Humble Beginnings
We understand how important it is to use only the freshest and cleanest herbs and spices. We continually search for only the best ingredients to add to our wonderful blends, constantly sampling and testing for cleanliness and purity of color, taste, and odor. All of which can make a large difference on the taste and the consistency of our blends. This allows us to be an ARTISAN company, and to give you the finest Gourmet line possible. We sincerely want you to experience the SAME great taste and depth, every time!
Mark's Story
For years now, I had been blending my own spices and herb gourmet seasonings, making huge batches, and disbursing them throughout my vast family. Each year, I crafted it slightly different, always in pursuit of the perfect blend.
I was so tired and frustrated with the existing seasonings available, having never been satisfied. I searched a great deal, as cooking is my passion and I like great tasting food! I had always felt there was just something missing with the seasonings, and thus used a lot of fresh herbs and spices of my own.
Meantime I had always desired to create a blend that would go with most anything! So I started with those herbs and spices I used the most, then experimented with others I had not tried very often, or not at all. I went through a lot of time, spices, and money. However I eventually came up with a gourmet blend that had the depth of flavor I was looking for.
That was back in 2007. Finally, in Aug of 2014, I made my huge batch again, tweaking it slightly from the year before and frankly, it was GOOOOOD. Wow. Within a day, my entire family sat me down and convinced me it was time to quit being shy with this, and share with the world. They also made me promise to KEEP this particular recipe intact, as it was my Masterpiece; hence the name of MARKS MASTERPIECE.
Over the years I have also created several other blends, changing the traditional ones to better suit my palate, and those of my family. I have officially been given a stamp of approval on all of them, so I will be expanding my line as time goes by; I have an amazing taste-testing team, who are not shy about letting me know what works, and what does not..
If you have any similar stories or anecdotes I would love to hear them.
Stairway to Heaven
When I was much younger, I had a cooking mentor, who described Herbs and Spices as “The Stairways to Heaven,” when it came to flavors and smells. When he gave that lecture, it was his first with me, and I remember him using his fingers to illustrate his message and was clearly enraptured at the moment, pulling us all into this vision of his. Then he showed us!
He cooked some of the most amazing seasoned pork roast, I have ever tasted up to that point. The aroma alone was indeed heavenly! Then we ate, and it just melted in your mouth and had such an explosion of flavor, with such depth, that it was like eating a 5 course meal in one! Oh yes, he was VERY inspiring. Huge impact! It has stuck with me to this day, driving me up those stairs as often as possible, thriving for that culinary perfection all of us cooks seek.
Tastes, Workshops, & Classes
We currently do not have any workshops available, but are looking into this for the future.
However, I challenge you to have your own tasting party:
Just thinly slice up several different apples (keep them fresh in some water with a wee bit of lemon juice). Search your cupboards and/or go buy some of the spices you USED to use. Now taste and compare them with ANY of our blends, using an apple slice to cleanse the palate between each taste of seasoning. I guarantee you will be pleasantly surprised at the big difference between ours and theirs. This will allow you to truly experience the depths of flavor we strive for in each of our blends. I also invite you to share the experience on Facebook, to help spread our message.
Want to create culinary memories of your own?
Try our spices today!
