole can eventually end up in a spice bowl, I think you’ll enjoy this one. The Story of Viking Salt: Smoke, Salt, and a Little Bit of Gold

Read the story on The Spicekeeper’s Notebook at Oak City Spice Blends. Read the full tale: https://wix.to/XvPoBxX

Viking Salt was never meant to recreate a lost Viking recipe. Its story begins with historical recreation, Danish salt, Viking Age foodways, and one imaginative decision to scatter a little edible gold through the bowl.

09/05/2026

Sometimes an old cookbook turns out to be much more interesting than you expected.

I recently pulled my first-edition copy of Helmut Ripperger’s Spice Cookery from 1942 off the shelf, expecting to find a history of spices.

That isn’t quite what I found.

Instead, I found a quirky little cookbook written during WWII, an author worrying about what the fall of Singapore might mean for the spices on his kitchen shelf, a wonderfully mysterious dedication to someone he called “the spice of life,” and an unexpected connection to the cookbook project that eventually became Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

And then, on page 78, I found Chili Con Carne.

So naturally, I had to bring it into my kitchen.

In the newest Spicekeeper’s Notebook, I’m sharing Ripperger’s original 1942 recipe exactly as written, then revisiting it 84 years later with Imperial Adobo.

Two spice shelves. Two kitchens. One recipe, 84 years apart.

Read the full story, history, spices, and a recipe worth trying. https://wix.to/5JG9RGw

A first-edition cookbook from 1942, a wartime spice shelf, an unexpected connection to the story behind Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and a chili recipe worth revisiting. We open Helmut Ripperger’s curious little Spice Cookery and bring one of its recipes into the Oak City Spice Blends kitc...

09/04/2026

Beef prices are no joke right now. So what if ½ pound could feed four people and still feel like a real dinner?

That’s exactly what we did with these new Merit’s Pantry Beef & Lentil Flatbreads with Cucumber Yogurt.

Instead of simply using less beef, we paired it with earthy lentils, an ingredient that genuinely belongs with the warm cumin, coriander, nigella, garlic, and onion flavors in Merit’s Pantry. The beef brings richness, the lentils bring substance, and neither feels like an afterthought.

Then everything goes onto warm flatbread with cool cucumber yogurt and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

½ pound of beef. Dinner for four. And nobody gets the sad little portion.

There’s even a little Spicekeeper technique involved. We brown the beef first, then bloom Merit’s Pantry in the rendered beef fat so all that flavor goes right back into dinner.

Saving money is nice.

Saving money and making something delicious is better.


Get the full recipe and step-by-step tips: https://wix.to/uP87O9x

09/04/2026

Ever finish cooking, take a bite, and think… something is missing?

Before you reach for more seasoning, the problem may be when you added the salt.

Salt doesn’t just make food salty. Used at the right time, it helps vegetables taste brighter, meat taste richer, and an entire dish taste more complete.

In The Truth About Salt, we’re looking at one of the simplest ways to become a better cook: Season early. Season in layers. Give salt time to work.

Because the final pinch should sharpen the flavor, not rescue it.

Read The Truth About Salt on the Spicekeeper’s Notebook. Vol. 4 — Salt, Done Right. Read the full issue and learn simple shifts that change everything. https://wix.to/0XxfxkG

Most people don’t use salt wrong; they use it too late. In this issue of The Spicekeeper’s Gazette, learn how timing, layering, and intention transform ordinary meals into something unforgettable. From why food tastes flat to what salt actually does, this is the difference between cooking… and...

09/03/2026

If you love Wilde Garlek, have you ever wondered how it came to be?

Four different forms of garlic, onion, chives, black pepper, and celery seed. It makes a pretty remarkable seasoning, but the story behind those ingredients goes much further back than my blending table.

From a medieval kitchen to California's “Garlic King,” early garlic dehydration and black garlic, I went looking for the history behind one of our fan favorites.

And what I found changed the way I look at Wilde Garlek.

Garlic Without Apology: The Story of Wilde Garlek

Read the new article on the Spicekeeper's Notebook.Read more: https://wix.to/EXUOxUr

Garlic has never had just one flavor. Follow the surprising story of Wilde Garlek from a medieval English kitchen to California garlic farms, early dehydration plants and the modern blending table, then put that history to work with an easy roasted potato recipe.

09/02/2026

This is the split pea soup I actually make at home.

It started with a wonderfully simple recipe: split peas, a meaty ham bone, carrots, onion, cloves, and plenty of time. Then, naturally, the Spicekeeper got involved.

I started adding 1 tablespoon of Baden-Württemberg, and now I wouldn't make the soup without it.

Why does it work so well? Baden-Württemberg brings black pepper, mustard, bay, rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic, onion, and just a touch of nutmeg. It doesn't make the soup taste like a seasoning blend. It makes the peas taste earthier, the ham taste richer, and the whole pot taste more complete.

Best of all, this is a true slow-cooker recipe.

Put everything in.
Turn it on.
Walk away.

By dinner, the peas have broken down, the ham is falling from the bone, and you've got a thick, hearty pot of soup that tastes like you spent considerably more time on it than you did.

I've put my complete recipe on the Oak City Spice Blends website, including my little trick for making sure you don't have to go fishing around the pot looking for those two whole cloves. 😉

Get the recipe and make a pot for yourself.

Oak City Spice Blends

Cook simply. Flavor boldly.Read the full recipe: https://wix.to/CxkmwsH

This easy slow cooker split pea and ham soup turns a handful of simple ingredients into a rich, comforting meal. A tablespoon of Baden-Württemberg adds the herbs, pepper, mustard, and aromatics that make the whole pot taste like you worked much harder.

09/01/2026

What happens when a medieval spice blend meets an American apple pie? This one started with an old Joy of Cooking recipe and two very large apples.

Instead of the usual cinnamon and nutmeg, I seasoned the apples with 14th c. Franconia German Sweet Blend, then baked them open-faced in a pre-baked crust for just 20 minutes. It may not be the prettiest apple pie, but it was delicious.

The food historian in me had a question: Would a cook in 14th-century Franconia have recognized anything about what I had just made?

That question took me back nearly 700 years to a cookbook compiled in Würzburg around 1350, where I found something wonderful: apples, spices, pastry, and baking were already sharing the medieval kitchen.

No, they weren't making our modern American apple pie. The real story is much more interesting than that.

In the newest Spicekeeper's Notebook, we're traveling from a medieval German manuscript to an American cookbook and finally back to my kitchen to explore how our expectations of what an apple should taste like have changed.

And yes, I'm sharing the Franconia Open-Faced Apple Pie recipe that started the whole adventure.

Come read the story and make the pie.

Sometimes you can taste the question. And occasionally, the answer tastes like apple pie.

Read the full story and recipe inspiration on the blog: https://wix.to/3zqsM0J

What happens when a 14th-century Franconian flavor palette meets a familiar American apple pie? One kitchen experiment leads back to medieval Würzburg, where apples, spices, and pastry were already sharing the table nearly 700 years ago.