Where do you buy your spices?

grantmichaels

grantmichaels

I debated between here and the kitchenware sub-forum before posting this, hopefully I picked correctly ...
 
Anyways, I am a happy camper when I find a good, consistent supplier for things ...
 
When it comes to dry/whole spices, though, I haven't found a source that's really stood out to date ...
 
I'm a happy customer of Joyner's for powder - the packing is clear and consistent and I like 95% of the powders I've purchased, which is more than I can ask ...
 
Recently I ordered some ground Asian spice on Amazon, and it was fulfilled by Season With Spice ...
 
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The order came w/ a hand-written Thank You note. It was a sentence or two, but a nice touch ... and unusual for an Amazon purchase.
 
The packaging was exceptional, the product labeled clearly and it was all very tidy, and then I found the actual ground "spices" to be very fragrant and fresh seeming (ground kaffir leaf, galangal, and lemongrass) ...
 
I ordered a second batch last week, intended for the TD, and while it didn't arrive in time, I used one of them last night on a burger that I've posted in the burger thread ... and it was a really nice ground chipotle powder. FWIW, the second order came w/ a longer hand-written note, and once again hinted that I could find more product on their website, and mentioned lower prices shopping direct ...
 
I love Amazon Prime, so normally I would ignore such direction and continue to source through Amazon - because Amazon's track record w/ me of accepting returns is impeccable - right down to allowing me to pop the product back outside the next day and UPS picking it back up for them ... WIN!
 
Anyways, I was intrigued, and so I visited their site:
http://www.seasonwithspice.com/
 
I want to point out their Security and Privacy Practices page, specifically:
http://www.seasonwithspice.com/pages/security-and-privacy
 
This is what you want to see on sites you shop online.
 
Also, they have done a lot of other things which I think are commendable:
 
http://www.seasonwithspice.com/pages/recipes
http://www.seasonwithspice.com/pages/recipes-by-spice
http://www.seasonwithspice.com/collections/featured-products
 
We've got recipes using their product, and educational material, and finally a curated list of their most popular items and the new one's in a single page so when I return I don't have to sift through it all again ...
 
This is, in my opinion, how you do it right. I can easily recommend this site to anyone, and feel good about doing so.
 
So, where do you buy your spices? ... I'm curious what other folks have found to be good suppliers of non-spicy-related spices etc ...
 
I'm kind of tempted to try to go whole-spice only for a while to see how it affects the food I make, since I've acquired some additional grinders, mills, and mortar/pestles - but I don't think I've got my end-all whole spice source yet - care to share yours?
 
The spice mill in CT. Decent prices. But I don't love their smoked sweet paprika. Need to find a new source for that one.

I once did r he math on grocery price vs big box store prices by weight. It was shocking what you pay for those small grocery store containers.
 
With only Danielle and I, we can't take advantage of large portions of spices within the window of awesomeness without resorting to doing more work (vac packing etc) ourselves, typically ...
 
So, place that have combination discounts on sets of small quantities works well for our use case, specifically ...
 
I am lucky to have an international farmers market near me,,I get the best stuff ever there,,soo many choices,,alot of stuff I have never had
 
Fresh veggies,,dried spices ,,meats from gator to goat ,,cheeses beyond imagination ,,live fish slaughtered and filleted any way you want
 
grantmichaels said:
With only Danielle and I, we can't take advantage of large portions of spices within the window of awesomeness without resorting to doing more work (vac packing etc) ourselves, typically ...
 
So, place that have combination discounts on sets of small quantities works well for our use case, specifically ...
Click to expand...
And that makes perfect sense. That is why I love the food saver with the jar sealer attachment :) 
wayright said:
I am lucky to have an international farmers market near me,,I get the best stuff ever there,,soo many choices,,alot of stuff I have never had
 
Fresh veggies,,dried spices ,,meats from gator to goat ,,cheeses beyond imagination ,,live fish slaughtered and filleted any way you want
Click to expand...
Very similar to what I have access to here but only Fri - Sun
 
wayright said:
I am lucky to have an international farmers market near me,,I get the best stuff ever there,,soo many choices,,alot of stuff I have never had
 
Fresh veggies,,dried spices ,,meats from gator to goat ,,cheeses beyond imagination ,,live fish slaughtered and filleted any way you want
Click to expand...
 
