Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that a sufficiently excellent product will go a long way toward overcoming any bad press coming from its management’s political or social views and expressions. That being said, I’ve never had Chick-fil-A and never will because of their political stances, same with Hobby Lobby. I can get whatever needs I might have for those products from other, less obnoxious, sources. Republicans who don’t like Penzey’s can go right ahead and spend three times as much for garbage Schilling products in the grocery stores, takes all kinds to make a world.
There are plenty of other fine spice purveyors, most of whom don’t even talk about their politics, one way or the other. Nobody needs to rely on grocery store crap.
QFT. Although you can get great, fresh spices at your local megamart. You just have to shop the “ethnic” aisles and look for the cheap spices packaged in glassine bags. Around here I can get Latin spices just as fresh as Penzey’s for half the price by shopping that way.
Yep, my local Italian grocery store has some very nice fresh spices as you describe. Their available sizes are more than we can use in a year or so, but I don’t mind replacing them given the low prices.
Penzey’s spices are a hot Christmas stocking item for that side of my family. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a 40-year-old guy squealing and kissing a jar of Barbecue of the Americas blend.
< backs slowly away >
Not to mention hiding it from his spouse.
Agreed. That sort of reaction is more appropriate for a jar of Malabar peppercorns or Hungarian Half-Sharp paprika.
Or Madagascar vanilla, which goes for a king’s ransom these days.
Except he’s not “alienating large chunks of their customer base.” Penzey’s political views are well-known and always have been. There can’t be a significant number of Trump/Republican supporters who are Penzey’s customers for which this latest outburst would be the “last straw.”
I guess there could be some more moderate Penzey’s customers who might be turned off by his latest statement, but 1) again, what he thinks is really no surprise and 2) that’s still not “large chunks” of customers.
I put in an order last night but wished I had read through the whole thread. I would have got some mexican oregano. I found out there is a store in the next town over, but it would still take me over half an hour to get there. So I made it $40 to get the free shipping. They even threw in the cinnamon for free! Next time I’m in the area, I’ll stop in if they’re open.
One concern I have - are the containers of the “normal” shape? I have a spice rack in my cabinet next to the stove that is perfectly sized to fit. The typical containers of grocery store spices fit just right. If these don’t fit in it, they’ll have to go in the pantry which will make it less likely for me to remember about them. The pictures made them look more squat and may be too wide.
They fit in my normal spice racks, next to the McCormick.
I’d actually never really heard of Penzey’s before, they have a new customer.
For everybody who has never ordered from Penzey’s before:
- Aleppo pepper
- Vietnamese cinnamon
- Any of their blends
- Hungarian Half-Sharp paprika
- Spanish Smoked paprika
- Malabar peppercorns
- Hell, just order the catalog! They also toss in sample size jars of various things they want you to be aware of. That’s where I first tried their Mural of Flavor and Arizona Dreaming blends.
- Roasted Garlic powder
- Trinidad Lemon Garlic Marinade
I really miss being able to go in and sniff the jars–for those unware, in the physical stores every single item has a glass canister that you can open to smell the product. Pre-COVID I could never get out of there in less than a half hour even if I knew perfectly well what I wanted because I had to go snurf some stuff just for kicks. Stoopid respiratory disease!
I have some of their Mexican oregano and let me tell you, this is some strong stuff. I was expecting what I had previously known as oregano, and used the amount I had previously used. Wowee!
Remember that Mexican oregano and European oregano are totally different herbs. They aren’t really swappable. Don’t know if you did that or were just surprised by what quality herbs can be like.
Well, I figured if it was called oregano then I was familiar with the stuff. 
Yeah, I did that once, back in Bachelor Foods class in high school. The results were…interesting. That’s the same class where I learned the difference between baking powder and baking soda. We played street hockey with my biscuits.
Sounds painful.