Imagine an ice cream sundae without vanilla, pesto without basil, salsa without chile, or paella without saffron. You can’t, because the spice defines everything about the dish—its taste, texture, and aroma, how it is made, and how it is remembered. Eating would be just about joyless if it weren’t for spices—and the best cooks know it. Case in point:
Several years ago, researchers from Cornell University examined more than 4,500 recipes from nearly 100 cookbooks. They found that 93 percent included at least one spice, with the ingredient lists averaging four. That average, however, is considered a minimum in the cuisines popular for their unique and intense flavors, such as Indian, Indonesian, and Thai. Compared to those cuisines, the typical American diet is bland.
IN A SURVEY OF COOKBOOKS BY FOOD SCIENTISTS, 93 PERCENT OF RECIPES CONTAINED AT LEAST ONE SPICE; THE AVERAGE WAS FOUR.It’s not that Americans aren’t fond of exotic food. The proliferation of restaurants featuring these and other ethnic cuisines across the United States attests to the growing American interest in spicy fare. So why aren’t Americans enjoying more spicy food at home?
They’re intimidated! Most of the spices from nations with spicy cuisines are unfamiliar to American palates. Many of them, such as galangal, asafoetida, and black cumin (to name a few), aren’t available in typical supermarkets—in fact, it’s possible you may never have heard of them! Plus, a long list of spices in a recipe makes a dish seem complicated and expensive.
But enjoying spices at home doesn’t have to be intimidating—or complicated, or expensive. The secret to feeling comfortable with spices is understanding them—how to buy them, use them, and combine them in ways that quickly transform a bland recipe into a flavor to savor. This website not only offers hundreds of reasons for spicing up your life to help improve health and avoid illness—it also gives you hundreds of ideas for doing it in a very tasty way.
But first, you need to know the basics.
Spices in Cooking and Eating
Contrary to popular belief, spice is not a synonym for hot. In fact, most spices do not add fiery flavor to food. Rather, spices are aromatic, which serves several culinary purposes. Spices:
• give food a pleasant, mouthwatering aroma that stimulates the appetite and increases the enjoyment of food.
• blend into new and pleasing taste sensations.
• impart a characteristic flavor, be it sweet, sour, tangy, or hot.
• serve as a natural tenderizer for tough but economical meats.
• add body and texture to a dish, with some acting as thickeners and binders for sauces.
• color a dish, making it appetizing to look at.
• assist the digestive process.
All spices perform several of these tasks. Turmeric and saffron, for example, add both brilliant color and aroma to food. Coriander acts as a thickener, while also giving a dish a nutty flavor. Ginger enlivens taste and aids digestion.
However, sniff any raw spice and you’ll detect little, if any, aroma. That’s because, with few exceptions, spices are just like any other food—something to cook. Most raw spices are dried organic matter—roots, bark, leaves, dried fruit, and the seeds of shrubs and trees. Those raw items are difficult to digest and may leave you with an upset stomach if you try.
In India, where highly spiced foods are a cherished way of life, cooks typically add spices to hot oil at the beginning of food preparation, just before adding other ingredients. This releases the spices’ volatile oils, which flood the senses with heady aromas. Spices are again added at the end of cooking. As you read about how to cook with spices, you’ll develop a sure sense for how to add spices to your at-home meals. And you’ll discover that cooking with the healing spices is easy. So is the first step: obtaining them.
Finding Spices
All the healing spices are easy to obtain, although it may take some ingenuity to find some of them, depending on where you live. You’ll discover that they needn’t be expensive, either.
Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of a major city that includes large Asian, Indian, and Latin populations, and most of these cities have at least one Asian, Indian, and Latin grocery store. Those stores are where you’ll find some of the more unusual healing spices, such as amchur, cardamom, kokum, galangal, and tamarind. You can find these markets by looking in the phone book or on the Internet, as they generally do not advertise. (And Oriental sections of national and regional supermarkets continue to get more expansive, with many spices that you couldn’t find a few years ago—such as fenugreek, lemongrass, star anise, and wasabi—appearing on shelves.)
Many of these markets, particularly the Indian markets, sell spices in bulk, packaged in tins or plastic bags of 14 ounces or more. (Spices purchased in bulk keep best if you remove them from their plastic wrapping and store them in airtight glass containers.) The cost of buying bulk is much less than buying 2.5-ounce bottles of the same spice in a large chain supermarket. Or you can share the cost, splitting the bulk purchase with family or friends.
