In this article, a chef makes the statement:
“McCormick spices aren’t the same as Spice Islands spices…(b)ack then at Fedora, every spice had to be Spice Islands."
I’m sure that high quality spices are better…but how much better? Will it make a difference in my amateur dishes? Should I feel like a fool for grabbing a .98 cent container of ground ginger last week? Is it time to start budgeting and buy 1 jar of Spice Island spice a month until my supply is re-stocked with the good stuff?
Fresh matters more than anything else. That said, Cook’s Illustrated regularly rates spices, and they results are all over the place. Penzey’s consistently rates near or at the top of the pack. You really can taste the difference. Budget for fresh, and gradually restock for quality. But you don’t have to pay top dollar to get that. The little glassine packets are just fine, as long as they are fresh.
Speaking NOT as a master chef, but merely as a competent cook…
If you’re using standard dried herbs and spices, there’s not a huge difference among the leading brands. Not a big enough difference to justify spending much more on one than another.
And if you ARE willing to spend a lot more, I’d urge you to skip the jarred spices and buy fresh ones. A fresh laurel leaf adds infinitely more to a dish than a dried bay leaf from ANY of the leading retail brands, and a fresh basil leaf is much better than dried leaves from McCormick OR Spice Island.
But in my experience, so long as they’re relatively fresh (lots of people keep jars of cinnamon or ginger on a shelf for 5 years, then wonder why they don’t have much flavor), most jarred spice brands are pretty interchangeable.
Penzey’s guarantees freshness and top quality. Spices you buy in the market may have been sitting on the shelf for quite some time, depending on what it is. After about a year, spices will deteriorate and lose their potency. There’s really no comparison in quality, and quality matters. Make something with OTC cinnamon, then try Penzeys Vietnamese cinnamon.
Freshness is a big factor. As Chefguy mentions, for some spices the variety used makes a difference. This is a big factor in chili peppers. There are a lot of varieties grown in different locations, that have unique properties. Like most cooks I prefer fresh, undried spices, but this is not always practical. And some dishes actually respond better to the dried variety.
First, old dried herbs don’t taste bad generally. They just aren’t very intense anymore for the most part. An analogy would be looking through a really dirty window- you’ll see what’s outside, but the color, contrast and detail will be much diminished relative to a recently well cleaned window.
I’ll go against the grain a little, and say that while I like fresh herbs for many uses, there are definitely dishes and situations where the dried ones are superior, or the difference isn’t worth going and buying fresh ones. (and I have more sage, thyme, oregano and mint in the backyard than I can reasonably use!)
For example, in something cooked for a long time, many of the volatile compounds evaporate, so the advantage of fresh herbs is lessened quite a bit.
In the dishes where it counts though, freshness is paramount. You want the freshest you can get - freshly picked would be best, then grocery store, then fresh dried, then old and brown dried.
I always preach that dried herbs are for longer term cooking; fresh herbs get added at the end. That’s a generalization, but it applies in most instances. I usually snip some fresh herbs into a bowl just before ladling soup into it; you get a blast of fresh scent and taste. Same with sprinkling fresh basil over pasta.
But when I’m talking about “fresh” in this thread, I’m referring to dried herbs/spices that haven’t sat in a cupboard for five years.
If you’re buying jars of spices at a grocery store, 80% of the cost is going towards the cost of the bottle. Find a place to buy spices in bulk like this place in Kansas City and you can buy as much or as little of a spice as you want. The savings are ridiculous, the equivalent of a jar’s worth often costs less than 10 cents.
Agreed, but grocery stores probably have a high turnover for cinnamon. Where I see the difference is in the slightly less common spices such as cumin and coriander, and in the herbs. And I prefer Coleman’s mustard to Penzeys.
I know exactly where that is! Haven’t been in there for a couple of years, but I have begun to cook more in that time. I will snoop around there on Saturday…
Appreciating the discussion as well. I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed in this one.
Cinnamon is just an example, but I’ll add that it’s actually a matter of the oil content in cinnamon that makes the difference.