Spice

Miriam Eva and Rüdiger Kebe have been handcrafting over a hundred products in Lichterfelde since 2004, from organic Ras-el-Hanout to the seven-part spice salt series Meehr Salz. The manufactory, shop, and café are together on almost 300 square meters. For exotic spices and ingredients, this means: pure single ingredients instead of ready-made mixes.

Opposite the Adlon, Curry Wolf grills the Berlin currywurst with or without skin, served with twice-fried chips and the house chilli sauce Opium. As a gift for men the sausage goes over the counter in a swing-top jar, alongside a currywurst gin of its own and vouchers for a Berlin menu for two people, redeemable at both stands.

Eftekhar Mian's warehouse sale at Volkspark Humboldthain offers nearly 500 items, including twenty chili varieties up to Carolina Reaper and seventeen pepper varieties from Timut to Andaliman. The house blends, from rose harissa to chakalaka, are made according to their own recipes. For exotic spices and ingredients, this is one of the most comprehensive addresses in Wedding.

In 1982, Adib Harb founded Berlin's first Arabian delicacy import business on Potsdamer Straße; today, his children run the establishment. Spices, from Za'atar and Sumac to Mahlab, are cold-ground. They also offer Tahini from cold-ground sesame and wines from Château Ksara. Exotic ingredients are also available here unpackaged in household quantities.

Germany's first chili specialty shop opened in Hannover in 2007. Since 2009, Das Pfefferhaus has also been in Berlin, and since 2017 at Boxhagener Platz. The chili sauces are sorted by heat level, plus there are 119 spice articles and a Mexico section. The pepper selection ranges from Tellicherry to Andaliman to Voatsiperifery.

Neumann-Gewürze has been milling in its own premises on Friedenauer Hauptstraße since 1996 and offers around 2,000 items, from Ceylon and Cassia cinnamon sticks to galangal root and Himalayan crystal salt. Most mixtures are salt-free and without flavor enhancers. For a long time, the company only supplied the gastronomy sector, but since 2016, private individuals can also shop here.

Michael Bär has been running a family business in Berlin's Steglitz Kieler Straße since 2004, which calls itself Berlin's first spice manufactory. More than 240 herbs, spices, and proprietary blends are weighed on-site; pepper is sorted by origin, from Kampot to Cumeo to Malabar. In addition, there are kitchen goods from cast iron pans to Japanese knives.

Steffen Bogs runs a spice manufactory with around 174 products on Rungestraße in Mitte, whose focus is revealed by its name: eleven cinnamon items from Ceylon to Vietnam and eighteen pepper varieties from fermented Kampot to Patagonia. The blends are created in small batches, and in the shop, customers can smell, compare, and taste before buying.

Chutnify in Prenzlauer Berg demonstrates how much Indian cuisine has to offer beyond the standard menu. The South Indian-inspired restaurant, founded by Aparna Aurora, has been known for over ten years for homemade chutneys, crispy dosas, and regional dishes from across the subcontinent. There are now three locations in Berlin.

Kantstraße 101 marks the beginning of Berlin's Asia Mile, and the go asia supermarket is the place to shop there. The chain's assortment includes more than 7,000 items from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam, with Thai fruits and vegetables flown in. Exotic ingredients like bok choy or miso paste are found here on the regular shelves.

Since 2006, Berit Herzer has been running a specialist shop in the Marheineke Market Hall, where around 145 varieties of medicinal herbs and about 197 spices are weighed and filled. Trained naturopaths advise on origin and application. Among the exotic spices and ingredients, the pepper shelf, ranging from Kampot to Tasmania, is particularly striking.

In 2005, Nguyen Van Hien founded a wholesale market on the former VEB Elektrokohle site in Lichtenberg, which today spans 165,000 square meters and houses over 400 businesses. The food department alone offers around 10,000 items. For exotic spices and ingredients, this means: fresh herbs, chilies, fish sauce, and Vietnamese coffee all in one place.

Ever heard of varieties like banana mustard, pear mustard, strawberry mustard or buddy mustard with licorice?