The Spice Rack

The Spice Rack ~ An introductory article for The Spice Rack, a collection of articles delving into the wonderfully fragrant world of herbs and spices.If I was to pick one herb or spice from my spice cabinet that I couldn’t do without, it just might be oregano. My late Italian grandmother used it on everything, for everything; it was her herb of choice.

At my mom’s house, we didn’t use any herbs or spices outside salt and pepper because our cooking was done from boxes and packets. It wasn’t until I was taken under the tutelage my stepmom that the world of herbs and spices was to introduced to me.

But even then, it was limited. There was still much for me to learn. There is still much for me to learn.

Over the years as my love of cooking and my curiosity of the individual ingredients grew, my natural love of research kicked in and I began looking things up to learn more.

That’s where this new series The Spice Rack comes into play. Herbs and spices make our meals. Then can turn that drab ole chicken breast into succulent flavorful feast or the dull russet in a spicy morsel.I’m going to tackle herbs and spices one by one, but I promise I will not be boring and yammer on about all the things a botanist or wikipedia would share with you. I am simply curious at the origins, how it is grown, how we came to use it the way we use it, etc etc. And I will share recipes using that herb or spice in each new article.

Since beginning my research, I have learned with some herbs, we use the flowers, others the leaves, and some, the seeds when it goes to reproduce. Some of my more favorite tidbits was learning that one of our favorites is nothing but glorified tree bark (cinnamon) and one of the most expensive spices is the sexual reproductive part of a flower (saffron).

The first article in this series is about coriander, so look for that soon. In the comments below, tell me which herbs and spices you have hanging out in your kitchen you want to know more about and how to use.

Thank you for sharing!