Restarting a Spice Collection


 
B

Brad Benski

TVWBB Super Fan
What would you recommend for starting a new spice collection. In the process of doing housecleaning with the new year and decided I might as well clean out the cupboard and was thinking of getting some of those spice tins and mounting to the back side of the door with magnetic strips.

In time I imagine the collection would grow large, which is why it's going on the back of the pantry door. Looking to get as many "whole" spices as possible and grinding per recipe.

What would you suggest for starters and "broadening" experiences?

Later,
Brad.
 
Brad
I live in Austin, Tx and here our great megamart is HEB. They sell bulk fresh spices at quite a cheap price. We haven't bought any spices in the tins or jars in a very long time. Most of the time we get just enough of a spice for a recipe except for a few that we get a larger supply. All of them are in small plastic bags.

My wife and I both think this is the way to go.
No waste nothing too old, only problem is where to store the plastic bags
 
Brad, just stock up on any spice or herb in whole seed, berry, or leaf form. Such as cumin, coriander, bay leafs, whole berry black pepper...and I recommend tellicherry. So on and so on. Also check out the dried peeper selection...some of these you may need to dry out in the oven a bit more..but they grind up nicely. You could also dry your own. If you don't already have one, buy you a cheap dehydrator, thinly slice some onions and/or garlic and dry these out. Just crumble enough to fit in a jar and grind to a powder just before using or mixing up in a rub. Also try heating up a cast iron skillet and toasting your whole spices before grinding, this adds a whole new dimension of flavor.

Good luck and have fun shopping
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Weldon
 
Brad,

To help you come up with potential spices/dried herbs; I'd recommend going through recipes and noting what spices are used in the recipes you find appealing. Taste is subjective, so people won't necessarily agree on 'the must have spices'. To broaden your palette, think of dishes from around the world that you may not have prepared yourself - include
Southeast Asian, Indian, Northern Africa, Spanish, true interior Mexican (not the typical Americanized stuff), etc. Research recipes from those areas and see what spices are used. Brad has an excellent suggestion as I too use Central Market (part of HEB) for bulk spices. If you have a Whole Foods or Penzey's retail location nearby; go there and purchase small quantities to test - you'll save a lot of money.

Paul
 
I live in the Dallas area and go to Central Market too. I've got tons of partial plastic pouches of herbs and spices some are several years old and the labels are "unreadable" so you forget what they are. When I get back home it's in the trash with them.

Didn't realize there was a Penzy's in Dallas, will have to check it out.

What about quality. I've got some whole cloves, Cumin seeds, and Corriander from an Indian grocery which were much less expensive than other sources but I sometimes wonder about the quality, i.e. is the stuff I got really a great deal or just lower quality?

I must say that toasting and grinding the whole spices fresh to make things like Garum Masala is so much better than using the store bought stuff, especially in terms of the fragrance that the fresh ground gives off and how that effects the taste of stuff.
 
here is a portion of my inventory that includes typical whole spices:

ALLSPICE
BAY
CELERY SEED
CINNAMON CASSIA
CINNAMON CEYLON
CLOVE
CORIANDER SEED
CUMIN SEED
FENNEL SEED
JUNIPER BERRY
NUTMEG
PEPPER BLACK
PEPPER GREEN
PEPPER WHITE
SZECHUAN PEPPER

along with granulated garlic and onion, dried herbs (turkish oregano, thyme, marjoram, epazote), and ground and whole chiles (ancho, new mex, chipotle, paprika) you'll have a lot covered.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tommy T (thebeeman):
Question?? Spices to freeze or not to freeze??
Tommy </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I haven't tried it but a quick search seems to indicate many whole spices and some ground spices do fairly well in the freezer. You probably would want to use airtight containers or vacuum packing to keep moisture out and prevent freeze drying.
 
Brad
Most of the suggestions her are good but may not cover your taste, cooking styles or expectations. When I looks at some suggestions I thought "Why would you use that and not this" and then I thought that the writers would defend their suggestions to the bitter end. This sort of makes it subjective. I think that Paul K's suggestion was the best and is what I would do.

Another suggestion is look to see what your common ones are and then see if you can grow them where you live. Fresh from the garden is best.

Cheers
 
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