Maybe I just drank too much coffee but as I was loading the dishwasher my husband and I got an idea. We would clean the twirling spice rack he bought me about five years ago. He meant dust. I interpreted differently. I got the brainstorm to go through the little bottles and dispose of the ones we never opened (savory, bay leaves- I didn't even know we had bay leaves, celery salt, etc.) and run them through the dishwasher and refill them with fresh spices of the type we use. And relabel the lids. Some, like parsley and oregano, I either have fresh now or I grow in the garden come spring, so I need to figure out how to successfully dry my own. Others will be completely changed. Celery salt will become garlic pepper. Mustard seed will become ground mustard. I am way too excited about this project.
The spice rack now contains:
Basil
Chili powder, commercial blend (you know, the silly envelopes. My mother-in-law left it here)
Chili powder, Indian (very hot)
Cinnamon
Cumin
Curry powder
Garlic pepper
Italian Seasoning
It's a Dilly (primarily dill and lemon, with some red pepper I think
Oriental five spice
Ranch mix, organic (no msg)
Red pepper, crushed
Two empty bottles (the other spices left aren't used often enough to have a space)
And one missing bottle...
drying herbs is easy...E could do it...I dry and freeze. Sometimes I like to use the frozen when the recipe calls for fresh. That was you're save from trips to the store for mundane things like fresh parsley.
ReplyDeleteBay leaves you use in speghetti sauce. Wonderful. Can't be eaten.
Tell your M-I-L when she hits the yard sales again, to look out for a coffee grinder. Then use it to grind the herbs and spices and peppers and things. Beats a motar and pestal.
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Every time I try to dry herbs, I fail. Please enlighten. Oh! Freeze them. I know what bay leaves are for, I just didn't know we had any.
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