Pizza spices

When you think of pizza, can you smell oregano, basil, and parsley? Can you taste the aroma of homemade olive oil? Do you mix olive oil, garlic, and herbs and coat the dough with it? Do you add a little bit of chili peppers to make the sauce a bit spicier?

We could ask you a lot about pizza, because each one is specially created, and the thing we from Harissa offer for your pizza will forever create the best pizza anyone has ever tried.

But we want to go a few hundred years back, to a little town in Italy, in which tired soldiers were fed with a wheat plate on which mushrooms and herbs were spread. Out of hunger and delight, after they ate it, they said “Look! We even ate the plates!”.

History continues with the development of Naples and its trade, and an increase in the number of inhabitants is recorded, which is also a greater number of hungry mouths. Those hungry mouths met poverty and hard work, and pizza represented a solution for wage earners who were dealing with the consequences of rapid economic growth. Dough with garlic, fat and salt was the simplest type of pizza sold by street vendors, you could also find some with cheese or basil, and eventually tomatoes imported from America.

As such, pizza is scorned by high society, as food for poor, wage-earner mouths. And that didn't change until 1889 when Queen Margherita and King Umberto visited Naples. Tired of French specialties, they wanted to try something Italian. Raffaele Esposito was invited to prepare three types of pizza for the king and queen. When the queen tried the third pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, began a new era of pizza, as we know it today. In honor of this, the Queen's enthusiasm was rewarded by naming a tomato, mozzarella, and basil pizza after her, the Margherita.

And so pizza found a home in Italy, but its taste spread slowly. After the Second World War, pizza became a specialty in Italy. The aromas of the spices that were put on the wheat plate differed from region to region, as well as purchasing power.

Basil, mozzarella, and tomatoes were cut, and oregano was placed on the tomato, but there was also some spicy stuff. The smells spread. The dough was salty and crispy, yet soft. Prosciutto and arugula. Aceto Balsamico started to be put over the pizza. Every wish was fulfilled.

Pizza took a lot of things with it and thus brought a culture that spread all over the world. It experienced its commercial development in America. The sale includes separate pizza dough, spices, toppings, and tomatoes, and is financially adapted to the fast food market. At one point, pizza is put in a box, to be transported from restaurants to homes, and this idea develops a new era of pizza.

But the Italian pizza recipe always stays in its flavor and taste. But also in Harissa.

Therefore we bring you the Mediterranean with the smell of oregano, the aromatic taste with a lemony note of oil and aceto. If there is something missing on the pizza, always add a bit more of oregano. Mexican oregano is slightly more intense, with stronger citrus notes. If you want a pizza inspired by Mexico, it is ideal to crush it between your palms and sprinkle it over the pizza, and for a little spiciness in the Mexican combination of flavors, we recommend the Mexicana spice blend.

Alongside oregano, parsley enhances the flavor of other spices. Slightly spicy, with a sharp and grassy taste and a light note of black pepper.