Always a good source, certainly ...

Out of season, our farmer's market is a good source as such ...
 
In (tourist) season, it's hard to access (parking woes downtown) and there's some price gauging for the unsuspecting ...
 
That said, I agree, really good sourcing at farmer's markets ...
JoynersHotPeppers said:
And that makes perfect sense. That is why I love the food saver with the jar sealer attachment :)

Very similar to what I have access to here but only Fri - Sun
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, ours is Saturday downtown, and there's a different smaller one on the island on Sunday - but that one's spotty and the prices are well, island prices ...
 
When I lived in Ohio I got a lot of my stuff from Saraga and New Asian in Columbus for my hard to find stuff and Troyer's in Millersburg. Here in Wyoming, I have no idea other than I will have to go online for most of it.
 
grantmichaels said:
This thread has already been made worthwhile, for this alone:
 
http://www.kalustyans.com/catalog.asp?menucategory_id=9&category_id=224
 
Found something I hadn't been able to find w/ a good bit of effort before, right away ...
 
Sweet, great rec ...
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Grant if you are ever in NYC and have some spare time I would definitely visit the store.  The variety that they have is unbelievable.   I needed whole coriander seeds and could not find them at any of my local stores and found this place online.  I stopped by one day after work and now it is my go to spot.  Glad it was a help to you.
 
URM Cash-n-Carry.................But then again....I'm buying 5#-20# at a time. :lol:
Firehouse Pantry for bulk chipotle and bhut powders (again.....10-20# at a time)
 
Oregon Spice and Market Spice have good quality spices
 
You all make me want to move so badly...

I love Japan but sourcing fresh spices without paying an arm and a leg is so difficult here.
 
If you order a bunch of different one's into one order, is it that bad? ...
 
It seems I'm getting things from the Far East very often these days from Kickstarter campaigns for IoT stuff, and the international shipping seems pretty worked out these days ...
 
If it's a matter of needing someone to aggregate some stuff into a single box and then shipping it, I'm happy to help ...
 
I'm not sure what the pain-point you have is, though ...
 
grantmichaels said:
If you order a bunch of different one's into one order, is it that bad? ...
 
It seems I'm getting things from the Far East very often these days from Kickstarter campaigns for IoT stuff, and the international shipping seems pretty worked out these days ...
 
If it's a matter of needing someone to aggregate some stuff into a single box and then shipping it, I'm happy to help ...
 
I'm not sure what the pain-point you have is, though ...
Click to expand...
 
Demand is low here b/c the majority of Japanese folks don't know how to use the spices and don't cook anything that requires them. That's not to say their palates are limited, the culinary experience here is very international when eating out. Just demand from normal folks is low, at least that has been my experience and impression.
 
What is available is affordable, but not fresh. It's big brand stuff that has been sitting on shelves for awhile.
 
That said, perhaps I am just being nitpicky and too demanding lol.
 
We have a bulk food place up here called  The Bulk Barn that has a large selection of bulk spices that they turn over regularly .  
At least 95% of the stuff we buy comes from there. Costco and a few other bulk stores around account for most of the rest.
 When I am looking for speciality things I usually make a  list and plan a special trip ,  House of spice down in the kensington market in Toronto had some awesome stuff when we went last fall.  Dried lemons, Kashmiri chile powder, ethiopian berbere.   Unfortunately their website sucks b@lls.  
 The next time I am in To I want to hit this place. The Spice Trader  and I have been hearing good things about the Malabar Super spice Co  
 
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