Most chefs will tell you that seasoning is the most important component of a dish. Either it's a good rub or a marinade, a handful of aromatics or a sprinkling of salt – it's the spices and seasonings that help the ingredients shine. We've collected the best and most exciting spice kits and seasoning sets on the market so find your favourite and get cooking.
Sections
Indian spice sets
Curry Lovers Gift Box from Curry On Cooking
The perfect gift for any curry lover or to yourself, this set comprises of six spice sachets for curries – two for a balti, two for a jalfrezi and two for a madras. Each spice sachet also comes with a shopping list to help you navigate the supermarket aisles and an easy-to-follow recipe card to help you make the perfect curry. One sachet is enough for a curry to serve four, and the three curries come in three different spice levels as well – medium, hot and very hot – to suit everyone's tastes.
Buy it: Available from Curry On for £25.
World's Hottest Curries from CurryKits
Using the two hottest chillies in the world – Carolina Reaper and Naga Masala – CurryKits have created a spice kit to make two of the hottest curries in the world if you're brave enough to try them. The kit comes with everything you need to make the two curries, including the curry spice mixes, whole spices, garlic paste, ginger paste and a jar of hot pickles to go with the curry. There are also recipe cards to help you create the "hottest curry in the world."
Buy it: Available from CurryKits for £14.99.
Gourmet Indian Curry Spice Blends from Mrs Balbir Singh
Freshly roasted, ground and blended, the spice mixes from Mrs Balbir Singh promise to help diners travel through the Moghul era, Kashmiri mountains and the farmlands of Punjab. The gourmet collection includes four mixes – shahi chicken masala, amritsari chana masala, kashmiri rogan josh and garam masala. Each tin contains enough blend for three to five dishes, serving four to six people each.
Buy it: Available from Mrs Balbir Singh for £30.
Star buy: Punjabi Curry Kit from Scotia Spice
Not only does this kit include delicious spices and spice mixes to create wonderful dishes like lamb curry, lamb keema and lamb kebabs, it also comes with a recipe book and a tasting guide to cooking with Punjabi spices as well as understanding the techniques used in the region. There are six recipes for you to try and enough spices to cook each recipe twice. Alongside delicious lamb dishes, you'll also learn how to make a fresh spinach raita, a sharp tomato and cumin chutney and a classic pakora.
Buy it: Available from Scotia Spice for £24.95.
African & Middle Eastern spices
North American spices
Deep South BBQ Rub Box from The Smokey Carter
This collection of barbecue spice rubs will take you on a journey deep into the American South. The South Carolina rub and its signature mustard-y base will taste great on chops, pork belly, ribs and in pasta dishes like mac'n'cheese while Louisiana rub will take you back to its Cajun roots – use the spicy rub on chicken, prawns, potatoes and roasted veg or use as a fajita seasoning. The all-purpose pitmaster BBQ spice rub will go with any meat and the addition of hickory and chilli will give your food a lovely smokey wood flavour.
Buy it: Available online from The Smokey Carter for £10.
American Rub Collection from Life of Spice
A must-have for any keen home cook, this set includes five spice blends, including a Tennessee barbecue rub Memphis Belle, a classic Kansas City rib rub and a smoky Southern rub Sweet Home Alabama. Our favourite, however, is the Much Adobo About Nothing. Winner of the Great Taste Awards 2015, this spice blend will take your Tex-Mex creations to incredible heights thanks to its depth of flavour.
Buy it: Available online from Life of Spice for £15.95.
Star buy: Canadian Spice Kit from Vinegar Shed
A brilliant introduction to Canadian flavours, these spice blends will help you achieve the most comforting tourtière pies, seafood grills and hearty smoked meats. Based on the heritage of Quebecois cuisine, the set includes four different spice blends – Creton spices, a mix of white pepper, mace, cinnamon and cloves, Gaspésian salmon rub, Montreal spice rub and Charlevoix tourtière spices. It's worth mentioning that Vinegar Shed make many brilliant spice collections, like couscous and tajine spices, Cajun and Creole spices and brining and pickling spice set.
Buy it: Available online from Vinegar Shed for £35.
Chilli
World's Hottest Chillies from Spicentice
Love a chilli kick? Then this world's hottest chillies set is perfect for your. An amazing chilli collection from around the world, there are six different pots of chilli powder, flakes and whole dried chillies. Our favourites include sweet ancho chilli, smoky chipotle and, of course, Carolina reaper – the world's hottest chilli. Use with caution...
Buy it: Available online from Spicentince for £19.99.
