pepperhead212
Executive Chef
The discussions on the "Who needs spices?" thread made me start one on this topic, and made me think of a lot of things I do to extend the life of spices. It also made me remember setting up my kitchen (in '84!), and thinking, "where am I going to put all of those spices, so I can easily get to them?" This was way before I got into Indian, and other types of cooking that have a lot of spices, yet I still had way too many to stick on those turntables in the cupboards, and I hated those things, anyway!
So I used one of the drawers in a cabinet, and labeled the tops of the jars (I had saved those jars for years, when emptied). To make it easier to locate things, I highlighted them - herbs green, sweet spices orange, and others yellow. A lot are blue now, but I have to relabel those. Took about 2 years to totally fill this - now there's another drawer, plus 4 labeled boxes, for Indian, but these are the ones used for most things:
Spice drawer by pepperhead212, on Flickr
To keep things fresh, I do two things - freeze and foodsaver (my slang for vac/pack). Before I had a foodsaver, I froze most things, and put enough in the jars to last 3-6 months. For some things, this was a small amount, others, the jar could be filled. The ones I don't use much of, I put in those small jars I would get freebies in from Penzey's; I use those for spice mixes I will use slowly. For freezing, things like cinnamon, cloves, and other potent spices of which the aroma permeates the plastic bags, I'd keep in jars, with rubber seals, and the bags around them, in a large box in the freezer.
Now, I don't keep as much in the freezer - only ground spices (in foodsaver bags), and things like saffron and blades of mace, that I don't that often. The whole spices and herbs I foodsaver, and they keep very well, and I store them in an 18 gal tub in the basement. I have three 2 gal ziplocs labeled Misc. Spices, Indian Spices, and Herbs. Easy to locate something, when I have to refill a jar.
Here are some foodsavered spices, from the Misc. bag:
Foodsavered spices by pepperhead212, on Flickr
(When I took this photo, I noticed some things that I have to toss! Mostly freebies, but some that I just stopped using way back.)
It's easy to refill from those bags - I just snip the corner off one, and pour it into a jar through the small opening. Then, I re-foodsaver it, and put it back away.
One thing I do with frozen spices, though this might be unnecessary, esp. in the winter, is let it come to room temp, before snipping the bag, and refilling the jar. If the humidity is high, as in the summer, condensation could occur on the spices, though, again, this is probably just OCD!
I remember when I started cooking, it seemed that I would have to increase the spices in many recipes, for it to taste right. I thought it was because I just wanted things to taste stronger. It wasn't until years later, when shopping in NYC, at "The Spice Shop", where I got fresher spices than I had ever found, and I didn't have to double the cinnamon in a recipe any longer! Cayenne pepper (the only hot pepper I had back then), that's another story...
For years after that, a bulk spice and tea shop in the Italian Market in Philly was my source for spices. Sadly, it closed, but shortly after that, the only sources started up!
So I used one of the drawers in a cabinet, and labeled the tops of the jars (I had saved those jars for years, when emptied). To make it easier to locate things, I highlighted them - herbs green, sweet spices orange, and others yellow. A lot are blue now, but I have to relabel those. Took about 2 years to totally fill this - now there's another drawer, plus 4 labeled boxes, for Indian, but these are the ones used for most things:
Spice drawer by pepperhead212, on Flickr
To keep things fresh, I do two things - freeze and foodsaver (my slang for vac/pack). Before I had a foodsaver, I froze most things, and put enough in the jars to last 3-6 months. For some things, this was a small amount, others, the jar could be filled. The ones I don't use much of, I put in those small jars I would get freebies in from Penzey's; I use those for spice mixes I will use slowly. For freezing, things like cinnamon, cloves, and other potent spices of which the aroma permeates the plastic bags, I'd keep in jars, with rubber seals, and the bags around them, in a large box in the freezer.
Now, I don't keep as much in the freezer - only ground spices (in foodsaver bags), and things like saffron and blades of mace, that I don't that often. The whole spices and herbs I foodsaver, and they keep very well, and I store them in an 18 gal tub in the basement. I have three 2 gal ziplocs labeled Misc. Spices, Indian Spices, and Herbs. Easy to locate something, when I have to refill a jar.
Here are some foodsavered spices, from the Misc. bag:
Foodsavered spices by pepperhead212, on Flickr
(When I took this photo, I noticed some things that I have to toss! Mostly freebies, but some that I just stopped using way back.)
It's easy to refill from those bags - I just snip the corner off one, and pour it into a jar through the small opening. Then, I re-foodsaver it, and put it back away.
One thing I do with frozen spices, though this might be unnecessary, esp. in the winter, is let it come to room temp, before snipping the bag, and refilling the jar. If the humidity is high, as in the summer, condensation could occur on the spices, though, again, this is probably just OCD!
I remember when I started cooking, it seemed that I would have to increase the spices in many recipes, for it to taste right. I thought it was because I just wanted things to taste stronger. It wasn't until years later, when shopping in NYC, at "The Spice Shop", where I got fresher spices than I had ever found, and I didn't have to double the cinnamon in a recipe any longer! Cayenne pepper (the only hot pepper I had back then), that's another story...
For years after that, a bulk spice and tea shop in the Italian Market in Philly was my source for spices. Sadly, it closed, but shortly after that, the only sources started up!