The mystery of the spices unlocked!

The spice thing going on in your very own kitchen right this very instant can be overwhelming;  How long do I have before my spices go bad?  Should I buy a small or a big bottle?  Should I use fresh or dried?  Which brand is better?  How should I store them?  There always seems to be questions about them.  I used to get wrapped up in all of that, then I attacked my spice anxiety head on and learned to look at the whole thing simply.

First of all, no matter what you hear about the shelf life of herbs and spices, your sense of smell and taste can help you quickly figure it out.  If your in a quandary over a jar you just found hiding in the dark recesses of your cupboard, open up the jar and smell it.  If the smell is strong, most likely the spice is still good.  Taste the spice to check for old musty taste.  If your jars are stored on a dark shelf away from extreme heat, and kept tightly closed, you have a long time before you have to worry.  It's not like old jars of spices go rancid and become poisonous, but using a spice that is way too old can ruin your sixteen step Paella that your party of ten has been salivating over.

Generally, I stock those spices that I use most and rarely buy them in large containers except the spices that I call "staples" in my kitchen, such as granulated garlic, dried parsley, onion powder, red chili powder flakes, seasoning salt, sea and kosher salts, black and white peppercorns and italian seasoning. Those are much more cost effective in the larger containers.  I pick them up at Sam's Club except for the salts.  My biggest trick in saving money buying spices lies in purchasing them at my local small mexican food store.  I have a few stores to choose from.  Overall, they are pretty standard in their inventory with a few exceptions.  When I need to purchase Star Anise for example, only one of the three stores carries it.  The beauty is, these spices are sold in small bags.  For me, these bags are just big enough to last a couple months...there is no time for them to possibly grow too old to use.  When I get them home, I store them in old recycled spice jars. The other great thing is that spices sold this way are so darn cheap.  I have even seen Saffron in one of these stores.  The spice brands sold in the major grocery stores these days are getting more and more expensive.  If you haven't spice shopped this way, you need to know that sometimes the labels are either in spanish or worded differently than in a regular grocery store. For instance Bay Leaves may be labeled as Laurel Leaves or Hojas de Laurel.

Now here is where the fun comes in.  I use coffee grinders to quickly and instantly pulverize whole spices whenever possible.  The flavors are more alive and vibrant this way.  I have one for savory spices, one for sweet spices and one for my dried chilies.  There is nothing like the flavors of fresh ground cumin seed or coriander seed or whole cloves.  Grinding whole dried chipotle chilies makes such an amazing difference over pre ground product.  It's sort of like grinding coffee beans, once you start, its hard to go back to pre-ground...it's just not the same. This method even allows me to create spice combinations for Mole's and other flavor intensive dishes.  I just throw all the whole ingredients into a grinder and everything is ground to a powder at once.  I grind half a slice of bread afterwards for cleaning out the remnant spices.  It works like a charm.

With fresh herbs, the trick is to wrap them in paper towels and store in your refrigerator in Ziploc bags.  Their shelf life goes way up and no more discovering gross green gooeyness in your bag of curley parsley you bought three weeks ago.  Growing your own spices is a culinary treat and at the end of their seasons, simply prune what is left and dry in your kitchen on cookie sheets and store in Ziploc bags.  There are a few spices that no matter how you slice it make a big impact in your cooking used fresh but only marginally when used in their dried forms, such as Basil and Cilantro.


Sometimes I get into a spice snob mode and purchase online from Penzeys Spices http://www.penzeys.com/ .
I only mention them because they are like the "Viceroy" of spice companies.  You won't be saving money this way, but they will have any spice you can think of or desire.  The benefit to Penzey's is you have a whole choice in sizes of containers and bags that the spices come in and the quality and flavors are always top of the line.  I have to shop on-line here in New Mexico, but walk in stores are sprouting up in many states.  If nothing else, get onto their mailing list and get their free catalog that is mailed out several times, throughout the year. 

In closing all I can say is that If today's blog hasn't added some spice into your life well I don't know what! 

may your pepper corns always be peppery,

robert