Very sparingly in Indian cooking, primarily. Like, use it by the pinch.
I love that about them! I’ve been slowly replacing all of my spices with their products. They only have 2 stores in PA & one is in The Strip on the edge of downtown Pittsburgh, only a few miles from me (the other is in Philadelphia).
I’m going to echo earlier advice, but with a few provisos.
For quality spices at a respectable price, Penzy’s is always my choice, but as stated upthread by wise posters, sign up for their specials and deals! I make a list of things as I pass certain usage thresholds for commonly used spices, and stock up when there’s a big sale.
For good value spices, I also second Badia, but emphasis on value. It absolutely doesn’t match Penzys, but I use it for things that have strong, bold flavors and/or I can substitute quantity for quality. Mostly cumin, cayenne, and cassia. I would consider garlic or onion powders, but each time I’ve used them (and I use a LOT) the flavor was just a touch too weak, but the other three work fine.
On a related note, last year l posted about how I had organized my spice shelf by printing up some round labels to put on the tops of the jars, going from this mess…
… to this:
The other day I took the next step, and having bought a couple dozen small glass jars, transferred all my spices into them.
Although I did throw away several jars that were really old, the saving in space from having matching square jars is tremendous. And even if it didn’t, it looks so much neater. Click on the picture to see the full image and how much free space there is at the front of the shelf.
(A few of the existing jars, like the thyme in the front right, were already of the same shape.)
Or just an ordinary mortar and pestle, if you’re willing to do a little wrist work when you need some ground spices. Cheaper, easier to clean, and works just fine to grind up a tablespoon or so of spices (if you need like a quarter-cup ground at one time for some reason, a grinder may be a better bet).
Second the recommendation to buy and keep spices in whole form whenever possible.
Westport Spice & Trading Co. has an excellent selection of chili spices. Unfortunately they don’t show them on their website, just their spice blends. You can call them and discuss the various chilis available.
Only two of my three spice racks, and they are even fuller now. Penzeys store is dangerous to me. Go in for one thing and come out with ten.
A spice-related life hack: if you use a lot of vanilla extract (or even if you don’t), make your own instead of buying it. My wife often has warm milk with a little vanilla in it before bed. So we were going through a lot of it. The artificial stuff is cheap, but doesn’t taste as good.
OTOH, real vanilla extract is very expensive: store brand is about $3.50/oz ($450/gal) and Penzey’s cheapest is well over twice that.
But you can buy vanilla beans for about $13, slice them down the middle, then put them in an 8-oz bottle with some vodka, wait a couple of months, and presto! Vanilla extract for well under half the price of store-brand, and it tastes much, much better. (Some places say you have to wait six months or a year, but we’ve found that two months is plenty.)
But wait, there’s more! As you use the extract, just keep topping up the bottle with more vodka. So a practically bottomless bottle of real vanilla extract for $13 plus the price of some vodka (and you don’t have to use particularly good vodka). I’ve been doing this for a couple of years, and haven’t reached the point of depleting the beans.
Penzey’s rocks. Also:
(latter two are somewhat specialized)
Heh. You’ve started down the road–I have well over 100 Penzey’s products. Too many. Not to mention all the non-Penzey’s, including a full rack of McCormick (many refilled from Penzey’s, of course). I’ve advised my wife that when we remodel the kitchen, there will be a Spice Annex.
I think you missed a letter with your second link. 
(But maybe they can help with the kitchen remodel!)
TLDR; bean = thingy/seed?
thx, (channelling my Gen-Z guy)… great “hack”
[just as reconfirmation]
I assume by “Bean” you mean this (bean might trigger other visuals):
that “thingy/seed” that you slice open lengthwise and the scrape out the inner (soft) parts …
That’s it, but you don’t scrape anything out, you just make a lengthwise cut in each, to open them up so the vodka can get in and be infused with the vanilla essence.
gotcha … did that once with a Trinidad Scorpion in vodka… that made for a really interesting beverage
Not necessarily. Some trustworthy source (The New York Times, maybe? I forget now) did a blind taste test and found that vanillin, which is chemically the same as a real vanilla extract but produced in a lab rather than on an orchid, was actually preferred.
As I nonetheless retained a certain prejudice for the real thing, but hated the cost, I started looking on line and ended up settling for a mix of vanilla and vanillin, Molina, that got great reviews and was available from Amazon. It’s dirt cheap, smells great, and I have been very happy with it. (And the bottle is huge - even though I do lots of baking, it lasts a long time.)
As for real vanilla beans, I split them lengthwise and store them in my sugar jar - it gives a lovely vanilla scent to the sugar.
I’ve got a fifth of vodka with vanilla beans steeping in it. The whole shebang cost about $25, and most of that was for the vanilla beans.
If you’re really looking for bargains, a dollar store will also have spices, although the quality might be variable if you’re picky.
How many vanilla beans do you add to a fifth of vodka?
America’s Test Kitchen did an exhaustive comparison and found that artificial won, so long as the items were baked. Otherwise, the natural stuff held a knife-slim edge.
Spicewalla’s great, and so is the restaurant associated with them in Asheville (Chai Pani), although if you’re local, I’m sure you know that!
Penzeys has a Dallas location that’s not far from the house, so that’s our go-to for most things, except for Indian-type spices, and we get those from Spicewalla.
Bolner’s Fiesta brand is pretty good as well, even if it looks super cheap. Can’t go wrong with their Uncle Chris’ Steak seasoning or their bean seasoning. Their chili powder isn’t half bad either. And they’re good for times when you need a large jar for some reason.
Thanks for that! So, looks like @commasense is right to use the real stuff for direct consumption, with milk - while my use of a vanillin/vanilla mix for baking is also a good choice.