Spices Racks

Posts Tagged ‘Need’

The rack basically has 16 empty jars that need to be filled with spices. I don’t do much cooking, and when I do, my cabinet pretty much has everything I use on a regular basis. I just want the rack to look nice and to have the spices and seasoning I might use on occassion.
Keep in mind, that this rack is going to be more for show than for go, so I don’t want to spend too much money on a spice or seasoning that I might never use in this lifetime or the next.

I have a cabinet lazy susan underneath my counter and i would like to find a spice rack that would fit inside of it. Any suggestions or know where i can get one?

Years ago, I received a nice spice rack and 25 jars of herbs and spices for a wedding gift. I remember sitting there thinking to myself, how am I going to use these? Back then, I was not an educated cook!

Don’t get me wrong, I was appreciative of this great wedding gift. However, I lacked the knowledge that I needed to know about using them.

As a new cook, I thought herbs and spices were the same thing and quickly discovered that they are different. According to Wikipedia, spices are made from a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, leaf, or vegetable substance and used to add flavor to a food dish or used as a preservative. An herb is made from leafy green plants and used for flavoring purposes.

Here are some great tips that I have learnt over the years.

Using a Mortar and Pestle: Dried herbs, aromatic seeds, garlic cloves and nuts will release more of their flavor when crushed with a mortar and pestle. The mortar is a deep bowl in which ingredients are placed. The tool used for crushing is the pestle. For a uniform grind, crush a small amount at a time. It is important to make sure your mortar bowl is completely clean and dry before using it.

Substitutions: To substitute fresh herbs for dried, use three times more of the fresh herb.

Freezing: You can freeze fresh herbs by washing young tender leaves in several changes of cool water. Pat the leaves dry with paper towels. Seal small amounts of the leaves into freezer bags, label and freeze.

Shelf Life For Spices

Ground Spices: 2-3 years
Whole Spices: 3-4 years
Seasoning Blends: 1-2 years
Herbs: 1-3 years
Extracts: 4 years, except pure vanilla, which lasts indefinitely

*tip* Here in Pennsylvania, we observe daylight savings time. Every season when we change our clocks, I will take the time out to go through my spice cabinet and remove any outdated products.

How To Properly Store Herbs and Spices

You will want to keep them in a cool, dry, and dark place. A good place would be inside your pantry closet or inside your kitchen cupboard. You never want to leave them out in sunlight or right near your stove where heat and moisture can destroy them.

When it comes to cooking with herbs and spices, you need to know the basics. Once you know the basics, you will feel more comfortable in using them. There are several good books out in the marketplace that you can purchase to use as a guide. The book I like to recommend is by Jill Norman. It’s called, Herbs and Spices, The Cook’s Reference.

With so much of what we use and keep in our homes today lacking that personal hand made effect, it is nice to know that there are still affordable ways to decorate your home with hand crafted designer items. A hand crafted spice rack is just one of those affordable options and they now come in a remarkable number of choices in styles.

More Choices in Exotic Woods

Of course one of the most popular styles of hand crafted spice rack are wooden racks. Also, they are now available in more sections of exotic woods. Most of todays hand crafted wooden spice racks are made overseas in countries like Thailand and Indonesia where skill levels are high and labor costs are low.

Still So Affordable

This is one of the reasons that these incredible examples of fine craftsmanship are so affordable. The other reason for more choices and lower prices is that they are available on the Internet, where overhead and operating costs are kept to a minimum.

Multitudes of Choices

With so many great options in affordable, hand crafted spice racks, one can be overwhelmed by the number of choices that greet them when they go online to look. Wall mount or counter top? With Spices