Confessions of a spice addict…

So… I have a little problem.  I can’t stop buying spices.  I have sweet.  I have peppery.  I have salty.  I have herby.  Dozens and dozens of containers of them!  I even have a large variety of oils and vinegars.  Does anyone REALLY need nine types of oil and eight separate vinegars??  Canola, peanut, and vegetable, naturally, but also orange blossom or white truffle flavored, and grapeseed or avocado oil.  And you NEED white vinegar, red wine and balsamic, but I up the ante with mirin, pomegranate and champagne vinegar.  I’m not alone, right??  Anyone…?  No?  Ok, so it’s too much.  The problem is I just keep buying more! Like within the past 48 hours…  I walk into a spice store and I go into a fugue state, and have no control over my purchases!

Fast forward to 2018; New Year’s Day, new beginnings!  It’s time to go through the ol’ spice cabinet(s).  Fun fact: did you know you are only supposed to keep ground spices for about 6 months for optimum flavor??  No more than two years max, according to Food Network Magazine, and no more than four years for whole, unground spices.  Kinda makes that Sam’s Club quart of dried rosemary a bad bet…  So today is the one day of the year when I have to put my obsession on the shelf, so to speak, while at the same time taking my precious herbs off the shelf…  It’s purge day!  Anything past the recommended dates has to go, to make room for fresh and new flavors.  There is a certain amount of fear and excitement I always associate with trying a new spice.  Yeah… I need to get out more!  What if it’s too spicy?  Too salty??  WHAT IF I RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD STEAK BY TRYING SOMETHING BESIDES MY MOM’S SPECIAL BLEND??  Family secret: it’s just equal parts garlic powder, granulated onion, Lawry’s Season Salt, and black pepper mixed together, but it’s flipping flawless and tastes amazing on everything…  EVERYTHING.  I make it in bulk.

Alas, today I say goodbye to my old friend homemade BBQ rub (made approximately 5 years ago), and my pal cinnamon-sticks-bottled-in-the-wrong-container.  You expired in 2011, and I really only bought you because I thought you were funny…  Did the good people at Morton & Bassett TRULY not know the difference between whole cinnamon and star anise??  How does a mistake like that even happen?!  Made me giggle every time I looked at the bottle…  But I am intent on making the culinary adventure this year be as flavorful and delicious as possible, and that just can’t happen if I use second-string spices.  I am sincerely hoping that some of you might be inspired this year and make a few of the recipes I will be posting.  If that’s the case, I would encourage you… if you have nothing better to do today, and believe me when I say, I literally have nothing better to do… to take a few minutes to clear out the old and make way for the new in your own spice cabinet!  I’m sure it will take you a fraction of the time it’s going to take me, and you might just discover a bottle of oregano from the early 2000s…  Time to let it go!