ABOUT SPICES AND HERBS

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Bay leaves are unlike all the other herbs in the spice cabinet. While we cook with and eat most herbs, these aromatic leaves are best used whole and are always removed from the pot before eating.

Taste: Sweet, bitter

Most Popular Use: Soups, stews, sauces

Bay leaves come from the bay laurel tree, native to the Mediterranean regions. The leaves of are generally 1-3 inches long, almond-shaped, and glossy green. Bay leaves are almost always dried and are actually at their best flavor a few weeks after drying. 

The leaf itself doesn’t taste like much other than, well, a leaf. But steep a few leave in a warm broth or sauce, and your dish becomes infused with fragrant flavor. It’s not usually a very forward seasoning, but its woodsy flavor and slight bitterness helps to balance the flavors in a dish.

How To Use Bay Leaf

Bay leaf is typically used to season long-cooking dishes like soups, stews, and braises, but it can also enhance the flavor of quicker-cooking dishes like risotto, pasta sauce, or even a simple pot of rice. The key is to have at least a little liquid for the bay to infuse and heat to get the process going.

Used ground or whole, in both sweet and savory recipes, this warming and highly aromatic spice is used in cuisines around the world from the Nordic countries to India and the Middle East.

Taste: Warm, sweet

Most Popular Use: Baked goods, stews, curries

Cardamom starts out life as the seedpod of a plant in the ginger family. It tends to have a delicate and floral flavor. In general, cardamom is considered a warming spice like cinnamon and nutmeg, and is valued as much for its fragrance as its flavor.

This aromatic spice is native to India, and is also grown in Asia and South America. Cardamom can be purchased in the pod or ground, and while the latter doesn’t have as much of a full flavor it can be more convenient to work with.

How To Use Cardamom

Cardamom is used extensively in Indian cuisine, where it shows up in savory dishes, desserts, and even beverages. It also shows up in Middle Eastern cooking, particularly as an ingredient in coffee. 

We like using whole pods of cardamom to give subtle seasoning to pots of rice and braised meat dishes, much like we would use bay leaf. If you crush the pods before throwing them in the pot, more of their flavor will be extracted.

When it comes to cakes, breads, and pastries, we usually opt for pre-ground cardamom. 

Used in both savory and sweet recipes, just a pinch of this piquant red powder is all you need to punch of the heat.

Taste: Spicy

Most Popular Use: Spice blends, meat, fish, vegetables, sauces

Cayenne is a type of red chili pepper originally from French Guiana, but that spread to other parts of the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. It’s a fairly hot pepper, and has a mid-range Scoville Rating of 30,000 – 50,000. While we typically use it in powdered form, you can also find and cook with cayennes that are fresh, dried, or even made into oil.

How To Use Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper is widely used in Mexican, Asian, Indian, and Southern cooking, among others. Just a pinch adds a sweet-spicy heat to an entire pot of beans, enchilada sauce or fried chicken.  It also adds a nice kick to egg dishes and dry-rubs for meat and seafood.

When you first start cooking with cayenne pepper, start off with an eighth to a quarter teaspoon for a large dish like a soup or braise, or a bare sprinkling for smaller plates like scrambled eggs. This gives you a bit of spice without feeling overwhelmed. 

Remember you can always add more, but you can’t take it out once it’s in there.

Considered one of the strongest and more distinctive spices in the cabinet, cloves are a tropical spice that have a welcome place in everything from cool-weather baked goods to spice blends, and savory recipes alike.

Taste: Sweet

Most Popular Use: Spice blends, meat, baked goods

Cloves are the unopened flower buds of the tropical evergreen clove tree, native to Indonesia. This reddish-brown and nail-shaped spice can be purchased and used whole or ground. Sweet, pungent, and warming, this is an intense spice, and a little goes a long way.

How To Use Cloves

Though we often associate cloves with baked goods and sweets, this distinctive spice can also add depth to savory dishes, meats, and pickles, and is widely used in Indian, Middle Eastern, and North African cuisine. Cloves pair nicely with the flavors of apples, oranges, ham, pork, and chocolate, and other aromatic spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom.

When treated right, coriander is both a wealth of exotic flavors and a chameleon-like substance as closely linked to "spiced" as vanilla is to "sweet."

Taste: Sweet, earthy

Most Popular Use: from lamb to pork to chicken to duck, there's not a meat coriander can't improve, especially in a slow braise.

Though we don't know where coriander first originated (North Africa is a likely candidate), its culinary use likely dated back to biblical times. 

