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Originally Posted by Yosemite  I love herbs and use oregano, basil, rosemary most often.
Spices - usually only use in stews, some soups, spaghetti sauce, etc.
I hate garlic powder and onion powder. When I use garlic and onion, I want to use real garlic and real onion.
Spices and dried herbs have only a 3 month shelf life but could be stretched to 6 months. Anything older than a year is certainly not as good as it could be. For herbs and spices that I use frequently that's not a problem but for those I use seldom, the ones I have aren't probably much good anymore.
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During the summer, I'll go out to the flower bed and take some rosemary, basil, and oregano leaves to use fresh....I really should try to dry them for the winter, but I'm not sure where I can store them while they're drying. I've been tempted to try the basement because, after we bought the new dehumidifier for there, we've gotten that area to stay right around 40-45%....I don't know if that's dry enough to dry herbs.
I try to use my dried herbs and spices within a year of buying them. Then we'll do our Penzey's run in the fall.
I have both granulated garlic and dried minced onion so that I can use them in a pinch if I'm out of regular garlic. We probably use garlic in something almost every night, not a lot, but even one or two cloves.
Like I said before, I love cumin. I'm a big fan of smoked paprika, too. And sharp paprika. I keep Hungarian sweet paprika on hand for the summer when we do a lot of BBQ-ing and I use it in sauces and rubs.
Not a big cilantro fan, although I use it in some recipes. I do love tarragon, though. I think those are two of the love-it-or-hate-it herbs. There's no in between with those two! I use tarragon in asparagus dishes.
LotsO'Cats, I'm a Penzey girl, too! We don't order much online or via their catalogs because we go into the store annually. Have you ever been to one of their stores? The first thing we do when we first walk inside is inhale. Deeply. That store smells wonderful.
calico2222, I also use whole allspice berries when I'm brining chicken; pork would be good, too. You can use it in cooked fruits and some puddings, too. You can use cumin in chili (my favorite use), but also in rice and in egg dishes, like scrambled eggs. Oh, and in salsa, too. As for mustard seed, it's commonly used when you're pickling vegetables and making salsa. You make mustard with mustard seeds.
Nanner, I've never made my own herbs de provence. I should try that.
Hey Mooch.....my MIL gave me a Cuisinart coffee grinder one year. She had had it in her kitchen for quite a while and never used it. I use it now to grind spices. My brother doesn't like the needle-like rosemary leaves either, but he likes the taste, so when he comes for dinner and if I'm serving something with rosemary, I'll grind the needles to a powder and use it that way. I'm careful because sometimes the powder will be stronger than the needles. I also use the coffee grinder when I'm making seasoning blends. I just throw my ingredients in the grinder and turn it on. You have to be careful because you don't want your blend too fine. It works.
). Cumin is good, the mixed spices are great (like allspice, or Montreal steak seasoning, which is wonderful porcupine meatballs).
Chicken, fish, I put it in pasta, I put it in scrambled eggs. Yum!
she knows!...
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