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escape only when you need them.
A spice grinder is an essential kitchen tool for the serious cook. Two spice grinders are even
better. A small one is handy for grinding just a little bit of something and an extra pepper grinder
may serve this purpose well, though even a mortar and pestle will do. When you need more than a
teaspoon of spice at a time, a spice mill or a small hand-held electric coffee mill works well.
Reserve this for spices only, so you don't need to clean it every morning before making coffee. An
efficient manual coffee grinder works just as well. But when you need lots of spices, as in Indian
cooking, an electric grinder saves time and effort. When your recipe calls for several spices, you can
grind them all together. To quickly clean your spice grinder, grind a small amount of bread in it and
dump the bread out—the bread sponges up any leftover bits of spice.
Dry herbs are more concentrated than fresh ones. Remember the ratio of one-third teaspoon
of the dry is equivalent to a whole teaspoon of fresh. If the dry herb is getting on in age, add a little
extra to your dish, perhaps 25 to 50 percent more. If it is really aged and it smells like dry grass,
don't add it at all, except to your trash can.
Freeze-dried herbs are the next best things to fresh herbs but few retail markets carry them,
although restaurants use them regularly.
TASTINGS Dried and freeze-dried herbs
The quick, heatless action of freeze-drying obviously preserves much more of the
volatile oil than the slow, heated drying process. SupHerb Farms, a California-
based freeze-dried herb producer gives the following comparison:
Amount of preserved volatile oil
Herb
Basil
Freeze-dried
0.7%
0.2%
0.7%
1.7%
3.5%
0.6%
1.7%
2.1%
Dried
0.4%
Trace
0.2%
1.1%
2.8%
Trace
1.1%
1.7%
0.6%
1.1%
Cilantro
Dill weed
Marjoram
Oregano
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage
Tarragon
Thyme
3.0%
1.7%
According to the same company, freeze-dried herbs retain their volatile oil
content for two to three times longer than dried herbs.
There is no good guide for the shelflife of spices and herbs. Their smell should be your
indicator. Unground spices should keep for a couple of years, but ground spices and herbs lose
much of their ability to add flavor within a year on the cupboard shelf. It is always best to store them
in the coolest part of the kitchen in tightly-closed container. Shelves above or near the kitchen range
(where you see them mostly) are the worst places. They tend to be the warmest and most humid part
of the kitchen. Think of relocating them if that is where your supply is.
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