A CURRY-LOVING mum’s spice mixes hit the shelves of a major supermarket in time for National Curry Week.

Spice Pots, a range of dry spice blends designed to make cooking curry easier, are being stocked in more than 1,000 Aldi stores throughout the UK and Ireland.

Melanie Auld’s creations consist of four curry powder blends – korma (mild), bhuna (medium), tandoori (medium) and Goan (hot).

Each blend of spices, which comes in 40g pots providing eight servings, is 100 per cent natural and vegan, with ingredients including coriander, cumin, fenugreek, black pepper and cloves.

The nationwide Aldi listing is the latest step in a journey which began with a trip to India in the 1990s and came to life a decade later in the kitchen of an isolated house on Scotland’s west coast.

Melanie said: “When I started blending spices in my kitchen, it was just a shortcut for me to be able to cook tasty and healthy curries for my family, while I was so busy with my three young sons.

“I didn’t start with a grand plan, but it gradually grew from word of mouth among friends and me spending lots of days selling at farmers’ markets and getting listings with small stockists around the country.

“As it’s become more popular, I could see its potential, so my ambition has grown and I set my sights on selling in larger volumes and this listing with Aldi is a dream turned into a reality.”

The mum-of-three first fell in love with spices and curry in 1993 while working and travelling in India.

Back in the UK, making authentic Indian curries from scratch – by roasting whole spices, grinding them and then adding other whole spices to create perfectly balanced dishes – became a passion.

In 2014, the former events manager, who now lives in Gullane, took the plunge and turned her spice blends into a business.

Spice Pots is now on sale in more than 400 stockists across Scotland, England and Ireland.

In January, Aldi stocked Spice Pots, which is now based in Haddington, in its 92 Scottish stores for the first time, with sales so successful that the curry powders will now be available across Aldi’s UK network of stores.

Lucy Husband, market development and business engagement director at Scotland Food & Drink, added: “Spice Pots is a fantastic business, with the Goan blend picking up a Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Award in 2018, so we’re delighted to see Aldi bringing this award-winning product to more consumers.”