Herbs and Spices - Secret From Restaurants

How to Store Herbs and Spices:

You should always remember to keep your spices in a cool and dark place. You do not want to keep them in a humid place full of light and exposed to heat because they tend to lose their flavor quicker. Many people like to keep their spice rack on or above their stoves, but if you are one of those people, you might want to consider moving them to a different place to keep their flavor and freshness longer. I recommend to storing you herbs and spices in a refrigerator due to the level of humidity. However, if you want to store large quantities of herbs and spices, I recommend you store them in a freezer in a tightly sealed container to keep them fresh.

As a rule of thumb, I know that spices retain their best flavor for a year. However, it may be a bit longer for whole spices; some retain their flavor for up to three to five years. The better you store it, the longer they will keep their flavor and freshness.

A tip for whole spices is to grind them in a grinder or mortar and pestle before using them. In addition, if you toast whole spices in a dry skillet on medium heat before grinding them will bring out even more flavor; do be careful not to burn them.

Tips on How Use Herbs and Spices:

When you are seasoning your food with spices, try to use a light hand, remember your goal is to compliment your dish, not crowd out the flavor in your food. Note: it is almost impossible to remove the spice from a dish, so make good decisions when adding spices to your meals.

As a rule of thumb, when doing long-cooking dishes, try to add your herbs and spices at least an hour or less before serving. If you over cook spices, they might release overly strong flavors. Also, crush dried herbs finely before you add them to your dish (after you measure them.)

You do not want to measure your dried herbs the same as your fresh herbs. Another rule of thumb to use is to use 1/3 of the amount in dried herbs as is called for fresh herbs.

Remember to keep things simple. Unless you have a recipe that specifically states otherwise, do not use more than three different herbs and spices in one dish. Of course, as many of you may know, an exception to the rule is Indian food; they usually call for 10 or more different spices at times, in a one single dish.

Some good after cooking spices are black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. People are usually fussy about what spices they put on their food so you might want to have these spices available at the table.

Here are some spices that give another taste to your food without ruining them. For example, if you want to add some variety to your cooking, you might want to start by replacing oregano for marjoram, thyme for savory, parsley for cilantro, and there is so much more you can do.

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