How Do You Store Your Spices and Dried Herbs?

[Paul R.]

Mystery of the "melted" cloves container

Hello Friends,

I agree with those of you who said the container looks like it was melted. Attached is a photo of the drawer in which the container was stored. You see it is not next to the stove or DW. The conatiner was found in the drawer, right-side-up (for the photo I inverted it) with ground cloves surrounding it on the bottom of the drawer. So it isn't likely it melted on the stove deck and then got put away with that big hole in it (although I can't rule that out).

Being a retired scientist, I've decided to try to reproduce the data. I'm going to purchase another container of ground cloves from Whole Foods and put it in the same place. I'll keep you all posted on what happens.

Thanks for your interest.

 

[Aria]

I grow parsley,basil,oregano, chives. These I store in small plastic containers
in my freezer. Others I keep in original containers on spice, herb, pantry
shelf. Ginger root in my rerigerator. I have a narrow glass container (came with my Kitchen Aid Refrig) in the back left corner..contains,pumpkin seeds,
sunflower seeds, rasisins,dried cranberries,blueberries etc)

Some herbs purchase in Health Food Store: baby food glass jars make good storage. I use the small first born baby food jars. The metal covers can be
screwed to (under pantry) shelf and when needed to wash or refill you can twist the jar off the top. Always return to same area.

 

[sparrowgrass]

If you google "watchmakers cases" you can find the little metal tins for a reasonable price.

My spices go into the freezer til I need them the first time (to kill the bug eggs), then I put them into a drawer, generally in their original container. If I do buy in bulk, I find a jar to put them in.

 

[Corey123]

About the only thing concerning spices (and this isn't really a spice) that I keep in the freezer is sesame seeds because they have oil in them, which could go rancid if the seeds are kept at room temp.

Same goes for sesame oil. I keep that in the fridge so that it also, won't go rancid.

 

[GB]

Corey, while spices might not go rancid they will lose potency and flavor. Keeping them in the freezer will help retain some of their potency.

 

[Katie H]

You don't want to know how we store our spices. We live in an un-air-conditioned house in the humid mid-south. We just do the bestest we can do.

 

[Paul R.]

"Melted" cloves container - mystery solved!

This is in reference to a thread that I started Feb 13 in this discussion, entitled "Ground clove dissolves plastic???". Quick synopsis: plastic container from market containing ground clove looked melted after 3 months stored in my spice drawer. I suggested that maybe the clove oil was a solvent for the plastic. Others thought it must be melted, asked about heat sources, etc. I decided to buy some more, store in same type of container, and watch.

Result: the same thing happened! Absolutely no heat involved, I kept the container on my desk. I am showing two pictures below, the first after 2 weeks, the other after 3 weeks. Isn't that fascinating!! Comments?

Next, I will take the pictures to the store and inquire about the type of plastic container. By the way, it wasn't Whole Foods. It was an independent market here in Palo Alto, California.

 

[Paul R.]

"Melted" cloves container mystery solved!

This is in reference to a thread that I started Feb 13 in this discussion, entitled "Ground clove dissolves plastic???". Quick synopsis: plastic container from market containing ground clove looked melted after 3 months stored in my spice drawer. I suggested that maybe the clove oil was a solvent for the plastic. Others thought it must be melted, asked about heat sources, etc. I decided to buy some more, store in same type of container, and watch.

Result: the same thing happened! Absolutely no heat involved, I kept the container on my desk. I am attaching two photos below, the first after 2 weeks, the other after 3 weeks. Isn't that fascinating!! Comments?

Next, I will take the pictures to the store and inquire about the type of plastic container. By the way, it wasn't Whole Foods. It was an independent market here in Palo Alto, California.

 

[Katie H]

My question...why keep them in plastic? All of our herbs and spices are kept in glass.

 

[Paul R.]

Yes, I agree. It just didn't occur to me that the plastic container would not be adequate. But that was before I was enlightened by this forum.

 

[Katie H]

That's okay. You're forgiven. I can't help but like someone who is named Paul. Our only son-in-law is "Paul" and he's an angel.

 

[Corey123]

Corey, while spices might not go rancid they will lose potency and flavor. Keeping them in the freezer will help retain some of their potency.

I got a jar of ground allspice which does have ground cloves in it. I bought it either in the late '70s or very early '80s, and guess what? It STILL has potency and you can still smell it! As good as trhe day it was bought.

And it came in a glass jar.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Paul - I REALLY wish I still had my CRC Handbook!

What would really be interesting would be the composition of the plastic container. The most likely reactant is probably going to be a phenol or a benzene. Or, it could be that something in the composition of the plastic acts as a catalist?

If you can find out who makes the plastic container ... perhaps we can track down the composition from the number on the bottom of the container????

Now I'm really curious ...

 

[Paul R.]

Paul - I REALLY wish I still had my CRC Handbook!

What would really be interesting would be the composition of the plastic container. The most likely reactant is probably going to be a phenol or a benzene. Or, it could be that something in the composition of the plastic acts as a catalist?

If you can find out who makes the plastic container ... perhaps we can track down the composition from the number on the bottom of the container????

Now I'm really curious ...

Michael, good idea! My CRC Handbook (1963 edition) does not include clove oil in the table entitled "Constants of Natural Oils, Fats and Waxes". This table includes 73 entries, including almond, castor, coconut, corn, cotton seed, hazelnut, palm, etc. I will continue to research this. Contacting the manufacturer might elucidate the composition of the container (unless they immediately go into a defensive crouch, so common these days!).

 

[foodstorm]

My husband built a double decker lazy susan style turntable inside one of my smaller cupboards for me. I used to just store the spices in the containers they came in, but recently a store that sells bulk spices and dried herbs opened in my area, so now I buy them loose. I love being able to buy just what I need. I have been slowly converting to the little glass spice jars sold at Crate & Barrel. I print labels for them on the computer. When it's all done it will look very tidy, but now it's kind of a hodgepodge.

 

[Max Sutton]

Spice drawer


I keep my dried spices, herbs, and seasonings in their original bottles in my spice drawer. The bottles are in neat rows with the labels facing up. I have the small bottles in alphabetical order in the first two rows. Then larger bottles also in alphabetical order in the next rows. I have 43 bottles in my spice drawer.

 

[LeeAnn]

I have to update, last time I posted about my spices was March of 2005. We now live someplace entirely different and my spices are in a storage unit back in Washington State. Now that we are in New York, I have not amassed the collection I had before, so the ones that I do have in jars sit like Mr. Max's - in a drawer in the jar, labels up. I could alphabetize them, but there are only about 10 jars and I can still figure out where each thing is. I need more!!

 

[babetoo]

i just purchased a carousel type. the little holders slide out to be filled. can turn dial to get different amounts of them. will install under the cabinet.i am tired of moving every thing to find one spice. will report how it works.

 

[homecook]

I use two of these: www.spicestack.com

Mine are larger as I got them over a year ago. I can fit 17 large or 54 small spice containers. Mine measures 8 x 10-3/4 x 11. They fit perfectly in my cupboard. I don't see that they carry the ones I have only the smaller ones hhmmmm. I love these because they're so easy to see what spices you have.

Barb