The Story of Vadouvan (and how we come up with new blends)
I still remember the first customer who asked us if we had, or would have in the future, a French spice blend called Vadouvan. This was about nine years ago, so we had been in business less than a year. He was a young guy, still in high school, but with a really strong interest in food and cooking. One of our earliest regulars. At the time, I was a little surprised and embarrassed not to have heard of Vadouvan – it’s not really used that commonly outside of France – but it would go on to be one of the blends most often requested by customers.
Over the years, we’ve tried to add new blends to our selection periodically. When we opened in 2009, we had 25 or 30 different blends: a couple barbeque rubs, a couple curry powders and chili powders, and a bunch of other essential stuff. In the earliest years, we built up the selection quickly, but it’s slowed down as it started to feel like we had the bases covered. And when it comes time to create a new blend, the first thing we do is look at our list of what customers have requested. This is a list that gets informally compiled by our staff based on emails we get and conversations we have with customers in our shops.
When we recently took a look at the list, Vadouvan was on it maybe 10 or 15 times over the years. It’s been on the radar since that first request, but we’ve never gotten around to it until now. And one of the main reasons for that is that Vadouvan is traditionally more of a wet spice paste than a dry blend. Plus, it’s meant to be roasted, which isn’t something we’re able to do as part of our production. So the challenge was how to capture the flavour and spirit of traditional Vadouvan in a dry spice blend.
Our process with a new blend (if it’s a traditional blend) is to start with research. What kinds of flavours or spices are usually in it? What do we like about other recipes? What do we think could be different? We make up a first draft recipe and blend up a little bowl of it just as a starting point. Then we stand around and smell it and taste it. Spice blends don’t usually taste great right out of the jar, but it gives us a sense of the balance. Does it need more or less salt? Some heat or acidity? Is there too much garlic, or not enough? Does it evoke the region or cuisine that it’s supposed to evoke?
We usually go through 3 or 4 of these early versions of the recipe before settling on an official “Recipe #1” that we feel is good enough to take home and actually cook with. In the case of Vadouvan, we tried to achieve a toasted flavour by using roasted garlic. Traditional Vadouvan also uses a lot of pulverised fresh shallots, so we ground up some of our freeze-dried shallots into a coarse-minced texture along with dried curry leaves and fenugreek leaves. We added some Mediterranean chile flakes for mild heat and a little citric acid for brightness.
A bunch of our team took a sample home to play with, and after versions 2, 3, and 4, we had a final recipe that was ready to share with the world! And the response has been amazing. Between November (when we first had it on the shelves) and now, Vadouvan has been our top-selling blend. To be sure, part of that is because it’s new, but the feedback has been great.
What do people like about it? It’s very savoury and all-purpose, for one thing. And it has a really warm, inviting curry-type flavour, but with more intense aromatic elements from the garlic and shallots. Here’s our Product Manager and primary blender Alex talking about why he loves it.
I have been eating vegan for only 6 months and I quickly realized that I needed to learn how to cook all over again, which means I needed to simplify. Grains, greens, & beans is where it's at for a new vegan in the kitchen – the right combination of foods from each of these three groups gives you everything you need to be healthy. But being healthy is only half the battle – I need flavour! Enter Vadouvan. A wonderful French curry with a solid onion foundation, and super versatile. Sprinkle on steamed veggies: instant favourite. Add to a pot of boiling rice: immediate classic. Simmer with lentils, diced tomatoes, and coconut cream: a homemade masterpiece. Needless to say, I have used my fair share of Vadouvan since it was launched. Best of all, I make the stuff! It's a labour of love to grind and blend a batch of Vadouvan, and then it’s a pretty great feeling to be able to use what I made in that night's vegan curry.
A final note: someone recently pointed out that of all our 120+ spice blends, Vadouvan is the very first to have a one-word name. Significant? Probably not.