Green Saffron Spices

Set up by Arun Kapil in 2007, Green Saffron Spices (www.greensaffron.com) is a Cork based company specialising in supplying premium, farm-fresh whole spices and blends.

While the spices are not Irish, of course, in just a few years they have become an integral part of the Irish food scene and, aside from the quality of the fresh spices themselves, the company has earned a formidable reputation for the excellence of products using their spices, including a superb Christmas pudding and spice mixes for mulled wine – and recent accolades include the Entrepreneurial Award at the biennial Bord Bia Food and Drink Industry Awards.

Family connections in India source the very best spices for Arun and his Green Saffron team, who then distribute them nationally, use them for their in-house curry nights (see website) and do the things which make them peculiarly Irish – such as creating a Christmas mixed spice blend for their Classic Midleton Christmas Pudding (soaked for 60 hours in Beamish stout, Jameson whiskey etc etc...) to make puddings that are accurately described as having “funky twist”. And the packaging is brilliant too, so they really stand out from the crowd.

And, in a dynamic combination of cultural traditions, Arun Kapil and Justin Green, of Ballyvolane House in Co Cork and the West Waterford restaurant, O’Brien Chop House in Lismore, regularly work together to bring special culinary (and perhaps theatrical) events to Ballyvolane House and O’Brien Chop House - sometimes with craft brewers’ Cormac O’Dwyer and Tom Dalton’s Dungarvan Brewing Company involved too, which makes for a heady mix.

The Green Saffron spice mix for mulled wine makes an exceptionally pleasant hot drink, as I discovered at their stand at the recent Food & Wine Christmas Show – not at all over-sweetened, or cloying, with just the right degree of spicing to give an aromatic warming flavour without overpowering the base wine, it would certainly be the spice mix of choice for this taster.

Green Saffron products are available online and from farmers’ markets, select supermarkets and in over 80 speciality food, farm shops and cookery schools throughout Ireland including, Avoca, Donnybrook Fair and Fallon and Byrne.

RECIPE: MULLED WINE

Ingredients:

1 bottle of red wine (a big, full-on red, full of berry fruits. Something like an Australian, Californian or New Zealand Shiraz – either way it doesn’t need to cost too much)
OR 1 bottle organic Bramley apple juice (normal apple juice is fine, but you may need to add a some water to let the sweetness down a little)
1 Packet of Green Saffron Mulled Wine Spices
1 dash of Crème de Cassis (optional, but not recommended if using apple juice!)
Couple pieces of orange and lemon zest, pared from the fruit with a veg peeler works really well (optional)

How to put it together:

1. Pour your chosen bottle of wine (or apple juice) and the Green Saffron Mulled Wine Spices into a thick bottomed saucepan

2. Place the pan onto a gentle heat, stir and heat for a few minutes until the aromas send tingles down your spine and the wine is warm to the touch. DON’T ALLOW IT TO BOIL AS YOU’LL ONLY END UP LOSING THE ALCOHOL!!

3. Add the Crème de Cassis, orange and lemon zest (if using) and stir again.

4. Take off the heat, strain through a sieve into a suitable serving jug.

5. Serve, drink, enjoy…..Sláinte!!