Herbs and spices have been used in cooking for centuries to give the bland more flavour and in some cases to disguise the fact that ingredients were not as fresh as they could be!
In the Mediterranean region we have many herbs which grow well in our hot dry climate and on rocky soils which lack nutrients. Perhaps the best known of these are origano, rosemary, and sage. All of these can be found growing wild on Crete and of course you will find them ‘on the shelf’’ at Art of Tea.
Along with the more common herbs we also stock several spices such as cinnamon, clove, white cardamom (green cardamom is the second most expensive spice after saffron!), peppercorns of various colours, and special mixes for tzatziki, lamb, and beefburgers. We even have ‘garam masala’! Although most of these are not indigenous to Crete they have found their way here through international traders who used Crete as a stopping point in their travels from the East to Western and Northern Europe and so have become part of the repertoire of herbs used on Crete not only for cooking but in some cases for flavouring coffee!
