Stories of scent and flavour
Where spices come from, the blending room, and the shop in Kanazawa. Writing about scent, one piece at a time.
Searching by ingredient is faster | Let the fridge decide dinner
On the days when dinner refuses to decide itself, try searching recipes from what is already in the fridge. Th
A Blueprint of Exacting Precision | How an Aroma Comes Together in Our Kanazawa Atelier
Inside Inspice's blending workshop, where each aroma is drawn as a blueprint to an exacting degree of precisio
Why Is Butterfly Pea Blue? Why Lemon Turns It Purple
The blue of butterfly pea is the color of a pigment called anthocyanin. Why a squeeze of lemon turns it purple
What Is Craft Cocoa? How It Differs from Ordinary Milk Cocoa
Craft cocoa is cocoa in which the maker selects the cacao and supporting ingredients, and the drinker decides
Sichuan Pepper vs. Sansho: Same Genus, Two Aromas — Sichuan and Hida
Huajiao and sansho belong to the same genus, Zanthoxylum, and share the numbing compound sanshool. Where they
What is the difference between black and white pepper? | Four aromas from one berry
Black, white, green and Tellicherry pepper are all the same berry. Only the picking time and the processing di
What is vetiver? A fragrant herb born from the root of a grass
Vetiver is a herb born from the root of a grass. It uses no tea leaves, so it is caffeine-free. Here is why it
A Kanazawa souvenir: choosing aroma | Seasonings you can carry home unrefrigerated
For a Kanazawa souvenir, seasonings are a third option. Light, shelf-stable, they do not melt and they do not
Seasoning a bento so it still tastes good cold | Aroma rises inside the mouth
Cold dishes feel lacking not because the seasoning is weak, but because aroma struggles to rise once the tempe
What decides whether spices suit each other? | A map of 67, joined by aroma
Spices that suit each other share several aroma compounds. Here is why plants from different places, with noth
Why spices suit high-cacao | Read through around 600 aroma molecules
Cacao holds around 600 aroma molecules, and its bitterness, chocolate character, fruitiness and honeyed sweetn
Why does food feel lacking when you cut salt? | Filling the gap with aroma
What feels missing when you cut salt may not be salt at all, but aroma. Salt also does the work of pushing aro
Why we put salt in chai | Rock salt gives sweetness and aroma their outline
Inspice chai contains rock salt alongside its 12 spices and tea leaves. Not to make it salty, but by design, t