The Health Benefit of Spices
Adding spices to your foods is not just a delicious way to add flavour to all your meals, it’s a great way to improve your health too! Across the board, spices contain a spectrum of nutrients, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and essential oils that can help contribute to a healthier lifestyle (not to mention a tastier one!). Curious to learn about the health benefits of your favourite spices or interested to discover what spices you can start using in your cooking to improve your health in different ways? Read on!
Allspice
Allspice is known to have anti-inflammatory properties, can improve digestion, contains antiseptic properties, and has proportionally-significant amounts of potassium, manganese, iron, copper, selenium, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin B, and Vitamin C. Not bad for just being the unripe fruit of a evergreen shrub!
Allspice is a common spice in Mexican and Latin American cooking, so pick some up and use it with chili powder, garlic, paprika, onion powder, cumin, and oregano to make a mouth-wateringly delicious rub for your favourite meats, seafood, even vegetables for your Mexican burrito night. Don’t forget to pick up Casa Serrano flour tortillas (or Sanchero corn tortillas, if you prefer) from Leo Foods to wrap up all that flavour, and some Casa Serrano salsa and Sabroso guacamole to top it all off with perfectly balanced deliciousness!
Anise
Anise, anise seed, or star anise are one of the strongest plant-derived sources of antioxidants and iswell-known to improve a range of upset stomach symptoms. It’s also high in a number of vitamin and minerals, especially iron. In fact, just 100g of dry anise seeds contains 46% of your daily recommended amount of iron!
You can expect to find a generous dose of anise or anise seed in your favourite Middle Eastern and Persian foods and drinks while star anise is a popular spice in Asian cuisine, so if you want to add this healthy spice to your diet, you’ve got a range of options, especially if you shop at Leo Foods. Why not make Lebanese anise biscotti to dunk in your spicy chai latte this winter? All you’ll need is to pick up ground anise and whole anise seed from Leo Foods and mix with a few pantry staples like flour, sugar, and eggs to make this tasty Middle Eastern teatime treat.
Or, how about a warming Vietnamese pho soup with broth created with star anise paired with a number of other healthy spices and add in hearty Marutsune soba noodles and your preferred vegetables, all seasoned with some Eagle sriracha sauce and Lee Mee hoisin sauce from Leo Foods in Marbella or our online eShop? Delicious!
Cardamom
Also popular in traditional medicines for its antiseptic, diuretic, digestive, and expectorant properties, cardamom is particularly noteworthy for its high levels of potassium (1,119mg of potassium per 100g of cardamom) which can help control your blood pressure and heart rate. 100G of cardamom also contains a whopping 175% of your daily recommended amount of iron, too, important for healthy blood and cellular metabolism.
Looking to add more cardamom to your diet? At Leo Foods, we stock Al Najjar cardamom coffee and Do Gazal cardamom tea – perfect for a deliciously healthy start to your day or an afternoon pick-me-up with benefits. Or perhaps create your own Indian curry with cardamom served alongside Daawat basmati rice and an ice cold Cobra beer for a tasty night in?
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is the strongest naturally-found source of antioxidants. And if that wasn’t enough, it’s also been scientifically shown to warm your body from the inside out, which should come as no surprise as it’s often used in winter dishes and comfort foods from around the world.
Try using cinnamon in rich and warming Moroccan tagine this winter, slowly cooked to perfection with 1&1 pomegranate molasses, KTC spinach puree, tomato pasata and an aromatic combination of cinnamon and other healthy spices. Pick all this up and more (including must-have Tilda rice to serve alongside and halwa for a sweet treat afterwards) by shopping at the Leo Foods cash and carry in Marbella -open to resale and wholesale customers, or buy shopping our eShop online with free shipping anywhere in Spain or Portugal for orders over 50€.
Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a recommended element of diabetic eating as it helps regulate blood sugar levels naturally. It’s also a good source of copper, which helps in the creation of red blood cells; regulation of nerve cells and the immune system; and bodily energy production. Fenugreek seeds also contain a number of important vitamins and minerals and are high in fibre -just 100g of fenugreek seeds soaked in water contain 65% of an adult’s daily recommended dietary fibre intake.
Very popular in curries, fenugreek blends well with Heera curry powder and curry leaves to add an intensely deep flavour to your curry night meal. Try making your own with garam masala, chicken (or chickpeas if you’re vegetarian) and serve with Balah roti for better than take-out versions of this must-have dinner staple.
Mustard Seeds
Mustard seeds provide an incredible source of B complez vitamins, important because these vitamins are essential in enzyme synthesis, metabolism regulation, and nervous system function but cannot be created in our own bodies and must be consumed from other sources instad. Mustard seed is also an important source of vitamin E, containing 132% of your daily recommended amount in just 100g.
Try simmering king prawns in Aroy-D coconut milk, mustard seed, Cock brand pad Thai paste, and ginger for an easy and delicious meal that pairs beautifully with Cock pad Thai noodles, sprinkled with crushed peanuts. Or serve your juicy coconut and mustard prawns atop Red Umbrella jasmine rice for a quick and easy internationally-inspired meal at home that takes full advantage of the healthy benefits of mustard seed.
Saffron
Saffron is strong in anti-cancerous and anti-infection carotenoids. It’s also high in copper, potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, selenium, zinc, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, riboflavin, and niacin.
Traditional Spanish paella gets its lovely yellow colour from saffron, so go ahead and indulge in this delicious Mediterranean food with quality ingredients -including paella rice and saffron, from Leo Foods and Leo Foods online!
Tasty and good for you no matter what international food you’ve got a craving for, a full range of spices are available at Leo Foods just waiting for you to explore. Browse our online eCatalogue or get shopping on our eShop site today for all your favourites or try something new with all the international food and drink products you need to make deliciously authentic foods with flavours from around the world!
Leo Foods… your international supermarket for spices and all your favourite international food and drink products, that are often hard to find.
