What You Need to Know About Buying, Storing, and Cooking with Spices
It’s no secret that I believe a solid knowledge of spices is essential to great cooking. Proper cooking with spices can elevate the flavour with little effort and minimal cost; that alone is reason to learn how to use spices and incorporate them into daily cooking.
However, cooking with spices doesn’t start with popping a lid and adding the required amount. This post is a good starting point; it is a summary of a Spices 101 series I wrote last spring and is well worth a refresher. At the bottom of each section you can click through to read the full post on each topic.
As I fully believe cooking with spices is one of the simplest way you can transform a forgettable dish into something memorable, I hope you’ll begin your journey with the exotic here.
Buying Spices 101
Learning to source and purchase fresh, quality products is paramount when learning to cook well with spices. Here are my top five tips:
1. Avoid Supermarket Spices
Products on the shelves of your average grocery chain my have been there for a year or more, and they likely sat in a warehouse up to a year before that. Since the average shelf life of ground spices is six months, chances are you’re buying stale spices.
2. Purchase Whole Spices
- Purchase whole spices and grind them yourself to retain maximum potency and ensure a fuller flavor.
- Whole spices will stay fresher, longer.
- You know what you are getting with whole spices. Ground spices may have other ingredients such as salt, rice or flour mixed in. Also, ground spices are not required to be free of contaminants.
3. Buy the Best Spices You Can Afford
Cheap spices are cheap for a reason; it’s no secret that many contain foreign matter. What kind? I go into more detail here.
- Shop at International markets.
- Source a local spice merchant.
- Shop at a reputable online source.
4. Buy Small Amounts of Spices at a Time
Spices stale quickly, so don’t by them in bulk. Remember, if you’re buying good quality spices, you won’t need to use as much for cooking as they will be much more potent than standard grocery store fare.
5. Whenever Possible, Grow your Own
The best solution for sourcing dried herbs is to grow your own, or purchase from a friend or family member who has a garden.
Read the full post: Spices 101: What You Need to Know About Buying Spices.
Three Options for Grinding Spices
Now that you understand the benefits of buying whole spices, you need to figure out the best way to break them down. As with most kitchen equipment, a simple tool is best for grinding spices; here are my recommendations for three types, each with different benefits.
1. Mortar & Pestle
This ancient, yet effective tool is ideal for crushing small amounts of spices, bruising herbs, and also works well for pestos, curry pastes, or sauces or dips with the mortar taking the place of a mixing bowl.
- Pros: Offers instant results, a fast clean, and a perfumed kitchen.
- Cons: Requires a bit more elbow grease. Not ideal for large amounts.
I get by with this 4-Inch Marble Mortar and Pestle, however, I may need to upgrade to something much larger soon.
2. Electric Coffee Grinder
If you do a lot of cooking, I recommended you purchase an inexpensive coffee grinder and dedicate it to a lifetime of spices. It’s an affordable investment that will simplify your cooking with its fast results.
- Pros: Efficient, effective with tough, stringy spices.
- Cons: Requires some effort to clean, but there are a few tricks that can be learned.
This Krups Fast Touch Coffee Grinder will do the trick perfectly.
3. Microplane
This kitchen tool is useful for spices such as nutmeg, tonka bean and some types of cinnamon. A gourmet’s best friend, it is also handy for grating ginger, garlic, chocolate, citrus rind and many other ingredients.
I use this Microplane for spices and other aromatics.
Read the full post: Spices 101: Three Options for Grinding Spices (Recipe: Quick Mojo Sauce)
Storing Spices 101
When storing spices, your biggest enemies are: air, light, heat, and humidity, so a decorative spice rack conveniently situated above the stove is not doing your spices any favors.
Instead try:
- The freezer
- Inside a cabinet door
- In a drawer
- On a pantry shelf
Open storage can also work if spices are sealed in tins, and counter-top storage is fine, as long it is not near a direct heat source or window.
It’s important to know how to store your quality spices properly so that they’ll maintain their maximum freshness and potency.
