— Dorie Passen

So, a lot of people ask about storing spices and some people, um, there, there are always challenges with the different methods of storing. And let me just talk through this. The, the general rule is light, moisture, heat, and thyme are all the four factors that will degrade the quality of your spices, including other foods. But spices, people tend to keep them for a lot longer. Um, herbs are a little more sensitive to losing their flavor over time. Um, and in general, ground spices are more sensitive to losing their flavor versus whole spices 'cause kind of when you grind them, you increase the surface area. And so if you can grind your spices fresh, keep them around. But what we've found is that most of the spices in your grocery store, their best days are long behind them. And so like they've been through so much, farmers are often really pushed down on price, forcing them to kind of cut costs and cut corners and pick ri spices. They'll sit in warehouses for months and years before they get to. And so I was recently at a large retailer that I will not name, um, and I look at their peppercorns and the country of origin was five countries. And so what you're getting from there is, it's already, it's, it's, it's lost it's luster. And so in general, sure store or spices added direct sunlight. Uh, some people like to store their spices in their fridge. The only downside of that is that as you bring 'em in and out, temperature fluctuations can cause moisture to kind of set in. And then you're gonna risk your spices molding or just losing their kind of flavor. Um, people, some people store them in their deep freezer, that's okay for kind of long-term storage. But just anything where you're changing temperatures has the potential to cost condensation. And now you're introducing moisture. It's the same thing actually when you like shake your spices over boiling pots. Um, you can also like add, add moisture and condensation, which isn't great. My, my rule of thumb is I always pick two or three spices that I wanna bring into rotation. I keep 'em by my stove. I keep them out because nothing's getting better in the dark corners of your pantry. And so my biggest recommendation is just use your spices, engage with them. I think we in America in general, ask most cultures around the world, we tend to under spice. And so I'd say turn it up, use it, take some spice that you want to focus on. I want to experiment with, keep 'em out right next to you. They'll find their way into your cooking because you're seeing them, because they're out. And that definitely is much better. Like when I moved before this whole company, what did I know about spices? We can go into that whole story, but I literally moved with my spices. I had bay leaves that I bought in like the giant quart container that lasts you for probably a few lifetimes. And I moved with them. The point is that, that we're often much better off with smaller quantities of fresher spices that are used regularly in rotation. So if you can encourage that, um, you'll, you'll find that you're spicing things up more, Right? I, I did an event sometime earlier about spices or using ingredients, you know, not having waste. And there were a lot, I got a lot of teasing from people, even memes. 'cause I was like, sniff your spices. If they don't smell like anything, what do you expect? You know, they're not gonna add definitely anything. But I do what, what Ori is talking about. I have certain spices that are in very regular rotation. I have them near my stove, my right at it, you know, but near it. And I keep the ones I like on a turntable on my island and near my stove. And those are the ones I use the most. I think it's best not to buy quantity, you know, quantity.