Category: Spices
Our cloves are grown by our partner farmers on the small island of Pemba, which is famous for its cloves. They’re hand-picked at the last possible moment before flowering, ensuring the largest size and most mature flavor, and then dried in the tropical sun.
They're bright pink when ripe, and they turn brown as they dry. They have a bright, sweet intensity with a rich warmth and a numbing menthol buzz. Add whole to braised meat or mulled wine, or grind into desserts.
Cooking Tips:
Drop a few whole cloves into braising liquids or stews
Combine with cinnamon and nutmeg for a warm drink or dessert
Season a rice or biryani dish
Use as a decorative and flavorful studding for a roast
Burlap & Barrel is a Public Benefit Corporation building new international food supply chains that are equitable, transparent and traceable.
A single origin spice company, Burlap & Barrel buys spices from farmers around the globe, who they call partners. They’ve eliminated the intermediaries who have traditionally bought and sold spices multiple times before any jar of spice lands in a U.S. customer’s kitchen cabinet. This means their spices are fresher than what you can find from the big spice companies. Spices so potent that they suggest new customers use just half a serving at first, as they sometimes get feedback from customers that the spices are too strong. It's not that the spices are too strong, but rather we are just accustomed to cooking with old spices! Did you know that supermarket spices sometimes have been in transit for three years?!?!?
Another benefit to eliminating spice brokers is that Burlap & Barrel can pay the farmers more for their crops while offering quality spices to the public at affordable prices.
Burlap & Barrel is working towards ending inequality and exploitation in food systems that disenfranchise skilled farmers.
They do this by:
Mainstream conversations around food sustainability rarely consider the people involved in growing, harvesting, transporting, processing and cooking food. Sustainability is discussed in terms of environmental impact, or the comfort of livestock providing meat, dairy or eggs.
The folks at Burlap & Barrel believe that the standard measures of sustainability must evolve to consider the conditions in which the farmers who drive global food supply chains earn their livelihoods. Single origin ingredients draw attention to the unique environments in which incredible ingredients grow and to the farmers with the expertise and commitment to grow them well.