When Kirsty Morrison, founder of Zing Organics sent me a range of her gourmet ‘aromachefery’ nectars and seasonings, it was a real pleasure to experiment and cook with them. Kirsty a Scottish artisan perfumer and Chandler, developed a natural range of aromatherapy based products after she became sensitive to a number of products and ingredients when pregnant.
Our stories are similar. Kirsty learned about natural aromas and flavour from her grandfather who was a market gardener and at a young age was making perfume from petals. My introduction to fragrance was much the same, as a child I would collect rosé petals and add to small bottles of water to make my own rosewater. Fast forward a number of years and my interest in aromatics continued and to further my knowledge, while my boys were young, I trained in aromatherapy. That gave me a much deeper understanding of the therapeutic benefits of aromatic and medicinal plants, and I’ve been fascinated by them ever since. They became a big part of our lives and with their wide range of health giving benefits, aromatics, herbs and spices are an integral part of my cooking.
As you would expect from this high quality artisan range, Zing Organics aromatic salts and sugars, contain only natural ingredients which Kirsty infuses with food grade organic essential oils. She has created a superb product that’s simply bursting with natural flavour along with the most delicious heavenly aromas.
The gourmet salt is available in a range of delicious flavours, including lemon, thyme, wild spruce, basil, Spanish thyme and Rosemary. Just sublime for enhancing a wide range of meat, fish, chicken and vegetable dishes.
The sugars are all Fair Trade and like the salts are packed with intensely concentrated flavour. Lavender, cardamom, bourbon geranium, bergamot and ylang ylang, flavours that add another dimension to cakes, biscuits deserts, ice creams and drinks.
All Zing Organic products are beautifully packaged in recyclable or compostable material
Kirsty sent me the Thyme, lemon and black pepper sea salts to try and here’s some of the dishes they were added to. The lemon sea is so versatile, it’s uplifting and fresh citrus flavour is a perfect addition to chicken and fish. The spicy, herbaceous flavours of the Spanish thyme salt is wonderful with potatoes, chicken and meats. Black pepper sea salt, with its sharp, spicy and penetrating flavour is an ideal partner to mix with the lemon salt and will add deep flavour to most savoury dishes.
A small sprinkling of both the lemon and thyme salts was ideal for this chicken and pork one pot dish.
The thyme salt was a great partner for the tiny roast potatoes
Lemon sea salt, perfect partner for this guacamole
The lemon sea salt was also a wonderful addition to this smoked haddock and poached egg.
A tiny sprinkle of lemon sea salt and a sprinkle of the black pepper salt really enhanced the flavour of this halibut, served with giant couscous and summer vegetables.
I’ll be writing about what I did with the sugars in a second post about Zing Organics, but meantime, you can view the full range of gourmet salts and sugars, along with the range of candles and room fragrances on the website. www. zingorganics.co.uk