There are also many spice retailers that sell through the Internet. But compare prices, as spices bought via the Internet are generally more costly than those from a local market. You’ll find a helpful list of Internet spice retailers in the “Buyer’s Guide”.
Purchasing and Storing Spices
Spices are typically sold in one- or two-ounce tins or glass containers. Spices sold in bulk generally come in plastic. (Stay away from cardboard packaging, which doesn’t preserve freshness.) As mentioned earlier, if the spice isn’t sold in tin or glass, it’s best to transfer it as soon as you get home into an airtight tin or glass container in order to preserve freshness.
You can purchase spices fresh, dried, whole, cracked, coarsely ground, and finely ground. But you’ll get the most aromatic pleasure out of your spices if you buy them whole and grind them yourself. That’s because whole spices start to “leak” aroma and flavor as soon as they are ground. This is why whole spices have very little, if any, aroma until they are ground.
If you grind your spices, store them in small spice jars that you can purchase at many discount stores, supermarkets, major retailers that sell kitchen equipment, or Internet sites that sell spices.
Store all spices in a cool, dark place. Heat, moisture, and direct sunlight accelerate the loss of flavor and can break down the aromatic chemical components. Ideally, store spices at a temperature between 50° and 60°F. High temperatures can cause spices to cake or harden, and change or lose color.
When using spices, don’t let them sit around the stove. Tightly close the container immediately after its use and return it to its cool storage space as soon as possible.
Under ideal conditions, ground spices will keep for about a year and whole spices for two or three years.
Old spices lose flavor and healing power. If a spice in your pantry is past its prime, throw it out. You can test ground spices by opening a bottle and holding it up to your nose—if there is little aroma, toss it. To test whole spices, rub them lightly between your fingers. If they are still fresh, they will release a little volatile oil that you can feel and smell.
Spice Equipment
Cooking with the healing spices requires only a few pieces of equipment.
Mortar and pestle. This common device is essential for crushing spices in small amounts—a teaspoon or less. Chances are you already own one. Make sure the pestle fits snuggly in the mortar. If not, it will make crushing and grinding more difficult. The best mortar and pestles are marble. (Those made of wood retain the aroma of volatile oils, creating an unwanted addition to the aroma of other spices.)
An alternative to a mortar and pestle is a rolling pin—put the spice between two pieces of wax paper and crush it by rolling over it repeatedly with the pin.
Spice grinder. Grinding more than a tiny amount of spice requires an assist from electric power. There are three kinds of appliances suited to the job: a spice grinder, a coffee grinder, or a hand-held mini food processor. You’ll get spices ground to a smooth powder in seconds, compared to the task of doing it by hand with a traditional mortar and pestle. And no skill is involved. Just drop the spice in and turn on the appliance. (Make sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions.) If you start to detect an odor in the appliance after several uses, grinding sugar or rice should make it disappear.
Small heavy skillet. You will need this for dry roasting, a technique required before grinding many whole spices and seeds. (See below.) The best kind is an old-fashioned, treated cast iron skillet. Not only does it work the best, it’s also inexpensive compared to many of today’s top-of-the-line pots and pans. A smaller pan is ideal for cooks preparing spices at home.
Roasting Spices
Most (but not all) whole spices benefit from a light, dry roasting before grinding. It’s important that you do this properly. The goal is to brown them without burning them. If it’s your first try, be prepared to lose a batch or two.
To begin, heat a small heavy frying pan (preferably one made of cast iron) over medium heat until it gets nice and hot, about two minutes. Add the spices. Grab the handle (make sure to use an oven mitt or potholder, as the handle gets very hot) and shake the spices around. At the same time, stir the spices continuously with a wooden spoon so they don’t burn. For the first minute or two while the spices are losing their moisture, nothing will happen. As they continue to fry, they will start to smoke. Your nose will sense the fragrance as they start to release their aroma. Continue to fry until they are a deep brown. If they are cooking too fast, turn down the heat. Transfer the spices to a clean plate to cool before grinding.
Spices are generally roasted individually, even if you are making a blend, as they don’t brown at the same rate.
The whole process can take anywhere from a few to 10 minutes. The time element depends on the type of spice you are roasting, the amount of spice, and the size of the pan. The larger the pan, the faster the spices will brown.
Spices are beautiful to behold, pleasing to smell, and memorable to taste.
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