Spice Shortcut

I recently heard from spice queen Kaiulani Cowell. I’ve always been a fan of her products because, let’s face it, I am a lazy cook.  And Cowell, a chef, has created spice blends that I can just whip out of the cabinet to turn something like a packet of noodles into, uh, “home cooking.” Cowell’s tagline is “Flavor without the labor.”

Her Kaiulani Spices have always been all natural and locally made, but Cowell tells me that she is now going all-organic. She takes the sourcing and purity of her spice line seriously, noting that “people have forgotten how precious spices are. There were wars fought in the past over cinnamon and nutmeg. And spices are medicinal. People use cardamom to treat indigestion, turmeric for preventing Alzheimer’s and chiles for soothing arthritis pain.”

My favorite for quickie cooking is the curry blend (see a recipe here), but Cowell has a new flavor, too, called Hawaiian Cajun. You can find her spices at local health-food stores, Foodland and the Kapiolani Community College Farmers’ Markets on Saturdays.