The second shelf
Once the basic seven are in the cupboard, a second round of eight opens up most of the recipes you are likely to meet. Add red pepper flakes, chili powder, smoked paprika, ground coriander, dried oregano, dried thyme, bay leaves and cinnamon. Resist the forty-jar rack sold as a set. Half of it will be spices you never open, and all of it was ground long before you bought it.
Buy small and buy fresh
Spices do not spoil in any way that will hurt you. They simply fade, and ground spices fade fastest. Count on about a year or two of good flavor from ground spices, one to three years from dried leafy herbs, and three to four years from whole spices such as peppercorns, cumin seed and nutmeg. Test a jar by rubbing a pinch between your fingers. If you have to hunt for the smell, the jar is finished.
This is the argument for buying small amounts. Bulk bins let you take home two tablespoons for well under a dollar. International groceries sell the same cumin and coriander in plain bags for a fraction of the supermarket jar price.
Keep them from heat and steam
The rack above the stove is the worst place in the kitchen for spices, since heat, light and steam are exactly what strip their flavor. Use a closed cupboard or a drawer away from the oven. Do not shake a jar directly over a steaming pot, because the moisture that rises into it turns the contents into a brick. Measure into your hand or a spoon first.
Get more from each spoonful
- Bloom ground spices in hot oil for thirty to sixty seconds before the liquid goes in, which carries their flavor through the whole dish.
- Toast whole spices in a dry skillet over medium heat for a minute or two, until fragrant, and then grind them.
- Add dried herbs early so they have time to soften and give up their flavor, and add fresh herbs at the end.
- Substitute one teaspoon of a dried herb for one tablespoon of the fresh herb.
- Grind black pepper from a mill as you need it, because pre-ground pepper tastes mostly of dust.
Spices burn quickly, and burnt spices are bitter. Have the next ingredient ready before they hit the pan.
Tip Read the ingredient list on any seasoning blend. When salt comes first you are paying spice prices for salt, and you lose control of how salty the dish becomes.
