Piquant Post is a monthly subscription box that offers a variety of freshly ground, small batch spice blends with their very own chef developed recipes that feature a new region each month.
This is a review of the $11.99 monthly plan.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Piquant Post
The Subscription Box: Piquant Post
The Cost: $11.99 a month, $65.94 for 6 month pre-pay, or $119.88 for 12 month pre-pay.
Flash Sale: Now through 2/10, use coupon code VDAYFLASH20 20% any length Piquant Post subscription! (Regularly $11.99 per month)
ACTIVE DEAL: First Order 10% off. No coupon needed - just use this link.
The Products: 4 spice blends from a single region or country, 4 chef-developed recipes showcasing each of the spice blends, plus online access to recipes and ingredient substitutes.
Ships to: Worldwide with free U.S. shipping
Piquant Post January 2018 Review
Each box comes with four spice blends and coordinating recipe cards. Let's get into this month's spices!
Quatre Epices Spice
Our first spice blend of the month means "four spices" and is traditionally used in soups and stews. The Piquant Post blog notes that this blend is great to use as a sprinkling on any dish that you would add freshly ground pepper to. This blend contains freshly ground pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. The blend has a lovely savory smell to it. I am going to be saving this one to use for my next soup or crockpot meal with beef.
Beef Stew in Red Wine Recipe
My favorite part of the winter is the warm meals you can make. This beef stew recipe is exactly what I crave during the long cold winter months and I can't wait to enjoy this on a snow-filled evening. The recipe card notes that you can use your slow-cooker to make this dish, and really all of the steps seem super easy. You are going to spend most of your time preparing the fresh vegetables. Just from the smell of the Quatre Epices spice blend, I can tell that it is going to add a unique twist on a hearty stew with the sweet blend of cinnamon and nutmeg and the bold flavors that cloves bring out.
Vadouvan French Curry Spice
According to the Piquant Post blog, Vadouvan, one of the earliest fusion blends, was developed in a French colony in India by French cooks. I love a bit of history with my spices. This spice packet really is a fusion of spices featuring shallots, onion, garlic, fenugreek, turmeric, cumin, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, fennel seed, mustard seed, curry leaves, cayenne powder. Honestly, this spice blend was so unique and really versatile! I could see this being great used in a rice dish or sprinkled over beef or chicken. The mustard blended so nicely with the curry flavors and really put my tastebuds for a whirl. You get a light kick at the end from the cayenne powder. This honestly was such a fun spice blend to work with!
Vadouvan Roasted Vegetables Recipe
I love roasted vegetables, but when I smelled the Vadouvan spice packet I knew I had to try this recipe. The recipe card notes that the spice blend will bring out the natural sweetness from this array of fresh vegetables. Let's get cooking!
I started off by peeling and chopping all of my vegetables. I do not like chopping so please ignore my very poor chopping skills and mismatched shapes. What you see here are carrots, turnips, parsnips, and a sweet potato.
I add all of the vegetables into a large bowl, tossed with olive oil, added half of my spice blend, and did a little mix. I didn't think everything was coated enough so I added an itsy bitsy splash more of olive oil and the rest of my spice packet. I go big when it comes to spices!
Into the oven they went! The recipe said to cook these on 400 for 30 minutes. I am a risk taker and decided to roast them on 425 for 25 minutes. I do think they could have roasted a bit longer, but they were still extremely delicious! You will see them plated in a few scrolls, but all in all this dish was incredible. The spice blend really did bring out the sweetness in each vegetable, and it added a layer of spiciness that I really enjoyed. The curry flavors were so unique that I don't think I want to eat roasted vegetables any other way!
Herbs De Provence Spice
I loved reading about the origins of this spice that I have to share with all of you! If you reference the Piquant Post blog you will read that this blend originates from the southeastern region of Provence that runs from a corner of the Alps down along the coast of the Mediterranean. Locals would gather and dry fresh herbs that were only around in the summer so that they could get the flavors of summer all year round. I love that so much! This blend is filled with thyme, marjoram, savory, tarragon, basil, fennel seed, and lavender. The dried lavender sold me, I knew that I had to try cooking with this blend!
Skillet Herbed Fish Recipe
I love cooking fish, but it is something that I don't really do in the winter. Once I saw this recipe and read about the Herbs De Provence, I knew that I had to cook this dish. It was super simple and really did bring about the flavors and fresh smells of the summer. Let's see how it turned out!
The recipe calls for cod or halibut, but my store didn't have any fresh cuts that looked good to me. So I bought these two huge cuts of orange roughy. All I did was season my fish with the spice blend, omg the fresh smells that filled my kitchen, so yummy! Then, I added some olive oil to my pan to heat and then added my filets. I cooked each side for about 6 minutes total.
The herbs mixed with the olive oil made a nice little crust on my fish.
There you have it, a super simple fish dish! Here you can also see my roasted vegetables plated which I decided to pair with my fish. I did sprinkle some lemon juice on my fish as well before serving which really brought out the herbs in the spice blend. The recipe was so simple, I am going to try to recreate it again this summer when I can grill a large fish filet.
Dijon Spice
This spice blend was created to help show us cooks how to use the raw natural ingredients of mustard rather than using a store-bought bottle of mustard. It even notes that you can mix it together with oil or water to make a dressing, yummy! This particular blend is made with mustard seed, coriander, thyme, basil, onion powder, and black pepper. The smell was so fresh and light!
Chicken Dijon Recipe
For this recipe, you are going to be using the spice blend to make a sauce. Again, this is meant to give you the freshest form of dijon mustard around! I can't wait to make this to remind myself of warmer months ahead. This can be made with chicken like the recipe card shows or prepared in a similar way with fish.
Verdict: This month's Piquant Post brought an array of super unique spice blends! They were each filled with so many different flavors and they really brought back thoughts of warmer weather ahead. This month's recipes were also very unique showcasing French cuisine in such a great way! The recipes were all easy and taught me a bit about how different spice blends can be used in so many different ways. Piquant Post is always teaching and challenging me in the kitchen! What I loved most about this month was the history that I learned about each spice blend through the Piquant Post blog. If you aren't following their blog, I highly suggest using it as a resource before digging into each packet and recipe. This box really is all about the discovery of different spice blends that you might not be able to replicate on your own, recipes that take your weeknight meals to a whole new level, and the beautiful curation that goes into each month.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, order by 2/14 to receive the February box!
Now through 2/10, use coupon code VDAYFLASH20 20% any length Piquant Post subscription! (Regularly $11.99 per month)
Coupon - Use code MSA15OFF to save 15% off your first box!
Value Breakdown: This box costs $11.99 with free U.S. shipping, and I received a total of 4 spices. That means that the average value for each of those items is around $3 (not counting the recipe cards).
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Have you received Piquant Post? What did you think of the January spices?
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