Hot Box from Taste Spice
Add a fiery kick to your cooking creations with this chilli hot box – a collection of four hot rubs, flavoured chilli salt and infused smoked chilli oil. The rubs include Harissa rub (perfect for North African-inspired dishes), Cajun rub (to give your dishes a New Orlean's flair), Dragon rub (with loads of Sichuan pepper) and Togarashi (a traditional Japanese spice blend made for ribs, wings, prawn toast and tofu).
Buy it: Available online from Taste Spice for £16.95.
Star buy: Rare Chilli Collection from World of Zing
Curated by World of Zing's flavour expert, Pritesh Mody, this collection of chillies from around the world is for spice junkies and flavour explorers alike. The collection includes both familiar chillies like chipotle smoky chillies and habanero as well as more unusual picks like mulato chilli flakes and Chinese chaotian chillies – a pantry staple in the Sichuan province of China.
Buy it: Available online from World of Zing for £19.95.
Flavoured salts
Punchy Seasoning Set from Cornish Sea Salt
Transform your cooking with this trio of infused salts – a must-have for any keen home cook. The heat of chillies, the sweetness of caramelised onions and the mellow intensity of slow roasted garlic is all you need to add that extra special touch to your dishes.
Buy it: Available online from Cornish Sea Salt for £7.50.
Famous Five Gift set from Halen Môn
A little taster of Halen Môn's most popular salt varieties, this set makes the perfect gift for someone into all things food. The set includes five 5g samplers of Halen Môn's pure sea salt, salt smoked over oak, salt with celery seeds (perfect in a Bloody Mary), salt with roasted garlic and salt with chilli & garlic. It's also a brilliant introductory set for those who haven't cooked with flavoured salt before.
Buy it: Available from Halen Môn for £7.95.
Star buy: 8 Flavour Pack from Dorset Sea Salt Co.
An enviable collection of high-quality sea salt, it will leave your pantry prepared for any occasion. Hand-harvested from Britain's purest waters along the Jurassic Coast, Dorset Sea Salt Co.'s sea salt is one of the cleanest, purest and freshest on the market. The set includes one 125g jar of natural sea salt and seven jars of flavoured salts. Our favourites include sea salt smoked over apple oak, sea salt infused with dried olives, tomato and basil and sea salt infused with beetroot and organic apple juice.
Buy it: Available online from Dorset Sea Salt co. for £44.99
Sweets, cakes & snacks
Popcorn Seasoning Collection from Marvling Bros
If you've never tried popcorn seasoning, you're seriously missing out. Whether it's a movie night in or you just have the munchies, this collection will take your popped corn kernels to new heights. It includes nine different flavourings, all of which need a pinch of salt or sugar (to suit your taste), et voilà – you have a bowl of hot, perfectly seasoned and indulgent popcorn. Flavours include such corkers as burger relish, sour sweets, cinnamon bun and Mexican churros. Excuse us while we go find some kernels to pop.
Buy it: Available from Marvling Bros online shop for £20.
Ice Cream Heaven Gift Set from Spice Sanctuary
Although making your own ice cream is a bit of a chore, if you do commit to it, these spice blends from Spice Sanctuary are perfect for creating unusualy yet brilliantly flavoured ice creams. Great Taste winners, all three blends are made from premium organic spices and are ideal for making vegan-friendly no-churn ice creams. The set also includes three recipes using the spice blends, including a ginger and black pepper mango sorbet, and a hand-crafted wooden ice cream spoon.
Buy it: Available online from Ethical Market, Borough Box and other for £27.50.
Baking Spices Spice drops from Holy Lama
Winners of World Food Innovation Award 2015, Spice Drops are very different to whole or ground spices that we're all used to. Spice Drops are highly concentrated extracts of various herbs, roots, fruits and flowers so a little drop goes a long way. We particularly love this baking spice collection as it's a brilliant way of adding flavour to your bakes without the fuss. The kit comes with rose, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom drops that can also be used in drinks or to enhance the aroma of savoury dishes such as curries.
Buy it: Available from a variety of retailers, including Ocado, Sainsbury's and Amazon as well as Holy Lama online shop for £16.
Star buy: Maverick Flavour Selection: Sweet from Sous Chef
A real baker's treat, this selection of maverick flavours is perfect for adventurous bakers and pastry chefs. A combination of fruit, pepper, sugar and spice, this set is everything you'll need to get excited for baking and get the creative juices flowing. The set includes brilliant ingredients like grains of paradise – an African pepper with an extraordinary coconut aroma and distinctive sweetness – pure raspberry powder, natural passion fruit powder, cocoa nibs and crystalised violet petals to add the perfect finishing touch to your bakes.
Buy it: Available from Sous Chef for £25.