Customer Reviews

Berbere 4.0 oz by Zamouri Spices

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We decided to try this Zamouri Ethiopian spice mixture and we discovered that it is absolutely delicious in meat stews and soups! It has just a very slight hint of heat, perfect for almost any meat stew.

Cubed up a ribeye steak, browned some onions in the wok, added sliced mushrooms, then simmered the steak cubes with a fair amount of this mix. Reading the ingredients I can see why I liked it so much:

Ingredients: Cumin, Paprika, New Mexico Chili Pepper, Cayenne Peppers, De Arbal Chili Peppers, Nutmeg, Ancho Chili Peppers, Ajwan Seeds, Cardamon, Turmeric, Garlic, Salt, "and other spices."

I recently ran out of our home-prepared blend of Berbere spices, and hoping to find a fairly good blend pre-pared, I ordered this based on the list of ingredients and the fact that it's pictured in a spice container.

Although I received my order quickly, my first disappointment was that the spice blend (I hesitate to refer to it as "Berbere") arrived in a plastic, resealable pouch. Ugh! Everyone knows that "resealable" pouches are seldom resealable after one or two openings - especially with a powdered product. I'll have to find an alternative way of storing it - perhaps when I have some other spice container that is empty.

My greater disappointment was over the fact that the ingredient list on the package did not match the ingredient list on amazon AT ALL!!!

The ingredients on the site are listed as including: "nutmeg, cloves, fenugreek, ginger, ajowan seeds, coriander, cumin, black pepper, allspice, cardamom, Ethiopian chili peppers..."

The ingredients on the label of the package I received reads as follows: "cumin, paprika, New Mexico chili peppers, cayenne pepper, de arbol chili peppers, nutmeg, ancho chili peppers, Ajwan seeds, cardamom, turmeric, garlic, salt and other spices".

I'm sure I'll get some use out of this spice blend - it should go great in chili, but it barely resembles authentic Ethiopian Berbere seasoning. I'm an amazon prime customer so was snookered into purchasing this over another product that showed up in my search b/c this one was sent w/ free shipping.

I may order the Ethiopian Berbere seasoning (also known as "Berber Spice" from Nirmala's Kitchen here on amazon, even though I'll have to pay for shipping. For those interested, there are many other exotic spice blends and recipes available at nirmalaskitchen dot com

This spice has a great depth to it. It's tasty and you can layer it to make it as spicy or flavorful as you'd like. I make a great tasting vegan lentil dish with it. You combine lentils, pasta sauce and bar-b-que sauce together with a bit of this spice and you have an amazing satiesfying dish.

A friend of mine from Ethiopia made a quinoa salad using this earthy hot spice mixture. It was so good I got the recipe from her & immediately ordered the spice online!