The sun is beating down, the car seats are scorching, the humidity is out of control, and it’s way too hot to cook! Summer is coming! Most home cooks agree that avoiding the oven or even the stovetop in the heat of summer is one of the best ways to beat the heat. Unfortunately, that often corresponds with lazy cooking and food that doesn’t have much flavor. Well that’s just sad! And certainly not the way it should be. Even food that doesn’t involve a stove can be delicious, exciting, and flavorful. Let’s take a look at a few summer preparations that don’t involve much heat and utilize our fabulous spices and seasonings.

First up, Gazpacho! Who can denounce this summer-time favorite? Our Crazy Salt makes a fantastic seasoning agent for this seasonal treat. Simply add a little in while you’re blending, and then finish with a sprinkle over the top. This intensely flavored (and colored) salt is from Guerande France, a city on the western coast of the country – known for its salt marches. In these marches, salterns have been built, where workers collect up to 15,000 tons of cooking salt each year and approx. 300 tons of fleur de sel or “flower of salt” per year. After collection, the salt is seasoned with pink and black peppercorns, thyme, chili, cumin, and coriander.

Next up, ceviche! This chilled cup of acid cooked goodness is a real summertime treat and pairs perfectly with many of our spices and seasonings. We’d recommend pairing with our Black Peppercorns and Toasted Tex Mex Sesame Seeds. The Black Peppercorn is bold and spicy and perhaps one of the most delicious ingredients you’ll ever encounter. Our Black Peppercorns are sourced from Vietnam and Brazil – two very hot climates that produce outstanding peppercorn products. The intense heat and humidity provide the perfect atmosphere for intense flavor and unparalleled quality. The flavors are not single note at all, but instead a deeply layered symphony of nuances. Flavors vary from woodsy to sharp and piney, to dried tropical fruits. This is certainly not your average table pepper – that will become more apparent as your start seasoning! Our Toasted Tex Mex Sesame Seeds are here to take your ordinary ceviche and turn it into something extraordinary. These tiny little seeds are straight from Japan and pack a flavor punch that’s darn near addictive! Each seed is coated in an intensely spiced sauce of chili, cumin, garlic, and onion. The seeds are then toasted to crunchy perfection, and sauced (then toasted) again! This process continues up to 5 times until the seeds reach an optimum level of flavor packed goodness. Your ceviche will never be the same!

How about a cocktail? There’s nothing better on a hot summer day than an icy refreshing margarita. And you simply can’t go wrong with a salted rim! But don’t reach for the boring old table salt. Try rimming your marg with our savory Beechwood Smoked Salt! This exotic seasoning combines delicious crunchy sea salt from Guerande France paired with the smoky punch of beechwood smoke. The elongated smoking process ensures that the flavor not only adheres to the outside of each salt crystal, but also penetrates deep inside for an intense, smoky finish.

While the hot summer heat makes it a bear to cook, it’s a wonderful time to eat! Indulge in raw or quick cooked plates that don’t keep make you a slave to the stove! Now is the time to really take advantage of fresh summer salads, raw seafood, and grilling. Be sure to season those ingredients with the very best and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a delicious summer!