How to Buy Herbs and Spices

There’s nothing like cooking for yourself because you can use the best ingredients and season things just the way you want. A key ingredient, if you’ll pardon the pun, in great home cooking is using the best herbs and spices you can afford. But what if you don’t know what herbs and spices are good to use for different meals? Follow these tips for buying herbs and spices to make all your at-home meals better.

First off before going to buy herbs and spices, it helps to know exactly what herbs and spices are and what the difference is.

Herbs are loosely defined as the leaves and flowers of a plant used for seasoning, such as basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley and cilantro. Spices come from the bark, seeds, roots and fruit of plants, such as ginger root, cinnamon, coriander (which comes from the seeds of the cilantro plant) and pepper (berries). Salt is sort of in a category all its own, since it doesn’t come from a plant.

The terms herbs and spices are often used interchangeably, or you’ll hear them both together even when only herbs or only spices are being talked about. The distinctions are not that important.

Both herbs and spices are important for good seasoning. Combinations of herbs and spices can expand your culinary palette and make all of your food taste better.

If you’re stumped about the types of herbs and spices to use together, consult this list for some basic herbs and spices that go with different culinary flavors:

If you’re building a basic spice rack, there are a few things you will want, no matter what kinds of food you make. Salt and pepper are musts, of course, because they make any kind of food taste better.

Other great must haves include:

• Garlic powder: use this in place of fresh garlic
• Crushed red pepper flakes: great for adding a little heat to anything, sprinkle on pizza
• Italian seasoning: perfect for pasta sauce, pizza, lasagna (or buy individual bottles of herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil and oregano)
• Curry powder: there are tons of different kinds of curry powder, from sweet to hot. Not just for curries, they’re also great to add to bean and lentil dishes, or almost anything that needs a flavor kick.
• Cinnamon: You almost can’t bake without cinnamon, and cinnamon mixed with sugar is great to sprinkle on toast or French toast.
• Vanilla: Most people use vanilla extract rather than vanilla beans, but either way, vanilla is a great spice used in almost all baking, especially as a counter to chocolate flavors.
• Chili powder: The key ingredient in chili, chili powder is a mix of spices that is great for adding depth and heat.
• Cayenne pepper: A great all-purpose spice for adding heat to dishes.

Most spices work equally well fresh or dried, though there are some herbs that should never be eaten dried if you can help it. Parsley and cilantro are the main ones, but basil is another herb that is much, much better fresh than dried.

If you are able to grow your own herbs, you might consider growing parsley, cilantro, chives, rosemary, basil, sage, oregano and marjoram, or whatever herbs you will use frequently. All of these are easy to grow in containers, as long as you keep them well watered and in good sunlight.

Otherwise, you can buy almost all of your herbs and spices dried. You can buy them at grocery stores or specialty spice stores, such as Penzeys.

If you’re going to buy dried herbs, buy them in the smallest quantity you can. Herbs don’t really ever go bad, but they do start to lose their strength after about six months. So try not to buy herbs and spices in quantities that are more than you can use in that time.

Herbs will keep longer if stored in a cool, dry, dark place in tins or dark-colored glass containers.

If at all possible, buy herbs from a place where you can smell the herbs. Then you will know if the herbs are fresh, because they will smell the way they are supposed to smell. This is why it pays to go to an herb store or a natural foods market with bulk herbs and spices. You can smell things, ask questions and pick out just the best herbs and spices.

Want to try some great herbs and spices that you can't get just anywhere? Here are some online sources for herbs:

• Penzeys has stores in many large cities in America, but if you aren't lucky enough to live near one you can visit the online shop for access to tons of great herbs, spices and spice blends. They have almost anything you could possibly want.
• Ethnic Grocer has all sorts of wonderful food products from around the world, which you can browse by cuisine (including Japanese, French, Lebanese, Russian and more). The herbs and spice section here is small but exotic.
• Online Herbs Shoppe you will find the latest information about herbs, vitamins, diets, scientific researches and their results, reviews of the sold goods, reports on application of products.
• Pure Spice is another good general spice store with more than 350 herbs, spices and blends to choose from. This site also has a great selection of gourmet salts and peppers.

If you’re not familiar with using herbs and spices in home cooking, start by following recipes. Use the recommended amounts of herbs and spices in the recipe and then taste to see if you like the amount. Increase herbs and spices a small bit at the time and taste frequently to see if the flavor is to your liking.

Fresh herbs are less potent than dried herbs, so use about three times as much if your recipe calls for dried herbs, or a third as much if you’re using dried herbs instead of fresh herbs.

Most dried herbs and spices can be added at the beginning of a recipe, and many spices like cinnamon, coriander and curry powders benefit from being fried in oil a little bit before other ingredients are added to the pan.

Fresh herbs, on the other hand, should be added closer to the end of the recipe because they can get bitter when cooked too long.

Don’t be afraid to try new herbs and spices and mix them up in your own ways. If you really love spicy food, buy a Cajun seasoning, or just look up and down the spice aisle (or the spice store) and pick out things that look and smell good to you. Then try them. The only way to learn how to use herbs and spices is to try them, move beyond recipes and cook by feel. Have fun with your food!

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