What’s the best way to store and use up spices?
Grace, Sheffield
We all have those trusty spices that we reach for time and again to bring flavour – Heat! Sweetness! Sourness! – to a dish, but there are also those that lurk at the back, unused and unloved. To prevent Grace’s cupboard from becoming a Bart’s history museum (other brands are available), she’s right to ask how best to store them.
While supermarkets sell spices in jars, it’s best not to keep them this way. “They’ll lose their potency, which is really the singular point of a spice,” says Rachel Walker, founder of Rooted Spices and co-author, alongside Esther Clark, of The Modern Spice Rack. Instead, store them in an opaque container out of direct sunlight and away from heat. “You don’t want them too close to the oven,” she adds, “but equally, if they are tucked away at the back of a cupboard, that’s when you’ll start to forget they exist.” This strategy is also endorsed by Cynthia Shanmugalingam, chef/founder of Rambutan in Borough Market, London, who keeps her “embarrassingly huge spice collection” in airtight containers in a cool, dark cupboard. Her top tip, though, is to buy whole spices and a decent small electric spice grinder: “The difference between toasting and grinding your spices fresh is huge.” Plus, they’ll keep longer (typically 12 months, as opposed to six for ground spices). So, in future, buy whole spices little and often.
