Take your cooking to the next level of umami with a pinch of Stiff Salt. The local purveyors of small-batch gourmet salts blend in flavours such as sriracha, garlic, chipotle and orange ginger. The exotic-tasting Szechuan variety, which we sampled, brings a tingling numbness to the lips, which Szechuan pepper is supposed to do. It’s $9.50 for a 4-ounce bag, plus shipping, at stiffsalt.com or off the shelf at Lucky Penny Café, 189 Shaw St.

Ariel Teplitsky