This site has limited support for your browser. We recommend switching to Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

🚛 $5 Flat Rate Shipping │ FREE SHIPPING on orders $25+

Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper
Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper
Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper
Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper

Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper

Exclusive Spice Blend by Michael W. Twitty

4.9
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
11 Reviews

"One of the greatest joys of writing The Cooking Gene was introducing folks to kitchen pepper, an 18th century American descendant of the quatres epices, a Medieval spice mixture that harnessed the flavors of Africa, the Middle East, and south and east Asia." - Michael W. Twitty

Read full story below

Cooking Gene Spice Collection by Michael W. Twitty

Regular price $10.00
Regular price Sale price $10.00
($4.76/ounce)
Build your bundle & Save
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh
  • No Preservatives
  • Limited Batch
  • Chef Curated
  • Farm Fresh

Top Recipes with Hercules and Hemmings Kitchen Pepper

Highlights

Ingredients:

Black pepper, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, Grains of paradise

Pairs well with:

Wild Mountain Cumin, New Harvest Turmeric, Buffalo Ginger

100% Fresh Ingredients

You can trace our spices back to the farm where they were grown

Chef Tested

All our recipes are chef-tested (and tasted) -we don't sell it to you unless we love it

Straight From The Source

We work with farmers, nonprofit organizations, and agricultural cooperatives to obtain spices directly from the people who grow them

Give Back Program

A portion of proceeds from every sale goes to feed individuals and families in our local community through our foundation, Tribe for Change

Origin & Sourcing

One of the greatest joys of writing The Cooking Gene was introducing folks to kitchen pepper, an 18th century American descendant of the quatres epices, a Medieval spice mixture that harnessed the flavors of Africa, the Middle East and south and east Asia. Some of those same spices were also prominent in West Africa, while others were comparable to local spices gathered and used in everyday cooking. To colonial Americans kitchen pepper was a versatile way to add flavor to dishes from the everyday to the celebratory. For Black cooks on the eastern seaboard into the interior and along the southern coast, kitchen pepper reigned for two centuries as a mixture of sweet and pungent spices that give depth and savor to simple comfort food. Imagine a pinch or two in mashed potatoes or in gravy in place of black pepper in a recipe or in a pot of stock. Kitchen pepper helps elevate and vary home cooked, especially Southern, meals.

Hercules (Washington) and James Hemings were two of America’s greatest early chefs, and they were both born enslaved on Virginia tobacco plantations and each labored for one of the two most well known figures of the American revolution and its aftermath, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, respectively. Hercules, a celebrated chef, cooked for Washington both at Mount Vernon and at the Philadelphia residence where Washington served part of his presidency. He was a man of fine dress and manners and an entrepreneur. He liberated himself on Washington’s birthday and we believe made it to New York where he lived out his days as a free man.

James Hemings, brother to Sally Hemings and half brother to Jefferson’s wife, was trained to cook at the age of 19 in France. He became literate, multilingual and mastered the haute cuisine of the French court. Upon returning to America, James labored for seven years to train his brother to earn his emancipation from Jefferson, and spent years traveling in Europe and cooking up and down the eastern seaboard. James Hemings can easily be described as America’s first master chef, with many of his culinary creations merging his training with the ingredients not only of early America but those rooted in his African-Virginian heritage.

Chef Spotlight

With Chef Michael W. Twitty

Since the 16th century, people of African descent have shaped and defined the American palate. Their greatest impact on that palate is in the flavors we brought in our taste memory as a people in exile. Africans and their descendants, through many challenges and trials, have had an exuberant cultural expression based on taking pleasure in a culture created out of many origins; rooted in honoring ancient traditions, a dynamic sense of improvisation, and a creative fire that transformed the best and the worst in a cultural alloy unmatched." – Michael W. Twitty

Michael W. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer from the Washington D.C. area. He blogs at Afroculinaria.com. He’s appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates and most recently Taste the Nation with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi. HarperCollins released Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, in 2017, tracing his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize and a third place winner of Barnes&Noble’s Discover New Writer’s Awards in Nonfiction.

The Cooking Gene, A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, won the 2018 James Beard Award for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded. His piece on visiting Ghana in Bon Appetit was included in Best Food Writing in 2019 and was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Award. His next book, Rice will be out with UNC press in 2021. Koshersoul, his follow up to The Cooking Gene, will be out in 2022 through HarperCollins.

Please visit thecookinggene.com and afroculinaria.com for more info.

Reviews

4.9
Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars
Based on 11 reviews
Total 5 star reviews: 10 Total 4 star reviews: 1 Total 3 star reviews: 0 Total 2 star reviews: 0 Total 1 star reviews: 0
100%would recommend this product
11 reviews
  • MV
    Merle V M.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Cooking Skills Advanced
    Favorite things about the spice? Great Flavor, Tastes Fresh
    Which cuisines did you use your spice in mostly? Mediterranean, North American
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    12 seconds ago
    ?

    Interesting mix of flavor

  • MS
    Mary S.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Cooking Skills Intermediate
    Favorite things about the spice? Great Flavor
    Which cuisines did you use your spice in mostly? North American
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    1 month ago
    All I can say is WOW!

    I'm using it constantly!

  • ST
    SHERI T.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Cooking Skills Intermediate
    Favorite things about the spice? Great Flavor, Versatile, Tastes Fresh, Great Value
    Which cuisines did you use your spice in mostly? Mediterranean, North American, European
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    3 months ago
    For great flavor

    Love it!!! This kitchen pepper takes whatever one is cooking to a more flavorful level!!!

  • KK
    Karen K.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Cooking Skills Intermediate
    Favorite things about the spice? Great Flavor, Versatile
    Which cuisines did you use your spice in mostly? Latin American, Asian, Mediterranean, African, North American
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    8 months ago
    Now a standard staple in our kitchen

    I use this CONSTANTLY !!!

  • SS
    Suzanne S.
    Verified Buyer
    I recommend this product
    Cooking Skills Advanced
    Favorite things about the spice? Great Flavor, Versatile
    Which cuisines did you use your spice in mostly? Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, African, North American, European
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    8 months ago
    Go to spice

    This is now the go to pepper

    Very versatile - mixed in or by itself

Reviews LoadedReviews Added

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these blends salt free?

Yes! These blends are not only salt free but they are free of any preservatives, fillers or gluten.

Are these blends certified organic?

Unfortunately we do not have any certifications at this time but most of our spices are organically grown and all of them are non gmo. Each ingredient can be traced back to its origin. Email support@spicetribe.com for any questions.

Do you have recipes to go with these blends?

We are working on it! We have an ever expanding recipe library of chef tested recipes. Recipes using these spices will be up soon. Click here to learn more. Please shoot us an email if there are any recipes you would like to see at support@spicetribe.com.

Cart

No more products available for purchase

Your cart is currently empty.