Not all Italian seasonings are created equally. Being someone who cooks in the Italian style most frequently, I am constantly in search of a good Italian seasoning to use when I am not highly motivated enough to use fresh herbs in my cooking. Since my wife and I shop primarily at Safeway, we frequently purchase a large quantity of Safeway store-brand Italian seasoning for everyday use. Recently, however, we bought a small jar of Morton & Bassett brand premium Italian seasoning out of curiosity to see if the premium brand made a difference in our cooking. Did it ever!
The Safeway brand Italian seasoning is a basic blend of Italian herbs and spices such as oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme (song cue, everyone!). The Morton & Bassett premium blend, however, contains a much more exotic blend of herbs and spices. Here is a quick rundown of the ingredients in the Morton & Bassett premium Italian seasoning: basil, coriander, garlic, paprika, oregano, onion, sage, parsley, thyme, and black pepper. While there is a lot of overlap in the ingredients between these two varieties of Italian seasoning, the addition of such ingredients as paprika and black pepper gives the Morton & Bassett brand Italian seasoning a zesty flavor that traditional Italian seasoning often lacks. Since often I will add these ingredients in addition to a basic Italian seasoning anyways, it was a pleasant to surprise to find all these ingredients already combined into one seasoning blend.
As mentioned above, the Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning contains paprika. This is actually somewhat of an understatement, as paprika is clearly a major component of the Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning, as indicated by the burnt red color of the seasoning mix overall. I myself am a lover of paprika, and I use paprika in a number of my favorite dishes. Not everyone is partial to paprika, however, and those people may prefer the basic Safeway brand Italian seasoning to the Morton & Bassett premium blend.
One of my favorite recipes is an olive oil based dipping oil for bread. I typically include a hefty dose of Italian seasoning, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, and some salt. As an experiment I tried making a batch of dipping oil using only the Morton & Bassett premium Italian seasoning and salt. While the lack of fresh garlic clearly had a negative impact on the dipping oil overall, I was impressed with how well the Morton & Bassett seasoning held its own as the only seasoning used to flavor the olive oil. The end result did not have the pungency of fresh garlic, but there was a clear strength of flavor that the basic Safeway Italian seasoning would have lacked if I had tried the Safeway brand in its place. An excellent use of the Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning would be to infuse the seasoning into some olive oil and to let it age a while. The Morton & Bassett brand is robust enough to be the primary seasoning in a dish and it requires very little to be added for it to carry its weight.
While the Morton & Bassett is labeled as an Italian seasoning, the addition of paprika, garlic, and black pepper make the Morton & Bassett brand Italian seasoning appropriate for use in nearly any variety of Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern cuisine. I am so impressed with the Morton & Bassett seasoning blend that I anticipate that it will become a staple in our kitchen, and I hope never to be without it.
The downside of relying on a premium seasoning blend is clear: the price. It is much more expensive to purchase a premium seasoning blend than a store brand blend. But in this case, the extra cost seems justified. While the result of using Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning still cannot compare to using fresh herbs and spices in one’s cooking, the Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning should easily beat most of the competition in terms of flavor, strength, uniqueness, and quality. If you are so inclined, go ahead and plop down a couple of extra bucks for some Morton & Bassett Italian seasoning when shopping for ingredients for your favorite Italian or Mediterranean dish. I am sure that you will be as impressed as I am, and you will likely enjoy the unique experience this blend can impart even to your favorite traditional dishes.
