My collections usually develop gradually during the transition between seasons. This summer’s collection emerged tumultuously, later than usual, in an early summer heat wave and amid serious life agitation and the aftermath of staying in Missouri. In stark contrast to my hopeful spring collection, which focused on movement and the thrill of leaving, this collection serves as a blunt reminder that fragrant beauty can be found in fire and that change, and growth can occur without much movement and in the heat of anger. The garden’s abundant blooms give way to the beauty of this fiery collection, spiced perfectly by my summer fury.

My summer vexation almost overshadowed the beauty found within the intensity, noticed only once stirred by time in Mexico. The garden’s flowers and potent herbs, the intensely beautiful Mexican culture, mango season stress, and extraordinary familial demands were channeled into these salts of delightful intensity. It was in the ferocious heat of my summer herb garden, amidst the non-stop watering and tending, that I noticed how the transformations resembled potent energy and force—embodied by heat—bursting forth almost violently, with a vigor that can only be described as chili-like. That awe-inspiring flavor of something too hot to handle, yet too delightful to turn away, encapsulating both delight and discomfort in one captivating sentiment or taste.

The beauty of intensity became evident as I ventured deep into Mexico for work, just as my garden’s blooms began to gain momentum. Mexico’s heat, humidity, and harsh conditions, combined with the everyday challenges of travel, heightened my agitation, and tested my resilience even further. Yet, these experiences reminded me that simple perseverance, though often minuscule in its vigor, eventually allows anger to release and let go.

As I returned home from Mexico to even hotter temperatures, compounded by new vexatious family drama and newly stocked with over 12 types of dried chili peppers, each with varying heat intensities, my garden’s summer bounty was fully on display.

Flowers. Everything was flowers. Flowers before plants were even fully grown. Flowers despite heat stress. Flowers on plants that shouldn’t bloom for months. Flowers, flowers, flowers.

From the intensity of heat, my fury, the flowers, and the chilies, this collection was born. It is the result of moving through something intense rather than around it—just as plants must do season after season. Instinct propelled by force. Driven by the inertia of heat and anger. This collection is me letting the fire and fury shape me and it. To go into something recklessly and come out of it grown and finished. Hot and aggressive, like my personality. The result is an energy, a heat, an intensity that, like chili peppers, can be hard to pinpoint—that precision of intensity as delight. Each final herb salt makes no apology for how intense or useful it may be.

This collection, born in “el verano de las flores, el verano del calor, y el verano de la fuerza,” symbolizes my ability to endure and serves as a reminder that anger can propel us forward and help us establish better boundaries, cooling us in moments of peak intensity. Just like hot chilies activate the nervous system to trigger your body’s cooling mechanisms, this collection reminds us that getting hot is sometimes necessary for cooling down.

These herb salts, both for cooking and finishing, capture the essence of beginnings and endings without any middle ground. They deliver intense flavors from start to finish, with a constant, lingering, and pleasant heat.

Use generously and creatively.

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*Herbal Roots herbal salts are crafted and available seasonally: Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter.
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