Coriander's versatility stems from two key features of its personality. The first is its multifaceted flavor profile. Coriander is hard to pin down in so many recipes because its flavor is all over the map. It has a sensual musk punctuated by an unlikely citrus twang. There's a raw earthy scent to it, made civilized by notes of butter and thyme

How To Use Coriander

When ground, the seeds' roasted, nutty aromas come to the fore, though at the expense of all that lovely citrus. Similarly, coriander's flavor deepens the longer it cooks, but its uniqueness falls into the background. 

Cumin is one of those spices (whole or ground) that’s essential for any spice cupboard. Just a teaspoon adds a hint of smokiness, use more and your dish infused with sweet earthy flavors.

Taste: Bitter, sweet

Most Popular Use: Curries, spice blends, stews

This spice is actually native to southwest Asia and made its way into cuisines around the world through the spice trade. It’s a hallmark in North African, Indian, and Middle Eastern cooking.

With a similar appearance to caraway seeds, cumin is the dried fruit of a plant in the parsley family. Cumin has a nutty, smoky flavor that works well in combination with other spices like chilis, cinnamon, and coriander. The dried seeds are tiny and oblong, and the spice is a light orange-brown when ground. It can be purchased and used whole or ground, and it best stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry, and dark location for up to six months.

How To Use Cumin

Cumin can be used both as the whole seed or ground. Cumin seed benefits from toasting before use to being out its aromatic, nutty flavor. Cumin is a staple ingredient in most curry powders and many spice blends. It’s reserved primarily for savory recipes, like chili, stews, meat, fish, and vegetables.

You might be most familiar with this warm spice, either ground or in stick form, from sweets like apple pie and its namesake breakfast rolls. But cinnamon is a wildly versatile spice used in sweet and savory cuisines around the world.

Taste: Sweet, warm, bitter

Most Popular Use: Baked goods, spice blends

True cinnamon comes from the inner bark of a tropical tree related to the bay laurel. As the bark dries, it curls on itself into distinctive slender sticks, or “quills.” Cinnamon is distinguished as Ceylon (or tree cinnamon), lightly-colored with a mild, sweet flavor, or cassia cinnamon, which bears a darker reddish-brown color and more pungent aroma. When purchasing or using a spice simply labeled as cinnamon, this is typically the cassia variety.

As with most spices, whole cinnamon sticks will keep longer and have better flavor than ground cinnamon spice. Store whole and ground cinnamon in air tight container in a cool, dry, dark location.

How To Use Cinnamon

Cinnamon is used in cuisines around the globe, in sweet and savory applications alike, including Indian curries, Scandinavian pastries, Vietnamese pho, Mexican chili spice mixes, Moroccan tagine, as well as, apple pie and snickerdoodles!

Whole cinnamon sticks are best used in braises, for making apple sauce, cider, or mulled wine, and to infuse milk and simple syrups. While ground cinnamon proves most useful in baked goods, spice blends, sauces, and curries, you can also grate your own using a microplane.

Rosemary is an aromatic herb that has a long history of both culinary and medicinal use. Rosemary grows in bushes with wood-like stems and short, pine-like needles.  

Most Popular Use: 

Rosemary is most often used to season meats, especially lamb, pork, and chicken. Chopped rosemary can be added to bread or biscuit dough, and the flavor will infuse throughout during cooking. Potatoes, beans, and lentils also pair well with rosemary. Rosemary can be quite potent and is therefore usually used sparingly.

Because both fresh and dried rosemary can have a tough, pine-needle like texture, it is usually chopped or crushed with a mortar and pestle before adding to recipes. Sprigs of rosemary with the stem intact can be added to soups and stews and then removed prior to serving.

To remove the leaves from a rosemary stem, simply pinch the tip of the stem and pull back toward the base and the leaves should easily pull away. The leaves are usually then chopped further to prevent using large, tough pieces of the herb.

Rosemary, along with other herbs, can be used to flavor olive oils and cheeses. The popular combination of rosemary and olive oil has found its way into crackers, chips, and soft cheese spreads. Rosemary and black pepper have also become a trendy gourmet flavor combination.

For us, it wouldn’t be summer without a bunch of fresh basil in the kitchen. We layer the fragrant leaves with sliced heirloom tomatoes, tear them into salads, or grind them into pesto. From sweet basil to lemon basil and Thai basil, we just can’t get enough of this essential, intoxicating herb.

