Hawaij: Spices That Bring Your Travels Home

Sometimes there are flavors you try and love during your travels, but you’re never 100 percent quite sure what the flavor is. It’s not something you’ll find in your average American spice cabinet or even on the grocery store shelf.

One of these sometimes escapable flavors is hawaij, a Yemenite spice mixture familiar to you if you’ve traveled in or around the Middle East and that you might see popping up in various specialty culinary publications and stores in the near future. In addition to its popularity and origination in Yemen, it’s also popular in Israel.

What is it?

Hawaij comes in two varieties. One is typically used in coffees and the other is more preferred for savory dishes like soups and stews. The latter is a mixture of cumin, turmeric, pepper, cardamom and cloves, while the former is ginger, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. As you might imagine, the coffee blend isn’t just great for coffee — it’s also awesome in baking.

Because of the unique blend of spices, hawaii is also beloved for its health properties. It’s known to help fight inflammation, aid digestion, lower blood sugar and more.

If you’ve tasted hawaii during your travels and tried in vain to find it at home or if you’re just intrigued, you can now find hawaii among the Pereg Natural Foods product line. A huge quantity is available for just $5.50.

While you’re shopping, make sure to check out Pereg’s other spice mixes that might just stir up some travel memories, too, like the garam marsala, harissa seasoning, adobe seasoning, shawarma blend and more.