I’m going to start some posts here and there about using different herbs and spices to well… spice up your food. As a former fat dude (I’m under 240 now, so I think I can drop the “soon to be” part of that), food is still a focus in my life, but in a much better way. And given the smaller quantity I’m eating, I really want to focus on quality.
So to kick this off, I’m going to talk not about a particular spice, but on my favorite place to get spices – Penzeys Spices.
Penzeys has been around for over 40 years and now has over 40 locations nationwide as well as catalog and online sales at penzeys.com – and while I think their site needs some vast improvements, it’ll work to get some good stuff delivered if you’re not fortunate enough to live near one of their retail locations.
Speaking of catalogs, Penzeys puts out seasonal catalogs, not just with their line of herbs, spices, blends and gift boxes, but with some great recipes. Here’s a list of what you’ll find in the Harvest 2009 catalog;
Turkey Black Bean Chili, Aunt Eva’s Zucchini Bread, Cinnamon Rolls, Oatmeal Cookies, Cognac Cinnamon Blueberry Pie, Shrimp Curry, Crunchy Oven-Baked Chicken, Creamy Fall Slaw, Five-Hour Oven Stewe, Seven Layer Salad, Marinated Pork Loin, Grilled Veggie Pasta, Cheesey Tomato Bake, Pear, Walnut and Celery Salad, Pepperoni Pizza Dip, Whole Weat Apple Bread, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Fresh Corn Salad, and Butterfly Cookies.
Now granted, lots of these recipes are not going to work right out of the box for use former fat dudes, but the Turkey Black Bean Chili.. that would be a good one to start with. It makes use of their minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, ground pepper and chicken soup base. (find some black soybeans instead of the regular black beans and really boost the protein in this one!).
These aren’t just test-kitchen recipes either, they all pretty much seem to be stuff submitted to them by customers and for some of the highlighted recipes they’ll include short profiles of them.
All the catalong entries include information about the spice or herb, often with suggestions for it’s use or… say in the case of cinnamon, they give you the scoop on the diffrences between Chinese Cassia, Korintje Cassia and Ceylon cinnamon. Did you even know there were different types?
From the website you can either order a catalog to be mailed to you or you can download it in PDF format.
You would think that being a specialty store, that would mean Penzeys is expensive… but in reality, they really aren’t. I’m Scottish… I can be pretty picky about my pennies at times, so I did some price checking against my local big-box grocer.
Yes, you can get “cheap” spices… Spice Trend is one of those “generic” brands. And yes, I buy them for certain things I don’t use often. They’re typically bout a buck and half or so for a container that usually holds a few tablespoons. Penzeys has a 1/4 cup glass jar that seems between $2.50-3.50 depending on what’s inside.
But if you compare with the national brands, such as McCormick’s, I’ve found Penzeys is comparable to them… and if you get in to some of the ’boutique’ brands the stores carry, I think Penzeys beat them every time. And you know the inventory at Penzeys is turning over at a good clip. Who knows how long that oregano has been on the shelf at the store?
Your best bet is to go with the 1/4 cup jars for things you are just trying out or don’t go through that often, then move up to the 4oz bags (or larger if you are cooking for a family even) for things you use frequently. And if you don’t have spice jars to store them in… Penzeys has those too ad very decent prices, though my current jars have all come from Ikea.
And besides just the herbs, spices and extracts they also have many of their own unique spice blends… from cocoa mix to dressing mixes. This last trip I bought their Bold Taco Seasoning. One of those packets you get in the stores… Ortega or other brands are about 1.5oz for what? $1-1.50 or so? Penzeys has 4oz for $4.15. Yea, maybe a lil more expensive, but if you go through a lot, you can get 8oz or 1lb bag for well under a buck an ounce. And the flavor is … well, no comparrison. They also have mild seasoning, one blended specifically for chicken and their Rojo Taco Seasonings for pork.
And you don’t need to use it just for tacos. I used a couple teaspoons the other night as a dry rub on some country style pork ribs that I grilled… they turned out great.
Oh, and the sauce is a home-made mustard sauce using some brown and yellow mustard seeds I bought this week as well.
So check out Penzeys.. or least hit your local store and find ways to spice up your next meal.
I wish I had seen this post earlier today! On another food blog, the chef was touting the praises of Miracle Blend, made by:
http://www.aldenmillhouse.com/product.htm.
I got their Miracle Blend and their Char Broil It. I’m anxious to try them, but I downloaded Penzey’s catalog for future reference. I love Korintje cinnamon! The only other place I’ve ever seen it is Pampered Chef.
Penzeys catalog had a recipe for coleslaw with apples
celery seed and I think sour cream.
I cannot find my recipe and I’d like to make for
christmas, anyone have it? Please?