Read the full post and learn about the best types of storage containers: Spices 101: Storing Spices (Recipe: Black Pepper Shrimp)
Cooking with Spices
Lydia of The Perfect Pantry shared with us Ten Ingredients You Absolutely, Positively, Must Have on Your Spice Rack. It’s an excellent place to start when building a spice pantry. Remember though, spice varieties appeal to individuals in different ways and that is why the best spices for your kitchen are the ones that makes your senses dance.
Final thought: Be bold. Experiment. And taste, taste, taste. There are few mistakes when it comes to cooking with spices the greatest being under-seasoning.
Does your spice cabinet need a little spring cleaning?
Wonderful tips Aimee! I’m going to have to reevaluate my spice rack!
Thanks for the information! I especially appreciate the comments around where to buy and in small quantities. I recently cleaned out my spice cabinet:
http://girlfriendlifeline.blogspot.com/2011/03/organizing-spice-cabinet.html
and I have a ton of spices still in their original unopened packaging. Does that 6 month clock start from when you open the package?
Thanks!
Your spice cabinet looks great! Really, really great. You’ve got a terrific selection. ‘Yes’ to your question.
Awesome tips… I am totally going to try and buy them whole and grind them. Cant wait to taste something with FRESH spices! 🙂
Great advice from top to bottom, Aimee! I linked to this for my giveaway post. 🙂
This is one of those projects I’ve always meant to tackle. We’re moving soon, so my new resolution is not to take any yucky spices with me. I’ll fill in from scratch!
Also, I buy many of my ethnic spices at ethnic stores and I have found that the taste is so incredibly different that I need to adjust the amount down from what a recipe calls for. My curry powder, that has about two words on it in English (Curry Powder), is so spicy I only put 1/4 of what is called for in any given recipe or it is too spicy to eat!
Good point, Christine. Oftentimes with fresh, good quality spices, we can use far less. So we may pay a little more, but it all balances out!
Great tips, Aimee! Thanks for sharing all these valuable tid-bits.
I love these informative post! So well written and such a great resource.
You can also find fresh spices at an Amish market or sometimes at a farmer’s market.
Great tip, Lauren! One can often find beautiful dried herbs at the local market.
Thanks for the tips!
For storing spices, especially for Indian dishes, which call for a lot of stuff, I suggest buying a Masala Dabba (literally means “spice box”). They are beautiful and convenient. They come in two or more sizes, too.
Stainless Steel Masala Dabba (Traditional Indian Spice Box by SimplyBeautiful)
Thank you, Memoria! That is a fantastic tip. Readers, above is a link to an example on Amazon.
I am sure that cooking with whole spices will make a dish even more flavorful than the spices you buy at the supermarket. I need to implement better spices in my spice repertoire.
Thanks for the informative blog!
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for the great article! I have been looking for a guide like this for a while. 🙂 Definitely bookmarking this!
Thanks for stopping by, Angela! I hope you’ll find the article useful. It’s a subject near and dear to my heart!
I do a pretty good job of using my spices and cleaning them out when I don’t. This is great reminder for everyone that spices don’t last forever!
Great tips! I use parsley, cilantro and basil a lot and I buy it fresh. Just today however, I bought a parsley and basil plant at the farmer’s market. I would love a cilantro plant too, but they didn’t have one!
Bernice
These are really excellent tips. Thanks so much for sharing this very valuable information to us.
What a great post- thanks for the info. Our problem is storage- lots of spices that are trying to crowd into one tiny drawer… sigh…
Great tips, this is very helpful! I have so many spices it’s slightly ridiculous!
I have an old electric coffee grinder. I am trying to grow my own spices, but is not very easy, it requires time.
This article is reminding me how badly I need to go through my giant spice collection and clean house. I have some whole spices, but I should really just get rid of all of the odds and ends of ground spices and mixes that I have. Then I’ll have to upgrade. I just LOVE spices!
Love all of the great tips Aimee, seriously! I’m printing this out for future use and I thinking that it should be laminated to my pantry door.
It works the same today as it did new, and I use it about 10 times a week. For the money, it can’t be beat. That said, this grinder is not for everybody.
You can buy bulk spices by the half oz at http://www.sensiblespices.com for less than $1 shipping included. Fresh, affordable and small amounts that won’t sit in your spice rack for years.
Thanks for the spice tips. It is a great reminder to get rid of old spices which i really need to do.