Kitchen notes

Your spices are not going bad — they’re going quiet

Ground spice rarely spoils. It simply loses its volatile oils, and it does it fastest in heat, light and air. The rack above the stove is the worst place in the kitchen. A closed drawer at room temperature will roughly double the useful life of everything in it. Whole seed keeps two to three years; ground spice is at its best for six to nine months, and cumin and coriander fade faster than that.

Quick test: crush a pinch in your palm. If you have to lift it to your nose to smell anything, it’s finished.

Toast whole, grind late, bloom in fat

Three steps that do more for a curry or a chili than any upgrade in ingredients. Toast whole seed in a dry pan over medium heat until it smells nutty and one or two seeds start to jump — ninety seconds, not five minutes. Grind it while still warm. Then bloom the ground spice in oil or butter for thirty seconds before liquid goes in, because most of what you want to taste is fat-soluble, not water-soluble.

Cassia is not cinnamon, and the label may not tell you

In the United States both can be sold as “cinnamon”. Cassia is the thick, hard, single-curl bark with the aggressive red-hot flavour; true Ceylon cinnamon is pale, papery, layered like a cigar, and tastes floral and mild. Neither is wrong — cassia is better in a sticky bun — but they aren’t interchangeable, and cassia is significantly higher in coumarin. We sell both and label which is which.

Salt at the start, acid at the end, spice in the middle

The most common fix we suggest over the phone. If a dish tastes flat despite plenty of seasoning, it usually needs acid rather than more spice. A squeeze of lemon or a spoon of vinegar at the end will pull forward everything the spices are already doing. Sumac does the same job dry, which is why it belongs in a spice drawer even if you never cook Levantine food.

What’s on the grinder in August

The 2025 Tellicherry lot landed in late June and is grinding beautifully — noticeably more citrus than last year’s. Greek oregano is in and tested at 4.1% volatile oil, our best in three seasons. Fennel pollen is limited to two jars per household until the Tuscan collection finishes. Ozark Poultry Salt production starts the second week of September; wholesale customers should place November orders by 15 October.

The house rub, and how to use it

Delta Steak Rub was built for a 1.5 inch ribeye in a screaming cast-iron pan: one tablespoon per pound, pressed on dry, rested twenty minutes at room temperature, then a hard sear and a butter baste. It also works on cauliflower steaks, chicken thighs and, unexpectedly, on roasted sweet potato with a little maple. It is deliberately low in sugar so it can take real heat without burning.