2023, Family, Food, Uncategorized

Spice

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A couple of weeks ago we had an exciting UPS delivery of a box of spices and seasonings from Penzeys. It is always exciting to get a box of spices delivered to the house.

We have ordered spices instead of buying them in the grocery store for decades. The nearest Penzeys store is probably in the Cities or Denver. In Winnipeg there was a bulk spice store we frequented regularly. I think learning to prepare East Indian and Asian foods contributed to our spice inventory. Our justification was that buying from the grocery store was more expensive per ounce and that we were mainly paying for the glass jar.

We typically buy spices in bags and keep them in mason jars. Sometimes we buy a smaller jar of spices we don’t want to have too much of and have it go stale. Here are photos of our spice cupboards.

Husband has a special shelf just for his grilling spices. I try to organize the jars into whole spices, ground spices, and spice blends.

Both our son and daughter buy spices like we do. Our son has his in a lovely pantry off his kitchen, in pint jars that are labeled and in alphabetical order. I imagine there are Baboons who have even more spices than we do. I can’t think of a more lovey and useful luxury.

What are your favorite spices and seasonings? How do you store your spices? How do you organize your spices and seasonings?

33 thoughts on “Spice”

  1. Not as many spices as you have, but also buy in bulk (sometimes from Whole Spices in California, sometimes from Cloquet Natural Food store) and put it in jars or spice labeled containers I have bought at shops in France, Sweden, Mankato, St. Peter and Cloquet. Jars are small so almost all fit in one shelf, most commonly used fit on a little shelf over the counter. Most frequently used are cinnamon, turmeric, ginger and Herbes de Provence. I prefer fresh rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, dill, especially if I have them in pots in the house. .Cynthia “Life is a shifting carpet…learn to dance.”

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    2. Asafoetida makes for a great banishing incense (assuming you don’t mind if every consecrated tool and talisman in the room is also sandblasted clear!), but I prefer tamarind in Indian food.

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  3. I’ve done it the same way for years. I buy bulk spices at the food Co-op. I have lots of eight ounce Ball jars on one shelf in one cupboard. It’s hard to dedicate one shelf just for spices when I have so little cupboard space. The wide-mouth, half-pint Ball jars are stackable so I can get more in, but sometimes I have to pull them all out to get to the ONE I need, which is all the way in the back and on the bottom of a stack. During the pandemic, the Co-op stopped providing spices in bulk so I bought some of the glass spice jars and I’ve kept them. I find that they take up a little less space and I can see what I have more easily. They can be washed and refilled.

    Spices I use the most are cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, curry, garam masala, Herbs de Provence, Italian seasoning mix, dill, and bay leaves. I prefer fresh basil, parsley, sage, chives, and rosemary. I also like a garlic blend from the cooking store in Northfield that is called Salt Sisters Mojo seasoning. Sometimes I use a small amount of basil pesto as seasoning in a tomato sauce.

    My first crop of basil will be harvested this morning and first batch of pesto will be made today!

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  5. We had quite a few spices on hand when Sandy moved to care, many of which Sandy liked the idea of and I, the cook, did not know how to use. So I gave almost all of them to my daughter and Mr. Tuxedo, who do use lots of spices. Cooking alone is right now a burden much less worrying about learning to use spices. I have a few on hand but really only use about five.
    Eye doctor today, medical visit three of four this week.

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  6. That many spices is like me in the paint store: I get overwhelmed. Just narrow it down to 5 or 6 choices. I use fresh fresh garlic and onions. Salt, pepper. I love the smell of the Italian mix so I use that. I like cutting up my own chives. I use tarragon a lot, mostly just because it reminds me of a friend. Pepper; I haven’t found a good grinder yet.

    My sister used to work for McCormick spices, so I like to buy that because we have stock in the company. (It’s done well).
    My pallet isn’t sensitive enough to tell the flavors apart or a fresh one from a bulk one. But I can taste when the milk is goes bad. 🙂

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  7. I have lots of favorites: cardamom, apple pie spice, dill, basil (Italian and holy), cumin, garlic, sweet curry powder, lemon pepper, garam masala, chili powder, nutritional yeast aka nooch. Bay, of course; I use bay leaves in soup and bean dishes all the time. Coriander/cilantro is the only herb or spice I can think of ATM that I really don’t care for. I need to find or make salt-free Greek and Cajun seasonings. We usually get our spices from Lunds or United Noodle, which reminds me I need to see if UN has garlic-ginger paste back in stock.

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    1. I forgot black pepper! Can’t eat without black pepper! My ex-hippie friend (who is now in memory care) had a very nice wood pepper mill, which she’d gotten from Penzey’s years ago. I was able to rescue it from the house during the great clean-out this spring, after her husband died. It’s rather depressing to think of her every time I use the pepper mill, but it’ll get better eventually.

