Kissed By The Sun Salt Free Spices
Grilling season is upon us! Let us rejoice brothers and sisters! The only thing I love more than grilling up a whole mess of good eats, is when I can make them taste fantastic with salt free rubs and spices. So I was super stoked when I got a package in the mail of Kissed By The Sun Salt Free Spices from the Kissed By The Sun Spice Company.
Kissed By The Sun was started by a husband and wife team of Liz and Rick Fickhesen in upstate New York. Liz was inspired by the foods, spices and cuisine of the Island of Tortola when they honeymooned there. They are committed to crafting flavorful assortments of seasonings using organic ingredients. They started by selling at Farmer’s Markets and Fairs, and business has grown from there. It is a family owned business and we here at Hacking Salt are proud to welcome them on board as a Low Sodium Ally!
They sent out this pack of four of their spice blends for me to try out and see if they met up with the Hacking Salt standard. So I took it as an excuse to fire up the grill (not that I ever really need an excuse to do that). Then I tore into the spice blends to see what inspired me. Here are my thoughts on impressions of each of the four:
Inhaling the aromas from this blend transported me back to the Islands. I have spent some time in Jamaica, Aruba, The Virgin Islands and The Bahamas. The garlic, onions, paprika, and citrus zest totally capture the flavor profile of the Tropics. It is a lighter blend that is perfect on chicken, pork, or fish. I tried it as a “wet” rub by mixing it with some olive oil and a little sour orange juice (If you can’t find sour oranges locally, mix 2 parts orange juice with 1 part lemon juice and 1 part lime juice). You can see the results on the chops above. It was outstanding! I paired it with broccoli, cauliflower, and mushrooms grilled up with the Lemon, Lime, & Orange Peel Pepper blend.
Lemon, Lime, & Orange Peel Pepper Blend:
I’ll warn you now, this will ruin you for lemon pepper from now on! This is basically Lemon Pepper on steroids! In a natural and organic way of course. You have the Trinity of Citrus peels blended up with ground white peppercorns. It will be one of your new “go to” blends. I simply sprayed up my veggies with some EVOO and sprinkled on the blend. This blend was outstanding! I immediately thought how perfect it would be to make a vinaigrette to make a killer salad dressing. If you have been on a low sodium diet for any length of time, you know that citrus and the citric acid contained therein is a common salt replacement, as the citric acid triggers many of the same flavor receptors that salt does. The citrus paired with the white pepper just makes so much sense, you might become addicted.
Sweet Heat is a foundation of Caribbean and island flavors. The sweet peppers that offset the spice allow for a depth of flavor and heat to be built into a dish without the mouth shock that some pepper sauces and blends bring. This blend is perfect for that. I added the pepper blend to my pork chops as a finishing seasoning to bump up the heat from the Sunny Island wet rub I had going on. It was a lovely added level of heat. I would add this to eggs and any tomato based sauces I was cooking up. I could see adding it easily to my Shakshuka recipe.
To some people, garlic can be too overpowering or acrid. I personally think those people are crazy, as I love garlic, but I acknowledge some people have a different palette than I do. If you think garlic blends might fit into that first category, then this is the perfect blend for you. It is a sweeter herb blend. I will attribute that to having the ginger added into it. To my mind, it lead me into a more Asian flavor profile than an Italian one. Although I think if you were making your own breakfast sausage it would definitely fit into a Sweet Italian Sausage blend.
Kissed By The Sun Spices will offer 30% off all your Orders when you enter the code; HACKINGSALT at checkout.
I am so glad to share another company that is focused on helping keep us healthy and low sodium. I also know with many of us on limited or fixed income due to health issues, I am also glad to find a way for these companies to partner with us and offer a discount to the Low Sodium Community. Let me know what you think in the comments. below!
This post is sponsored by Kissed By The Sun Spice Company. All opinions are my own. Links to their website on this post are affiliate links and making purchases may go to helping in the production of Hacking Salt. Learn more about Kissed By The Sun Spice Company at http://www.kissedbythesunspiceco.com