Organic Spices and Herbs Line

We have followed the take off in organic and sustainable food products with great interest over the last ten years. We have been unsure of what our role should be here. We are big proponents of shopping locally whenever possible and it is one of our great weekly pleasures to shop at our local farmer's market.
Yet if you were only to cook with locally grown products, your food would be sadly lacking, as you would be spiceless. The climate in this country simply allows for the growth of herbs, but never spices. The third world countries that spices grow in, are not necessarily on the organic band wagon yet, and in some scenarios, we feel it is not our place to force our American demands upon these poor farmers. We have also made it our lifelong mission to bring you the highest level of quality in our spices, would we find organic spices with our desired level of quality?

ASTA Conference (American Spice Trade Association)

We are currently on our way to

Tucson

, for the ASTA (American Spice Trade Association) annual meeting and trade show. We are very excited to attend this conference, as it gives us the opportunity to meet some of the world’s top suppliers of spices. There are many educational seminars and current crop reports. Hopefully there is some good and spicy food!  While the world of spices has a history as long as the history of the world, innovations in crop growing and harvesting are always taking place, and we need to be knowledgeable about this.

Cooking our way through Thailand

A while back my daughter and I had the opportunity of a lifetime. We went to Thailand on a cooking tour. We visited 3 major cities and took cooking classes in each region. The first city was Bangkok, the second was Chang Mai in the north and the third was Phuket in the south. Each had a slightly different cuisine using ingredients available in that area. This was truly a great culinary experience and we encourage everyone to explore different cultures and their individual ethnic foods, whether abroad or in your own homes. The cuisine of Thailand is surprisingly simple. The preparation is the key, the actual cooking takes minute in most cases.

Alton Brown spends a day filming at The Spice House

Each year I look forward with great anticipation to the annual episode on Alton Brown's popular food network show, Good Eats, titled "It's a Wonderful Cake."  Will it air again this year, or has AB discovered a new and improved method of making fruit cake? I go to the Food Network website holding my breath.  No wait, there it is in his Good Eats Fruitcake air times!.  Three December showings. Why do I get so excited? I appear on this show and like Jimmy Stewart, I air every year - for about three minutes - yet I feel this is my 2 seconds of fame! So would  you believe Alton spent about 12 hours filming in our Evanston shop to get this three minutes? If you watch Good Eats, I think you already have an idea of what a thorough guy Alton is.

Grades of Paprika

The old grading system for paprikas has evolved into a much simpler one. Just 15 years ago, Hungary used 8 different names to classify the heat, color, and flavor of it's famed chiles.

• Special Quality (Különleges): The mildest and brightest red of all Hungarian paprikas, with excellent aroma.
• Delicate (Csípmentes Csemege): Ranging from light to dark red, a mild paprika with a rich flavor.
• Exquisite Delicate (Csemegepaprika): Similar to Delicate, but more pungent.
• Pungent Exquisite Delicate (Csípös Csemege, Pikant): A yet more pungent Delicate.
• Rose (Rózsa): Pale Red in color with strong aroma and mild pungency..
• Noble Sweet (Édesnemes): The most commonly exported paprika; bright red and slightly pungent.
• Half-Sweet (Félédes): A blend of mild and pungent paprikas; medium pungency.
• Hot (Erös): Light brown in color, this is the hottest of all the paprikas