Spices & Herbs

Épices de Cru Wild Chios Sage

£15.00

In a nutshell: Hand-picked organic wild sage with an intense floral fragrance perfect for crumbling over roast chicken, pork or adding to sausage mixes.

If you've never tried Greek sage before, you're in for a surprise. Blessed with an intense aroma and fragrancy that will perk up all kinds of dishes, this rare variety of sage grows high in the mountains of the north-eastern Aegean island of Chios, also famed for its production of mastic gum. Greeks use a few sprigs to make a tea, with added honey and lemon, commonly used to help cure colds but rarely use it in cooking.

One of the main differences between common sage (salvia officinalis) and its Greek rival is the latter’s more vigorous taste and fragrance. It is extremely aromatic and intense. Our selection is handpicked on the mountain slopes of the northeastern Aegean sland of Chios. The harvesters select the leaves by hand after the aromatic sage bushes have dried for months in the sun. To use, simply rub the sage leaves with your fingers just before use to release the intoxicating aromas. Gentle, fresh and flowery, this sage brings a balance to strong flavours such as poultry, pork roasts and stuffings and sausage mixes. Blend with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper for sage butter or combine with butter and chopped anchovies to smear onto bruschettas.  See our recipe for Pork chops with fennel and sage.

Details: 10g tin.

About Épices de Cru
Épices de Cru began in 1982 as a catering partnership between Philippe and Ethné de Vienne. Their mission was a kind of “cooking pot anthropology:” learning the secrets of family cooking around the world and applying these techniques to the needs of hungry Montrealers. The secret, they learned, was spices. Over the last two decades, Philippe and Ethné have searched for the world’s best spices, accompanied by their children, Marika and Arik. The de Viennes believe in direct sourcing spices: visiting growing regions, spending time with growers, and developing personal relationships that last decades. In 2004, they officially opened their first spice shop in Montreal’s fantastic Jean Talon market– it’s since become a mecca for foodies from all over the world. I first visited in 2008 and have been buying and using their spices on a regular basis ever since that first exciting visit. They steadfastly maintain that they do nothing original, only facilitating the exchange of culinary common sense from one place to another. But, what they do is simply quite brilliant - by providing us with the finest quality ingredients, and their superb spice mixes, we can all experiment with unusual spices and recreate delicious recipes from around the world.


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