The spice manufacturer Ankerkraut, founded by Hauke Jacobsen and Stefan Lemcke, has been in Hamburg since April 2013. Unlike some other suppliers, they completely avoid flavor enhancers, anti-caking agents, preservatives, flavorings and emulsifiers in the production of their spices. All items are currently available exclusively through the online store.
After an initial friendly contact last week, I ordered a first selection of spices, including: 9 Pepper Symphony, Marinade Hamburg, BBQ very hot, smoked paprika, blue sapphire salt and a sheep’s cheese barbecue spice.
The marinade Hamburg caught my eye particularly positively. For example, I seasoned small lamb burgers only subtly with salt and pepper and brushed them with olive oil before grilling and then rolled them in the marinade.
This turned out to be a fabulous combination, the marinade gives the burger a very strong, intense and slightly smoky note, in the foreground you can see quite clearly the main components: paprika edelsüß, onion, garlic, pepper, sea salt, mustard powder and especially also the raw cane sugar. In the background, one can still easily sense the hints of coriander, thyme, cumin.
In parallel, I also marinated two burgers with BBQ very spicy. They were also very tasty and not too spicy (maybe I was too careful with the marinade). In direct comparison, however, it was immediately apparent that the sweet balance of the classic marinade in particular was still somewhat more appealing.
In another pass, we then grilled feta cheese and marinated it with the feta cheese grill seasoning provided for this purpose. This also works very well. However, next time I would add some honey and more olive oil.
After my first impression, the products at Ankerkraut are more than a good alternative to the sometimes quite boring spices from the supermarket. In addition, the pretty glasses make visually much better in the kitchen, of course. In any case, I would advise the Hamburger Marinade and the 9 Pepper Symphony, both have already proven to be almost indispensable here…