Taste:  Sweet

Most Popular Use: Pasta, sauces, salads, fish, vegetables

A member of the mint family, basil originated in India and spread throughout the world thousands of years ago, becoming an important ingredient in many Southeast Asian and Mediterranean cuisines. Different sources cite more than 60 or even 100 varieties of basil in existence today. Those grown in North America and Europe are sweeter in flavor, while Middle Eastern varieties tend to be more peppery. The best thing to do is just experiment and taste the different varieties to learn which aromas, flavors, and colors you enjoy with different ingredients.

How To Use Basil

Sweet or Genovese basil is the most common type in the U.S., and it is ideal for Italian dishes, an essential ingredient in pesto sauce, and pairs quite well with tomatoes. Thai basil is more pungent and good for stir-fries, soups, and Southeast Asian salads. Lemon basil adds a citrusy aroma to pesto and fish dishes, while cinnamon or Mexican basil works well in desserts. Purple basil varieties are lovely additions to salads.

Fresh or dried, thyme is definitely one of our spice cupboard work horses. It’s a seasoning we can use without really thinking about it, and so we often reach for it when making quick weeknight pasta sauces and roast meat.

Taste:  Earthy

Most Popular Use: Soups, stews, meat, vegetables

Thyme is a low shrub native to the Mediterranean and a member of the mint family. It grows in long, thin sprigs with tiny spear-shaped green leaves. We primarily use these leaves in cooking, though the stems can be used for seasoning a soup or braise if removed before serving.

A teaspoon or so of these leaves adds a pungent, woodsy flavor to dishes. Depending on the specific variety you use (and there are over 100 of them!), we might also get flavors of lemon, mint, caraway, or even orange. Thyme is an aromatic, meaning we use it as much for its aroma as for the flavor it gives our dishes, and is one of the herbs used in a classic bouquet garni.

How To Use Thyme

Thyme is used for adding layers of flavor without being overwhelming. It’s commonly used to season soups, sauces, and braises. It also makes a welcome addition in potatoes, rice dishes, vegetables and even fresh bread. And it pairs well with other Mediterranean herbs like oregano and marjoram, and is used throughout Italian, French, and of course, Mediterranean cooking.

Taste: Sweet

Most Popular Use: Baked goods, meat, stews

Nutmeg is actually the seed of a tropical fruit thought to have originated in New Guinea (the same fruit that gives us mace, actually). The seeds are light brown on the outside, oblong-shaped, and about an inch long. Inside, there are densely packed layers of starchy tissue and fragrant oil.

For the best flavor, buy the seeds whole and grate just the amount you need using a microplane. You don’t need to toast the seed or remove the outer skin before using it, and the nutmeg seeds will keep for years. Powdered nutmeg quickly loses its potency.

How To Use Nutmeg

In sweet dishes, nutmeg works very well with dairy-based dishes and is often used in custards and dessert sauces. You’ll also find it used in combination with other warm spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves in holiday cookies and cakes.

Nutmeg is also frequently used in savory meat-based dishes, where it subtly enhances and rounds out the flavor. You’ll see it in sausage mixes, lasagnas, and ragus. Nutmeg also pairs very well with winter squash and dark leafy greens.

In either sweet or savory dishes, a little bit of nutmeg goes a long way – especially when you’re grating it fresh. Most recipes call for a mere one-eighth of a teaspoon, and rarely more then a quarter.

If you’ve ever made gingersnap cookies, gingerbread, or pumpkin pie, you’ve probably used ground ginger.

Taste: Pungent

Most Popular Use: Baked goods, spice rubs, meat

Ground ginger, sometimes labeled powdered ginger, is made by simply drying out peeled fresh ginger root, then grinding it to a fine powder. It is pale yellow in color and should have a pungent, spicy smell to indicate freshness. Ground ginger has a warm, spicy bite, is a little bit sweet, and is not as strongly flavored as fresh ginger. This spice cabinet ingredient is also not a direct substitute for fresh ginger. Store ground ginger in an airtight container out of direct heat and light.

How To Use Ground Ginger

Ground ginger is the predominant spice in gingerbread and gingersnap cookies and is also used in many sweet spice mixes like pumpkin pie spice. Ground ginger is also used in savory applications like spice rubs, tagines, and marinades, and is part of the Japanese spice blend shichimi togarashi.

Ginger is popular for its anti-inflammatory properties, and has long been used as treatments for nausea and digestive complaints. It is also used often in teas and drinks.

Saffron is responsible for that distinctive bright yellow color and flavor of Italian risotto milanese, French bouillabaisse, Spanish paella, and Indian biryanis. Like truffles, some people find saffron completely intoxicating and addictive. 