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  8. Faves are cinnamon, basil, thyme, and smoked paprika. The organization is nearly non-existent: one corner cupboard with two lazy susans and a pull-out tray with large jars and duplicates. Storage is just there in the cupboards.

    Fresh herbs especially are far superior to dry but sometimes cost-prohibitive. We grow a little bit of basil, thyme, parsley, and a few others every summer, but don’t use fresh all that much during the season for some reason.

    Chris in Owatonna
    *Sort of a BSP** (celebrating because I just ordered print copies of Little “Mountain, Big Trouble” and should have them in hand for the Raspberry Festival Marketplace in Hopkins on July 15!

    If anyone is desperate to order a print copy now, you can do that at Amazon now, but you won’t be able to order from your bookstore for a few more days.) **END sort of a BSP**

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  9. I used my spice jars in kitchen design in Robbinsdale. McCormick used to have these nicely shaped jars with light-green lids. I got a “starter set” once when my mom moved.
    I would by my bulk herbs/spices at the co-op, and then arrange them alphabetically on an open shelf I created in the kitchen – now they’re on a similar shelf at back of counters on either side of sink. They’re handy, out of the way, herbs on the left, spices on the right. Then there are more above the stove…

    Probably have everything under the sun, but mostly use Italian blend, caraway seed, basil and dill weed (fresh right now) from the garden, smoked paprika, ground mustard and ginger…

    Sorry for long url, but here are the jars: https://www.ebay.com/itm/134575104531?chn=ps&var=434083786938&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=434083786938_134575104531&targetid=4581183927179147&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=418233787&mkgroupid=1241348861725295&rlsatarget=pla-4581183927179147&abcId=9300542&merchantid=51291&msclkid=7eaf0395f7fd1a1df1b567019bafda12

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  11. The biggies for me are basil, cumin, oregano, chili, thyme, rosemary. I have plenty of others, but those are my hit parade. I have an old old old spice rack that I got when I was very first married back in the 70s. It has glass jars with cork tops in a wooden holder that hangs on the wall. YA detests it and every few years tries to get me to buy a new one. I did tell her that I would let her get new labels if she wanted to because some of the labels have even come off, but she hasn’t availed herself of this option yet. I cling stubbornly to the spice rack because it works for me. I buy most of my spices at the co-op because I like that I can just get 3 tablespoons and not have to pay a gargantuan amount for a glass jar that I’m just going to recycle. I’m close enough to the co-op that buying spices a little more often because I’m always buying in small quantities, is not a problem.

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  14. I love to use spices, herbs and other seasonings when cooking.

    Fresh garlic and ginger are as essential as salt and pepper so far as I’m concerned. Possibly because I don’t bake, I don’t use a lot of cinnamon, and the cinnamon I do use, is usually whole (not ground) and removed before serving the dish. The same holds true for cloves, cardamom (several different kinds), and star anise. I also have an old coffee grinder that is dedicated solely to grinding spices, and of course, I use a mortar and pestle fairly regularly. I don’t use a lot of spice blends, not because I don’t like them, but because I usually have all the individual spices and herbs I need to create my own; the one exception is Herbes de Provence. Though I do use several different kinds of ground peppers and paprika, I also usually have an assortment of dried whole peppers on hand; those get used mostly in Mexican and various Asian dishes.

    Hans rarely cooks, so I’ve always arranged my herbs and spices the way it makes sense to me. I have a lazy Susan next to the stove that holds the flavorings I use most frequently, and a cabinet where the rest of them are stored, admittedly pretty haphazardly. I recognize the containers of Hungarian paprika and asafoetida and many of the other specialty flavorings, so I don’t appreciate it when husband attempts to “organize” them by transferring them to identical clear glass bottles; then I can’t just eyeball them and know what’s what.

    O.T. My domestic fairy was here today, the first time since the end of March (because of that back entryway remodel.) It feels great to once again have a reasonably clean house!

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  15. My sister has a spice rack she assembled from an old wooden Coca Cola crate and baby food jars, with round labels on the lids of the jars.

    My spices aren’t all that well organized, Some spices I have more than one jar. Cinnamon gets used in a variety of ways, so I have a jar with a shaker lid, for sprinkling on pie crust or toast, and another jar without the shaker lid, just a screw-on lid, for spooning out a half teaspoon or so at a time.

    Most spices I like to buy from the bulk bins, so I can buy small quantities, but I go through quite a bit of black pepper, cinnamon, chili powder, cumin, and onion flakes, so those I usually get in the Penzey’s bags. I used to use a lot of rosemary too, but I haven’t made the rosemary focaccia lately. I’ll have to revisit that recipe when the weather cools off.

    Penzey’s has a lot of offers for free jars of their blends, so I have quite a few of those around. They have names like Fox Point, Forward, Justice, Tuscan Sunset, and so on. When I make bean soup I like to toss in a blend – kinda like “surprise me” – the soup is a little different every time.

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