Svaneti Seasoned Salt Spice 101

This month's free sample is Svaneti Seasoned Salt. We'll tuck a sample pouch into every order over $35, and new this month, spend over $100 and we'll send you a small tin instead.

Svaneti was one of the first blends I tried when I started at World Spice. @Sherrie H. told me, "Take this home. It's good on everything, especially roasted vegetables." I've used it almost every day since. It lives on my counter. I keep putting it back on the shelf and then pulling it right back out, so I've given up tidying it.

The blend is named for Svaneti, a mountain region in Georgia, and it goes back further than my time here. Tony Hill, World Spice's original owner, put his recipe for it in his book, The Spice Lover's Guide to Herbs and Spices, and called it "one of my favorite seasonings." He recommended it for the beets and potatoes of its home region, and farther afield "as a steak seasoning, a fish rub, or a dusting on steamed Brussels sprouts."

Under the Pacific Flake Sea Salt you taste Caraway Seed, European Coriander Seed, Chopped Garlic, and Fenugreek Seed, with a little warmth from black pepper and Korean Chile. To me it's the best kind of umami, earthy, and aromatic. It has a flavor of its own, and everything I sprinkle it on tastes better, the way food does when you salt it, only more so. The salt is low enough in the mix that I can be generous with it without oversalting anything.

How I use it

Roasted vegetables are where Sherrie pointed me, and roasted root vegetables are still her go-to. For potatoes, toss 2 pounds of diced Yukon Golds with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of Svaneti, and roast them at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes, turning them halfway, until they're golden and crispy.

Past that, I put it in pretty much anything savory: stir-fries, fried rice, sauces, soup, and whatever's going in the oven. On a lot of things I just add a little sprinkle at the end, the way I'd use a finishing salt.

I also put it on eggs, and so do a lot of our reviewers.

"As season salts go this is outstanding. It's not overly salty which is one of its best features, allowing the other ingredients to shine. Echoing others, used in an omelet it's an unexpectedly good direction; also great on red potatoes, roasted vegetables and shrimp. This is an exceptional blend."

Curtis O.

Sorry in advance about your counter. I don't think you'll be putting this one away either.

- Aubrey