Spicing up your winter: Gewürzhaus

Monday 26 July 2010, 1.54 PM
By The Team | Posted in Places

Mulled wine. Roasted, marinated goodness. Big bowls of aromatic curry or fragrant soup. A cup of chai and a slice of spiced cake. This is the stuff winters are made of. And we’re here to tell you about Gewürzhaus, a shop that’s made for this kind of stuff.

This new Lygon Street treasure sells more than 300 herb and spice blends – the key to deliciousness in almost every memorable meal.

Gewürzhaus means ‘spice shop’, and it’s run by a pair of sisters, Maria and Eva, who grew up holidaying in Germany with their great-grandmother, grandmother and two great aunts. (That’s a lot of greatness, we know!)

While in Germany, Maria and Eva learned about the bold and beautiful world of spices. Their great and womanly household prepared all manner of traditional spicy fare. It was Christmas in Germany, so ample nutmeg and cinnamon was being sprinkled about the house – and sampled at those famous German Christkindlmarkts (Christmas markets).

Back here in Melbourne, Gewürzhaus is lined with hundreds of varieties of herb and spice blends. You can scoop them into pre-labelled bags, or buy them by the jar. Recipes come from that great German quartet – and from Maria and Eva as well.

Choose from blends such as: Venetian Gondola Spice; Duck, Duck Goose; Garlic Lovers; BBQ Blokes Spice; and wintry best-seller, the Glühwein (mulled wine) mix. An extensive selection of Australian native mixes is also available. Spices and herbs are ground fresh on the preimises so everything is full of fabulous flavour.

Salt comes in many varieties here, including big pink flakes, old fashioned celery, bright burgundy merlot, black lava and many more. The store also stocks a rainbow of peppercorn varieties; plus dried chillis from around the world; sugars (cardamom and pistachio, chai masala and many more); and mushrooms such as porcini and morels.

Nutmegs sit in a jar on the counter beside vanilla beans, and the store is also full of quality cooking implements (Riess enamelware, hello!), old-school cook books (love the old Woman’s Weekly collection) and other useful but beautiful homewares.

Basically, if you love cooking – or eating – Gewürzhaus has the potential to transform both of these experiences in many magical ways.

LINK:

Gewürzhaus

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