Grilling seasoning and minced meat seasoning taste good to Finns.
Minced meat seasoning is Meira’s best-selling spice. Adobe Stock / AOP
Finns long for ease of seasoning, revealing statistics on the best-selling spices in large spice houses.
Santa Maria’s best-selling spice shows the baking boom that began during the Corona period, as the company’s best-selling spice is cardamom. Second comes Tellicherry Black Pepper and third is Santa Maria’s classic spice blend of barbecue and universal seasoning.
Meira’s most popular spices, calculated as individual product lines, are minced meat seasoning and grilling seasoning, both of which also have a long history.
Product Group Manager Juha Wathen says that spice recipes over the years have been modified in a healthier direction.
– Consumers appreciate naturalness and clear recipes, which is why we have removed, for example, monosodium glutamate, which is used as an aroma enhancer, and changed the salt to iodized salt.
He believes the popularity of spice mixes is associated with the abundant use of minced meat in households. It is easy to season it with the finished spice mixture.
– Grilling, on the other hand, is now a year-round, and grilling seasoning is more of a universal seasoning that can be widely used for many purposes. It is suitable for seasoning roasted and grilled meat, fish and chicken dishes as well as marinating sauces, Wathen says.
An average of 3.6 different spices
A few years ago, Paulig commissioned a study in Kantar, according to which more than 80 percent of Finns use dried spices at least weekly and more than a third every day.
According to the study, Finns use an average of 3.6 spices at home. The amount could be called quite limited, given that it includes salt and pepper. Reserve for a bolder seasoning so there would still be more.
Want to expand your spice repertoire? For example, try these recipes:
Easy butter chicken
Thai chicken soup
Chilli
Gentle fiery nduja pasta
FACTS
Spices should be stored protected from light, heat and water vapor.
– The traditional spice cabinet on top of the cooker hood is therefore the worst possible place to store spices in the kitchen, Paulig’s chef Petteri Kanerva says.
Spices should almost always be awakened by heating them in oil for a moment. The method is quite familiar from Asian recipes, but Finns use it less often.