Épices de Cru Blue Fenugreek

In a nutshell: Blue Fenugreek (Utskho Suneli) can be used in spice blends, baking breads and sprinkled over salads. Mild at first, its flavour intensifies with cooking.

Little-known outside its country of origin, Blue Fenugreek (Utskho Suneli), is indispensable to Georgian cuisine. Among other things, it is used in traditional blends such as khmeli suneli and Svanetian salt, alongside coriander and marigold petals. Its fragrance is milder that that of regular fenugreek.

Blue Fenugreek (Trigonella caerulea) owes its name to the colour of its flowers. The small seeds are dried in their casings and once ground, are used in several dishes. They are especially popular in stews and soups, in vegetable dishes or poultry and even in nut-based sauces. Mild at first, its flavour intensifies with cooking.

Blue Fenugreek leaves are also prized in some parts of Switzerland and are essential to the making of a cheese called Schabzieger­kle. They can also sometimes be found in certain regional rye bread recipes from the southern Alps.

Details 25g

About Épices de Cru
Épices de Cru began in 1982 as a catering partnership between Philippe and Ethné de Vienne. Their mission was a kind of “cooking pot anthropology:” learning the secrets of family cooking around the world and applying these techniques to the needs of hungry Montrealers. The secret, they learned, was spices. Over the last two decades, Philippe and Ethné have searched for the world’s best spices, accompanied by their children, Marika and Arik. The de Viennes believe in direct sourcing spices: visiting growing regions, spending time with growers, and developing personal relationships that last decades. In 2004, they officially opened their first spice shop in Montreal’s fantastic Jean Talon market– it’s since become a mecca for foodies from all over the world. I first visited in 2008 and have been buying and using their spices on a regular basis ever since that first exciting visit. They steadfastly maintain that they do nothing original, only facilitating the exchange of culinary common sense from one place to another. But, what they do is simply quite brilliant - by providing us with the finest quality ingredients, and their superb spice mixes, we can all experiment with unusual spices and recreate delicious recipes from around the world.