Do you like spicy food? Do you like cooking different dishes from around the world? If so a subscription to The Spice Pioneer may be right up your street. All the spices you need to make a delicious meal for four delivered to your door.

"Note: I was given a Spice Pioneers box for the purpose of reviewing. As always, all opinions expressed are my own and I will only ever review products I would try myself and that I think are a good fit with Recipes Made Easy."

When the people from Seasoned Pioneers, whose quality spices I am already very familiar with, asked if I would be interested in trying  "The Spice Pioneer, subscription boxes"  I jumped at the chance.  How could I resist receiving a box that contained all the spices I needed to make interesting dishes from around the world?

 

The Spice Pioneer

The concept is simple. Each month The Spice Pioneer, "the globetrotting culinary adventurer", will send you a box of spices and flavourings from all corners of the world.  So that you can make an easy, unforgettable meal  at home to share.

How do you Join

You can become part of The Spice Pioneer’s club by subscribing for yourself, or buying as a gift.

Cost

From £24.99 for 3 months.

What happens next

Each box contains all the spices and flavours needed to create the most exotic and tasty meals from every continent of the world. Every month you will receive a box , conveniently packaged to fit through your letterbox. There’s even a music playlist to keep you smiling while you cook.

The Spice Pioneer Spice Boxes - a Review

Marrakesh Morroco

The first Spiced Pioneer meal I tried was from Marrakesh. Inside the box were all the spices I needed to make the following dishes

• Chicken Tagine with apricots, ginger and ras el hanout
• Orange and Date Salad with preserved lemons and pomegranate molasses
• Couscous with roasted fennel butter

A postcard and an easy to follow recipe card.

The meal took just over an hour to prepare and cook the three dishes The recipes were well laid out and easy to follow. I liked the fact that there is a shopping list which they suggest you take a pic of to make shopping easier. Most importantly, the meal was delicious!

Galle Shri Lanka

The Second  Seasoned Pioneer Meal  we tried was

• Sri Lankan Monkfish Curry with basmati rice
• Beetroot Curry
• Spicy Green Beans

Again the recipes were easy to follow and took about 1 hour to prepare and cook the three dishes.  I don't like monkfish and am allergic to prawns, which they suggest as an alternative, so I made my curry with Cod, which as I expected broke up a bit but still tasted good. The beans were a little spicy for me (I am a chilli wimp) but my boys (who like their food hot) loved them. Even James who doesn't really like beans. Complimented with milder beetroot curry, there was something to please everyone.

Verdict

Looking at it solely on the spices at around £8 a box (including p&p)  you could consider it an expensive way to buy spices. But it is not just about the spices!

It's about the overall experience, and I think it is great. Much as I love cooking and planning meals even I can sometimes lack inspiration. Here someone else has done all the hard work in coming up with a complete meal. The recipes are written so that you know exactly what order to make each dish in (which can be tricky when you are new to cooking). All you need to do is buy the fresh ingredients and get cooking.

All the spices are in one place so there is no time wasted to track down that elusive unusual spice and they are all really fresh. None of the finding a jar of spice you knew you had at the back of the cupboard only to find that most of the flavour has long vanished. I can also see it being appealing to my friends who like to cook but don't have large kitchens to store lots of spices.

I am fairly familiar with Morrocan food, having cooked it quite frequently since a trip to Marrakech a few years back, but I have neither cooked or eaten much Sri Lankan food, so I love the way these spice boxes will encourage you to try foods from different parts of the world that you might not have thought of cooking before.

There is something here to appeal to both the novice and experienced cook.  I really enjoyed making these two meals and would be very happy if someone wanted to buy me a subscription to "The Spice Pioneer" as a gift (just saying), I might even take out a subscription myself anyway.

Find out more by visiting The Spice Pioneer online.

Oh and the downloadable soundtracks are fun.