Guild member Mallika Basu runs a spice business called SIZL Spices and they have seen sales of their single tins of spices increase following lockdown with ingredients and mealtime inspiration harder to come by. She and her co-founders were inspired by the experience of reluctant stay-at-home cooks during coronavirus lockdown to create a new range of high quality, multi-use blends to take the stress out of mealtimes both now and in years to come. They launched five blends – Sun Rice, Coconut Islands, Wonder Wok, Pasta Pickup and Sweet Sprinkle – as an everyday flavour shortcut created to inject a burst of flavour into stir fries, rice, noodles, pasta and sweet treats. 

Designed to be easy to use for everyone, the spice blends come with simple recipes and mealtime ideas that make the most of whatever you have in your veggie box or available in the supermarkets. They are packed full of flavour, intense and fragrant, and only use the best ingredients, with no fillers like salt and cheaper ingredients to bulk them up. They were all road tested by the founders' food-loving families – the harshest critics of all!

The five blends are available to buy on sizlspices.com (soon on Amazon), and are:

• Sun Rice: Allspice, thyme, hot paprika, mustard and coriander for comforting one pot rice dishes and BBQ rubs
• Coconut Islands: Warm lemongrass, galangal and turmeric for fragrant soups, noodles and curries
• Wonder Wok: Sizzling star anise, cubeb and long pepper to fire up stir fries
• Pasta Pickup: Intense oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme and parsley to perk up pasta 
• Sweet Sprinkle: A delicate blend of aromatic spices – cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla – for cakes, bakes and pancakes

Sales are growing with feedback from customers including: ‘pasta pickup going down a storm’, and ‘puts a zing into boring old grapefruit, what a transformation’. Simple recipes from Mallika are on the website and @sizlspices social media (Twitter and Instagram).