Fall Vault Blends

The Fall Vault is open.

Each season we open the vault and bring back a few limited-run blends, the ones people ask for by name and like to stock up on while they can. This fall we're bringing back Celery Salt, Middle Eastern Tea Rub, and Hawaij. The Tea Rub is out for the first time in about four years, so if you've been asking about it, we're glad you kept asking.

Celery Salt

Celery Salt is a classic, and we make ours with celery seed, celery leaf and stalk, kosher salt, and a little onion. It tastes like concentrated celery: green and herbaceous, with the slightly bitter edge of the seed.

In the fall, we reach for it most when we're making stuffing. Toss a teaspoon with the bread cubes, butter, and onions, and every crumb comes out seasoned, crispy edges included. Stir it into turkey stock or a pot of chicken soup, fold it into potato salad, or shake it over a hard-boiled egg. It's also the salt for the rim of a Bloody Mary, which is a fine way to start a long weekend of holiday cooking.

Middle Eastern Tea Rub

There are two black teas in Middle Eastern Tea Rub. Keemun is smooth and a little fruity, and Lapsang Souchong is smoked over pine fires. It's sweet from brown sugar and tart from sumac, with rose petals, coriander, and a few warm spices rounding it out.

Rub it on chicken thighs or lamb before roasting or grilling. The brown sugar caramelizes in the heat, and the outside comes out dark and sticky. For a vegetarian dinner, stir a spoonful into olive oil and brush it over halved eggplant before it goes in the oven, or try the same glaze on wedges of winter squash.

Hawaij

Hawaij is a Yemeni blend, and it's also popular in Israel. Cooks in both places use it as a rub for grilled meat, seafood, and vegetables, and as an everyday seasoning for soups, stews, and rice. In the Sinai, Bedouin cooks also serve it as a dip for bread, the way you'd eat Dukkah. Ours is peppery and warm, with black pepper and turmeric up front and cardamom, cumin, and a little saffron among the rest. Stir a spoonful into a pot of soup and the broth turns pale gold.

Yemeni cooks also make a sweeter hawaij with ginger and cinnamon for coffee. This is the savory one, so keep it in the soup.

For a fall dinner, our Hawaij Chicken Stew is the one we'd point you to. You sear bone-in chicken, add red onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and smoked cinnamon sticks, tuck halved oranges into the broth, and bake it covered for 45 minutes. Then you shred the chicken back into the pot. It keeps well, so you can make it on Sunday and eat it through the week.

Cooks Club

If you cook with the Fall Vault blends this season, we'd love to see what you make. Share your stuffing, soup, or roast chicken on Cooks Club so other cooks can try it too.

Button: Share a Recipe → https://cooksclub.worldspice.com/recipes/new

We hope you find a spot for all three on the stove this fall.

- World Spice

Button: Shop the Fall Vault → https://worldspice.com/collections/fall-vault-release