The Major Step You're Missing When Adding Spices To Stews

With stew season finally upon us, it's only right to go the extra mile and deepen the flavors in this comforting dish. There's a laundry list of ways you can go about this, but a good start is to bloom your spices before adding them to a dish. Blooming involves heating the spices in fat to release flavorsome oils and infuse the stew with aromatic goodness. It's better than sprinkling them in straight from the jar because your spices may not stay fresh over time. Luckily, all they need is a gentle fry to unlock their true flavor potential.

You've got plenty of options when it comes to blooming spices. Ground or whole cumin seeds, cinnamon, mustard seeds, and peppercorns are some of the best candidates for blooming. Now, keep in mind that blooming isn't the same as toasting. Blooming cooks the spices in a layer of heated fat, like neutral oil, butter, or ghee, while toasting warms them up in a dry skillet. Using fat brings out more of the spices' volatile oils, which intensifies the flavors and produces a richly spiced stew.

Blooming isn't a set-and-forget technique, as walking away from the pan could leave you with burnt and bitter flavors. So, make sure to keep an eye on the stove — spices shouldn't take longer than a couple of minutes to bloom over medium-low heat. When the spices start to sizzle and develop an aroma, this is a tell-tale sign to remove them from the heat and incorporate them into your dish.

Combined with meat, vegetables, and broth, bloomed spices turn an ordinary stew into a mouthwatering dinner. Need some recipe ideas on how to use this trick? Try blooming cinnamon sticks and bay leaves when making a succulent lamb shank stew. Give this shakshuka recipe a flavor kick by gently frying the dried fenugreek leaves, smoked paprika, and other spices. Or, take time to bloom spices like coriander seeds and cumin seeds for this Mexican bacon-bean stew.