Taste: Sweet, bitter

Most Popular Use: Rice, vegetables, baked goods

Saffron is the dried orange-red stigmas of a particular kind of crocus flower. There are only 3 stigmas in each flower, and you have to harvest them carefully by hand just as the flower is opening. It takes almost 70,000 crocus flowers to produce just one pound of dried saffron. And as such, it comes with a pretty high price tag.

Saffron has a very subtle flavor and aroma — some say it’s floral, some say it’s like honey, and some would just say pungent. The flavor can be hard to nail down and described. If you’re going for authenticity in dishes like paella and bouillabaisse, you’ve got to have saffron. There’s really no substitute for its flavor.

Saffron can be a contentious ingredient. Those going for authenticity would never make a classic saffron-based recipe without it, and those with sensitive palates would argue that it adds a unique flavor that you can’t find anywhere else. To them, that little pinch of saffron makes and breaks the dish.

How To Use Saffron

You only need a few threads to season and color an entire dish. Add them directly to a dish or steep the threads in a bit of the cooking liquid. Saffron is commonly used in paella, bouillabaisse, risotto, other rice dishes, and in various European baked goods.

This vibrant spice is good for more than golden milk or the occasional curry.

Taste:  Bitter

Most Popular Use: Curries, spice blends, beverages

Turmeric comes from the underground stem, or rhizome, of a plant in the ginger family, and in fact it looks much like ginger when fresh. The stems are boiled, dried, and then ground into a powder.

The plant is native to South Asia, so it’s not surprising that turmeric spice is most widely used in the cuisines from that part of the world. Turmeric has a pungent, earthy aroma and adds a slight bitterness and astringency to dishes.

How To Use Turmeric

Turmeric isn’t often used on its own. Instead, it’s used to round out spice mixes for things like curries and meat rubs. Turmeric is also great with fish and seafood, and it can be used to help season a pot of grains.

Turmeric is also highly valued as a coloring agent. Just a little of the powder tints an entire dish yellow! Here’s a tip: if you don’t want to pay big bucks for a packet of saffron, you can substitute a few pinches of turmeric. The spices have different flavors (saffron is more floral), but they are both powerful coloring agents.

Paprika is a powder made from grinding the pods of various kinds of Capsicum annuum peppers. Used for flavor and color, it is the fourth most consumed spice in the world and often appears in  rubs, marinades, stews, chilis, and as a garnish. Depending on the variety of pepper and how it is processed, the color can range from bright red to brown and the flavor from mild to spicy. Therefore, it is helpful to know the distinct qualities that each type of paprika can bring to a dish.

 “Regular” or “plain” paprika

This paprika tends to be neither sweet nor hot and is a suitable garnish for things like deviled eggs or wherever you want some color.

 Hungarian paprika

Although generally less intense that Hungarian paprika, Spanish paprika can range from dulce (sweet and mild) to agridulce (bittersweet and medium hot) to picante (hot), depending on the type of peppers used (round or long), whether the seeds are removed, and how they are processed. In Spain’s La Vera region, farmers harvest and dry the chiles over wood fires, creating smoked paprika or pimentón de La Vera. Smoked paprika should be used in paella and dishes where you want a deep, woodsy flavor.

If you have a recipe that calls for paprika without specifying which kind, you can usually get by with using Hungarian sweet paprika. But also consider what type of color, sweetness, pungency, or heat you’d like to add and experiment with the wide world of paprika varieties!

Oregano is generally classified in two categories: Mediterranean and Mexican. Despite the shared name and similar flavors, these are two completely different species.

• Mediterranean oregano: A member of the mint family, Mediterranean oregano grows throughout the region, from Greece to Italy, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco. It’s also known as wild marjoram. Oregano from these areas is robust in flavor, though different varieties may be more bitter, sweet, or peppery than others. Greek oregano tends to be the most savory and earthy, while Italian is milder and Turkish is more pungent. Used fresh or dry, Mediterranean oregano is the choice for dishes from this region, tomato sauces, pizzas, grilled meats, and other dishes with strong flavors.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp Granulated Garlic 
• 2 Tbsp Onion Powder
• 2 Tbsp Basil
• 2 Tbsp Oregano
• 1 Tbsp Thyme
• 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper 
• 2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 6 Tbsp Paprika

Method

Add all ingredients to a mason style jar, put the lid on, and shake well to mix the spices up. Store covered, in a cool, dry place.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder 
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 5 tablespoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons salt

Method

In a small bowl, combine onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, thyme, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika and salt. Store in an airtight container.