Interview with our product developer Yvan Keijlewer

At Natural Spices you are at the right place for small and large packaging of seasonings, the development of your own products under private label and recently also for the kitchen spices – both professionals and home cooks can buy their essentials in our webshop. But before you get our 100% natural taste makers, product developer Yvan has already put a lot of knowledge, passion and love into it. We are happy to give you a look behind the scenes and have interviewed Yvan about the development process of the taste makers. At the end of this blog you will also find nice tips for getting started with taste makers yourself!

Working from the heart

Yvan has a huge passion for cooking. He prefers to share this passion and his cooking skills with family and friends. He likes to use herbs such as oregano, basil and rosemary in his dishes, because the Italian cuisine is his favorite. You can certainly contact him for a delicious Melanzane alla parmigiana. Yvan works from his heart; with all his passion and drive he develops the products for Natural Spices.

Development process - products under private label

When you enter Yvan's kitchen, you imagine yourself in the atmosphere of herbs and spices. One thing is certain then: Yvan is busy developing new products with all his enthusiasm. Every now and then he lets you taste something, explaining on which project he is working now. Furthermore, the whiteboard on the wall is full of new ideas and there are various samples on the table, ready to be tested or to go to the customer.

Yvan explains: “You can contact us for the optimization of existing products, but also for the development and production of new products. At all times we enter into dialogue with the customer and go through all requirements: What product characteristics should the product have? Consider, for example, fat-free, low-sugar, salt-free and allergen-free. Which ingredients should and should not be included? What does the perfect color and texture look like? Then, I look which existing raw materials we have in house and then experiment with them. Within the company we are certified for these raw materials, so that we can assure the customer of a product of top quality.”

Yvan continues: “The biggest challenge is to create the perfect balance of taste, color and viscosity. It is precisely this challenge that I enjoy most about customization ”, he says with a smile. “To achieve this, I need to add or remove the ingredients in a reduced manner. Because I am the contact person and no further intermediaries are involved, we can switch quickly if an adjustment needs to be made. “Ultimately, we go for the best result - while meeting all the customer's wishes.”

Would you like to know more about customization? Read more here.

Development process - consumer line

In addition to private label seasonings and individual seasonings in small and large packaging, we recently started our own kitchen spices. Yvan tells: "my priority was creating flavor with 100% natural herbs and without additives. And I have taken into account its various applications. For example, you can use the Smoothie Operator in various smoothies." Speaking of Yvan’s favorite spice mix: “Rosemary’s Chicken!”

Do you want to know more about the consumer line? We wrote a nice blog about that!

How to use the taste makers? 

Yvan explains: “In principle, there are no rules for making a homemade spice mix or sauce. Keep in mind that all products already have a nice taste of their own. Seasonings support this; you don't have to use a lot of it ”, Yvan advises. He continues: “salt and pepper give an upgrade to your dishes as standard. You can continue from that basis. Consider, for example, adding basil or oregano for a tomato sauce. Or a spice mix for minced meat with pepper, salt, nutmeg, mace and cardamom. Are you making a sauce? Then Yvan gives the tip that you can bind them with binders such as starch and the sauce binders from Natural Spices. ”

Would you like to know more about the development process or do you want to collaborate? Then contact us. We are of course also very curious about your creations! Share them with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.