Wednesday 1 February 2012

Herbs and Spices.


It's often said that Mr Colman made his money from the mustard that was left on the side of the plate. Of course he actually made his money simply by selling mustard powder, regardless of whether it was eaten or not.
I was just going through my dried herbs and spices cupboard (everyone has one similar to the above), and I found a jar of juniper berries that I took great pains to pick (literally) some 10-15 years ago. I haven't used a single one. It went to the dustbin.

So, I got to wondering how many £ millions, if not £ billions worth of never-to-be-used expensive spices are holed-up in the back of cupboards throughout the world. Also, the amount of fresh herbs that are grown in ostentatious herb-gardens and never come close to a kitchen; it must be enormous.

Other than Salt and Pepper, I mostly use Curry powder, Raz el Hanout, smoked Paprika, Cumin (ground and seed), 5 Spice Powder, Garam Masala, Cinnamon, and one or two others. I also use dried Herbes de Provence, dried Parsley, Lime Leaves, Mint, and Oregano. All other herbs come fresh from the garden; as do some of those that I also use dried.

I could quite probably chuck out a load more jars from the cupboard; but (as they say), you just never know when something might be needed!

Remember those 1960's spice racks? They're still screwed to walls in kitchens all over the place, and the jars remain untouched; after 50 years you can imagine what treasures lie within. Have you noticed that they always turn up at car boot sales. YUK!


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22 comments:

  1. I own two large glass bottles of spices.

    One is "HP" and one is "Tomato".

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    Replies
    1. I thought HP was used for cleaning the inside of ovens!

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  2. This is a sore spot in our house. My H likes to cook and he is forever finding new recipes, buying expensive jars of this or that, from which he uses just a teaspoon and they end up in the back of the cupboard!
    I have fresh herbs, rosemary, sage, thyme bay, etc and grow Thai basil from seed every year, which is one of my favourite spices (rather aniseedy).
    Then the basics, cumin, coriander etc I have not tried lime leaves, maybe you might post a recipe?

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    Replies
    1. Kath, the only time I use dried Lime Leaves is in Thai style curries... so quite often.

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  3. The Egyptians were hurried with their spices. I have enough to bury a small city. It is so hard to throw away an expensive jar when you only used 1/4 of a teaspoon - even if it was three years ago.

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  4. With visiting cooks using my kitchen, I find mysterious jars in cupboards after they depart...garlic powder? onion powder? why would anyone ever need these? Out go the contents, but I do like to keep the little glass jars they often come in.
    My rule is if you can't identify the spice/herb just by the scent of it anymore, it's probably time for it to go.
    Dried basil, oregano, thyme, herb de provence, coriander seed and bay leaf, with a potted rosemary plant get us through the winter...fresh from the garden for the summer. Curry powder, garam masala, tumeric, cumin, cinnamon, and my handy-dandy nutmeg grater for the spices. All Spice, savoury, ground cloves just for Christmas. I've never heard of Raz el hanout...had to look that one up Cro...very exotic ingredients, presumably for lamb?

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    Replies
    1. Raz el Hanout (literally 'top of the shelf') is a mix of spices from North Africa used in tagines, roasts, etc. I mostly sprinkle it on chicken before roasting.

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  5. My sister and I were talking about just this subject the other day. I started going through the spice cupboard and still did not throw a thing out!! We suggested smaller jars of the rarely used spices.

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  6. My small collection is in a drawer..maybe it's time to have a heave ho day.

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  7. I grow most of my own herbs in my garden, for both my kitchen and for the farmer's market, for my customers who have developed a taste for fresh herbs out here in the middle of hillbilly hell. I also dehydrate my own herb and salt mixes.
    I usually do not throw any other type of spice out, in fact, sometimes I mix some together for something totally new!
    Herb cupboards are I think all about the same, all over the world, Mr. M.

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  8. We recently chucked a trash can load of spices, teas, expired meds and OTCs, canned goods and such. Amazing how much accumulated over the years. Kept the mystery loaf from the back of the fridge though. Tasted funny but oh the colors ... the colors.

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  9. so true for all of us! smoked paprika that sounds worth trying. I will always remember the summer we grew the best garden we've ever had. We lived in Nebraska. We grew enough basil for the whole state! Guess what everyone got for Christmas that year!

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  10. Lol what a hoot!!! daughter in law looked at mine about one year ago and called out.."do you think 1983 is too old to keep"ykkes" ot they all went ..
    I do love the smell of my spice cupboard though..most of mine are for pickling etc..Bob has his favourite he puts in everything he makes,it is Australian Bush MIx and consists of things like Lemon Myrtle and Qundongs.. and is quite lovely bit not on everything!

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  11. I have to hold my hands up and say that I have a 1960's spice rack on my kitchen wall with some very 'interesting' spice jars on it which I've never used.

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  12. I had a proper cleanout of my spice cupboard before moving to my current location. Amazing the things i found.

    In my current home, i've only had 4 years to get the spice cupboard up and running. So far, so good.

    megan

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  13. my understanding is that dried herbs and spices last about a year...ground ones about 6 mos. I have thrown out a LOT of spices over the years. I grown my own thyme, sage, parsley and chives because I use them a lot. I'll bet herb/spice companies make lots of money on their products and I can't even imagine how many out of date spices there are in people's kitchen. Yikes!

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    Replies
    1. Some say as little as 3 months... but they would say that, wouldn't they!

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  14. You know what I love? Going to my mom's house. All her spices are the same shade of pale. When the paprika looks peach it's time to either dust it to diss it. When I grew up I thought that's how paprika was supposed to look. One day I was in the supermarket and there was some chili-coloured paprika. I thought, WTF? They put chili powder in the paprika jar.

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  15. Well, no, not really. It just looked that way. (Wow, Cath, that was a brilliant comment... sheesh)

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  16. I have a ton of herbs and spices, and confession time ... they're mostly organized in alphabetical order. I use most of them on a regular basis, but there IS still a jar of smoked salt on the shelf for making summer sausage. Haven't made it in quite a few years, but can't quite bring myself to part with that jar, either.

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  17. You know the song Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme - well include Mint and Oregano and that's it my herb list in the garden. I did find a jar of Fish Seasoning at the back of the cupboard last week that had gone solid. As fresh are so much nicer than dried I don't bother with jars much- perhaps some chilli powder and paprika and that's your lot.

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