Claire
Master Chef
One big problem if you like to cook various cuisines -- AND your friends are only so adventurous -- AND you don't want spices lingering on your shelf for a decade or three. Well, it gets rather frustrating. I gave up on keeping all the Indian spices and keep a few, but rather use some packaged meals that a Pakistani/English couple recommended. AND I've been frustrated all around. You have to buy more spice than you need for a meal or two, or you have to settle for a lesser quality of spice. My friends (remember, I live in small town midwest) think I'm rather odd for having as many spices as I have on hand.
I was raised to believe that paprika was only something you tossed on top of certain dishes for color, because it had no flavor. Well, yeah, it didn't in those days. At least not the stuff my Mom sprinkled, but she was using what was available at the time.
Seriously, I have to ask you, if you have a spice on your shelf for more than, say, 6 mos, do you really just trash it, or do you smell it, taste it, and go with it. Because I'm getting tired of being told by every TV chef that I should throw away every spice in my cabinet over a year old. I'd have to just buy a spice and throw the rest away after one use, because I truly love to cook different ethnic cuisines.
I was raised to believe that paprika was only something you tossed on top of certain dishes for color, because it had no flavor. Well, yeah, it didn't in those days. At least not the stuff my Mom sprinkled, but she was using what was available at the time.
Seriously, I have to ask you, if you have a spice on your shelf for more than, say, 6 mos, do you really just trash it, or do you smell it, taste it, and go with it. Because I'm getting tired of being told by every TV chef that I should throw away every spice in my cabinet over a year old. I'd have to just buy a spice and throw the rest away after one use, because I truly love to cook different ethnic cuisines.