Spice Rack

It’s the time of year I do an inventory and make my annual spice order.

I wanted to end that sentence with multiple exclamation points.  I consider this a big event!

I take my spice collection seriously.  I inherited that from my mom.  Mom’s collection of recipes was vast.  Because she liked to try new recipes, she had quite a few spices.  I was pretty excited when I finally grew to the point where I could open up the spice cupboard and nose around.  Luckily for me, the spices were on the bottom shelf.  I never grew enough to reach the second shelf.

Mom always had a turntable of spices and little plastic baskets for envelopes of spice mixes and rubs.  She was a big fan of Lawry’s spice mixes for chili, stew, Stroganoff.

Her turntable included a variety of spices, but leaned heavily on baking spices for that sweet tooth of hers.  She had whole and ground spices so from an early age, I knew about the natural form of spiky cloves, tiny allspice orbs, and sticks of cinnamon.  She had little bottles of extracts that I equated to magic potions, super charged aromas of vanilla, almond, and  peppermint. 

I remember when Mom and I found real nutmeg.  Somehow we read or heard that it was much better than the ground nutmeg from our local grocery store.  We picked up a little bag of the acorns of nutmeg, bought a rasp, and never looked back.  We felt so sophisticated.

When I moved into my first apartment, Mom made sure to set me up with my own spice collection.  She always made sure that I had a good turntable and she taught me to line it with a circle of waxed paper or contact paper so it would be easy to clean.

I realize that I’ve followed in my mom’s footsteps.  The more I cook, the longer I cook, the more I want to experiment with new spices.  I have two turntables now and a basket of bags of spices.  Whenever I reach for one it makes me happy.  When I want to try a new recipe, I can say, Oh, I have that spice!  Or wait, what is that?  I need to find that one and try it.

I have a few standards on my turntable now, like my homemade taco seasoning.  Once I learned how much salt was in those seasoning envelopes at the store, I started making my own.  Years ago I tried Emeril’s Essence seasoning and have had a jar of that on hand ever since.  I make cinnamon sugar and keep it handy for G.  His beloved grandma put that on his toast when he was a kid so it’s a tradition here.

Once I started cooking more, I invested in a grinder devoted to spices.  Having whole spices to toast and grind for rubs is a bonus for a spice nut like me.  Studying global cuisines has led me to making my own garam masala and toasting and grinding dried chiles for mole.  I’ve collected different chili powders like ancho and chipotle, sweet, hot, and smoked paprikas.  I’ve learned about Middle Eastern blends of Za’atar and Baharat, Ras el hanout from Northern Africa.  i keep a small collection of different salts and peppercorns.  I keep those whole spices of clove, allspice and star anise for batches of wassail and cider in the fall and winter.  

When we lived in Michigan, there was a Penzey’s spice store north of Detroit.  Whenever we were in the vicinity, I’d make G stop there for a stroll through the aisles.  In addition to the jars you could buy at the grocery store, they had small, medium, and large bags of spices so I could buy more of something I really liked or used a lot.

I found a neighborhood spice shop in San Francisco too, Spice Ace (no longer there).  My friend Rachel and I would peruse the shelves and shelves of spices from all over the world along with salt and pepper mills and mortars and pestles.

Since we’ve moved so much in the last few years, I started to order spices online from Savory Spice since I can’t depend on a local spice store.  I look forward to the fall when it’s time for my annual spice order to load up my turntables and get ready for the holiday cooking and baking season.

My delivery just arrived!