The Moroccan spice blend Ras el Hanout is shrouded in mystery, the closely held family and trade secret of the Moroccan spice merchants. Ras el Hanout means “head of the shop,” and each shop’s owner has their own unique mix, the best spice mix their shop can provide. Some blends have as few as ten ingredients, but others are said to have as many as fifty to one hundred spices. Some include such exotics as: grains of paradise, orris root, monk’s pepper, and nigella. Some purportedly included aphrodisiacs like Spanish fly, but if it is a secret how would we know? The result of all of this secrecy is that the blends, that all go by the name of “Ras el Hanout,” can be radically different from one shop to the next on the same street, let alone from towns in the north or south of Morocco.
Thirty Spices Measured Out
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 