When I discovered Penzeys Spices, I was living in Southern California, learning to cook Indian food, on the hunt for spices beyond the grocery store. Finding out the company is family-run and near my childhood home was just an added plus – the quality of their product and service has made me a loyal customer for over a decade.
While they do sell their products online, and that is typically how I order them, I would recommend getting a copy of their catalog anyway. Much like a favorite magazine, it’s the kind of publication you can curl up with and get lost in.
I’ve never been one for gimmicks, and to me the “spice blend” has always been just that, a gimmick. Why mix salt, garlic, and parsley together on your own, when you can pay Lawry’s extra for the modified food starch, sugar, and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil too?
But the folks at Penzeys have tweaked that worldview a bit. They don’t put any of that junk in their blends. And they employ a clever but ancient marketing strategy… free samples. That first shipment came, and the little bottle of English Prime Rib Rub was an instant success. Over the next few years, their Apple Pie Spice, Pizza Seasoning, Turkish Seasoning, Italian Herb Mix, Pork Chop Seasoning, and Barbeque Of The Americas have hit our table like a new street drug hits the corner.
Okay. Maybe that’s laying it on a bit thick. But seriously, there has not been a visiting picky kid who doesn’t like the Pizza Seasoning. The 4-year old who didn’t want more than a box of the orange stuff and a hot dog, ate all his peas when they were covered in butter and Pizza Seasoning. Some warier older kids eyed a pasta salad with suspicion once, but they cleaned their plates and asked for more. I don’t know if it works because it has pizza in the title, or because the kids are at someone else’s house, or because I’m not their parent. It works. I don’t question the magic. It does a wonderful job on pizza too, whether working from scratch or just customizing a frozen store-bought thing with your own goodness.
I use Penzeys stacking jars for storage and purchasing spice refills as needed. They fit perfectly double stacked in the Kraftmaid full-extension drawer we chose 7 years ago. I’m enough of a details freak to have printed some removable adhesive labels with the name, date of purchase, country of origin, Scoville units, etc. Occasionally I even make sure they are alphabetized in my drawer. I can let the laundry go for a week, but I’ll spend hours obsessing over the spice drawer. It’s sad but true. I’m not proud.
…except that I am!! Look! See how pretty??
I like tossing Penzeys a few extra bucks and buy my jars from them. But if your current storage method would prefer a different sized jar, I recommend soil-sampling jars sold by your friendly, local environmental testing lab. You know, the place you should go take a sample of your drinking water on occasion if you have your own well?? The brilliance of soil-sampling jars for spices is that they all have a Teflon disk inset in the lid. Think about it. They are designed not to let any vapor transfer in or out in between the sample collection location and the lab. Use these jars in a cool and dark place and your spice investment will last a very long time.
So get yourself a copy of the latest Penzeys Spices catalog and see where it takes you. Maybe you needed a few things anyway? Especially the Pizza Seasoning.
The thing I’ve been wondering about spice mixes is if I’ll actually use the mix faster than I would like the 5 separate ingredients. (oh yeah I also order from Penzeys – have been since when they were a storeshop in the 3rd Ward!) I’m a bit too much of a control freak – so I’ve always bought separately – but then I toss much of what I buy, except for a few spices like marjoram and cinnamon. I think spice mixes might actually be more cost effective. But I follow recipes to the letter so I haven’t learned how to deploy the spice mixes.
I find this to be the case with the Italian Herb Mix in particular. It’s a mix of Turkish oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and cracked rosemary. These used to be individual items which took up valuable space until they went stale and got tossed. As a mix, I find I reach for this whenever one or more of the above is called for.
But it depends on the styles of cooking you prefer – I still mix my own curries and have not yet tried any of their Curry, Garam Masala, Vindaloo, or Tandoori Seasoning blends.
I love how much your spice drawer looks like mine!!!!!!!!! I only wish that the other cook in my house could keep it in alphabetical order. At least I know the range (e.g. allspice berries to cloves).
Anyway…. Please please please post your recipes for curry spice blends!!!!