Looking forward to creating some spicy dishes with the children over the next couple of weeks. As well as mixing up some yummy dishes we’ll be finding out a bit more about some familiar and exotic spices. For instance did you know:

• Chinese Fice Spice is not named not after the number of ingredients but after the five flavors (sour, bitter, salty, sweet and pungent).
• The name clove comes from the Latin word clavus, meaning nail., and once dried it does look like one. It’s actually the dried flower bud and it’s a rather lovely looking flower…

• Although it’s one of the most common flavourings we know Vanilla is actually the second most expensive spice after saffron.