Which Spices Should You Buy in the Supermarket?

Published on Monday, July 20, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Which Spices Should You Buy in the Supermarket?

Kathy FitzHenry, founder of Juliet Mae Fine Spices & Herbs, says it’s OK to buy certain spices in the supermarket, while others should be purchased from dealers or independent merchants. Supermarket spices often sit around for a long time, so consider shelf life when buying. Safer bets are nutmeg, clove, allspice, cardamom, and black and white pepper. For spices like coriander, paprika, cumin, and cinnamon, go to a spice merchant with high turnover and a consistent supply, or else you’ll end up with stale spices.

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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POST A COMMENT |11 Comments

COMMENT

  • Juliet Mae is ok.

  • I know someone who travels the world as a spice buyer for a very well-known brand. His advice is not to buy ANY ground spice.

  • The video of Kathy Fitzhenry of Juliet Mae Spices was totally ok; what I liked was that she followed up with Chow wrote in and answered several questions. How many people still stand in front of their product? I say we need to encourage such people.

  • Hi Guys,

    Kathy Fitz of Juliet Mae Fine Spices here.

    While a lot of us love a good deal, the bulk bin boxes are not always the best
    for certain products. Ground Spices tend to lose their essential oils over time and sadly most bulk bins are not cleaned out properly. Rather new or "fill" tends to be placed on top of older product or mixed. Interestingly, this can have a dramatic effect on ground...+READ

    Hi Guys,

    Kathy Fitz of Juliet Mae Fine Spices here.

    While a lot of us love a good deal, the bulk bin boxes are not always the best
    for certain products. Ground Spices tend to lose their essential oils over time and sadly most bulk bins are not cleaned out properly. Rather new or "fill" tends to be placed on top of older product or mixed. Interestingly, this can have a dramatic effect on ground chili powder, as the heat level, sweetness and acidity can vary greatly from batch to batch.

    For those of you who prefer making their own spice blends, check out the new cuisinart model SG-10. It works very well and will even do nutmeg.
    For those who prefer less expensive option, try a Baun $25 coffee grinder.
    It will work for most spices. Note: for cassia, smash the sticks first with
    a heavy pan. Avoid grinding star anise - as the intensity of the oil is really difficult to remove. To clean the grinder use uncooked rice or kosher salt.
    Buzz a few times and most of the oil should come up. Do not place the plastic top in a dishwasher, as it will cloud.

    My Very Best,
    Kathy Fitz
    Founder of Juliet Mae Fine Spices
    kf@julietmae.com-COLLAPSE

  • I wholeheartedly agree on cinnamon. I love making cinnamon buns and the difference between grinding your own cinnamon from fresher sticks versus using the crud sold preground is phenomenal.

  • Videos are useless to me because I am deaf and I need closed captioning . Summaries help a lot , thank you.

  • check out the spanish food section of your local grocery store. You will find their spices while not in neat glass bottles 1/3 the price of the spices in the baking aisle. I am guessing that they are more heavily used therefor very likely to be fresher

  • Hi Greygarious,

    I know what you mean about slower dial-up connections, and for that reason I try to write really detailed video descriptions that basically summarize what you'll see in the video, as I did for the above. Did the summary not do the work it was supposed to for you?

    And saacnmama, videos are anything but easier to edit. If you had any idea of the time it takes to organize, shoot,...+READ

    Hi Greygarious,

    I know what you mean about slower dial-up connections, and for that reason I try to write really detailed video descriptions that basically summarize what you'll see in the video, as I did for the above. Did the summary not do the work it was supposed to for you?

    And saacnmama, videos are anything but easier to edit. If you had any idea of the time it takes to organize, shoot, produce, and then edit these videos, you wouldn't think we were taking a shortcut by creating a video. We do the videos because they have a different audience, reach different places, and are a different medium to share information. As I mentioned above I try to write detailed descriptions for those people who can't stream videos for a variety of reasons.

    Meredith, video producer of CHOW-COLLAPSE

  • I find supermarkets--the regular ones, not Whole Foods--to be grossly overpriced on spices. The prices tend to 3x-5x the price of at specialty spice store I go to, where the quality is better, the spices fresher, and there are experts to talk to.

    They come in plastic baggies instead of shakers, but you can buy a glass shaker there for $1--you're still making out a lot better.

  • Greygarious, I wholeheartedly agree with you on the video issue!!
    I have no problem calling them up, but don't always want to go along with the pacing of a video. I think plenty of folks in open offices or with napping children might agree. Although there are a few topics that might benefit from demonstration, most of these tips films are made simply because video is less effort to edit than...+READ

    Greygarious, I wholeheartedly agree with you on the video issue!!
    I have no problem calling them up, but don't always want to go along with the pacing of a video. I think plenty of folks in open offices or with napping children might agree. Although there are a few topics that might benefit from demonstration, most of these tips films are made simply because video is less effort to edit than text.

    As for the spice issue, I've only read the paragraph above, but interpret it differently than your note suggests. Seems to me what's being said is that the 'safe bet' spices keep longer, whereas the second batch are more likely to go stale if kept for the same amount of time.-COLLAPSE

  • I dare say people buy more cinnamon and paprika than clove and cardamom!

    I wish CHOW would restrict the videos to demonstrations of technique, and include written synopses. My dial-up connection precludes watching videos but even if I COULD, it would be a waste of time waiting for this clip to load. It has nothing to convey in moving pictures that it couldn't say in print.