Do you want to make a meal with a specific flavor, but aren’t sure which spices to combine to achieve the taste you’re going for? If you want to add the right spice to your meals, you’ve come to the right place! While using select spices that are distinct to these areas, you can whip up a dish that tastes like you’ve traveled the world and brought back an amazing meal as a souvenir! We can teach you how to make some great dishes using spices from all over the world. Use our handy guide to using spices by cuisine to give your meals the traditional flair you love.

The delicious Mexican foods you eat today are full of flavors that have been used for thousands of years. Their techniques for adding spices to their meals have been perfected as well, which is why they add spices like annatto to some of their dishes. Annatto is slightly sweet and peppery and adds just the right amount of flavoring to your Mexican meal. Today, most Mexican cuisines are created with ingredients native to Mexico, like guava and avocadoes. You can try your hand at a Mexican meal with our recipe for Achiote-Marinated Chicken.

Caribbean foods are heavily influenced by other countries, like India and Asia, and their dishes are typically bold and flavorful. A popular Caribbean dish is jerk pork. This jerk spice blend combines different flavors, such as allspice and nutmeg, to create the signature meat rub. Get the island feel with our recipe for Jerk Pork Tenderloin!

Cajun foods originated after French settlers came to the United States and settled in New Orleans. Their food is rooted in using ingredients that were readily available to them, and since they are so close to the Gulf of Mexico, seafood like crawfish and crabs are a major part of their meals. Spices like cumin are important to Cajun meals and are used to give them their distinctive flavor. The bold flavors in Cajun meals are highlighted in our recipe for Low Country Boil!

The Thai food we love eating today has culinary influences from the Dutch, French and Japanese. Thai food is a perfect balance of sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy, and most of their dishes are a blend of these five tastes. To create their flavors, they’re careful about which spices they add to their food and normally add flavors like ginger to include a small amount of kick.  They are known for using various types of fish sauce, like clam juice, instead of salt because it mellows the taste. Try our recipe for Thai Watermelon Soup if you’re craving Thai for dinner tonight.

Mediterranean cuisine is extremely diverse and contains the flavors of several countries in the area of Greece, Italy and Spain. Their food is always packed with flavor due to the variety of fresh ingredients found in that part of the world and the way they use spices in their meals. Their spices are typically subtle, but add just the right amount of flavor to the food they’re preparing. This is why spices like coriander are important to their meals. Our take on Coriander-Crusted Fish is the perfect way for you to try some Mediterranean cuisine!

Indian cuisines have a long history behind them and go back to when eggplant, cattle and sesame were first introduced. Spices became popular in their dishes around 3000 BC and are still extremely dominant in their food today. One of their popular spice mixes is garam masala. This mix combines a few Indian spices together to create a rich and slightly sweet blend.  You can prepare a mouthwatering Indian meal today with our recipe for Indian-Spiced Squash and Chicken Bowl.

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