Tammys Kitchen Tips Tuesdays

Yay! Its my favorite blog day! Hosted by Tammy over at http://www.tammysrecipes.com/. She hosts a day where like minded, kitchen lovin, family oriented people can post their tips for making yummy foods, and various links to make family and home life a bit easier and oh soo sweeter. I really love love love this idea and love to participate!

My tip this week is regarding the shelf life of a thing we cooks love the most. Our Spices and herbs. Yes, they do actually have a shelf life.

While spices do not exactly spoil, they do loose their flavor over time. And isn't flavor what its all about? So here is a simple guide for storing your spices.

Most whole spices ( such as cloves, peppercorn, nutmeg and cinnamon sticks) will retain their flavor for 4-6 years. Potent ground spices (think cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon) will also retain their flavor for 2-3 years. Leafy spices ( such as parsley, thyme, oregano) retain their flavor 1-3 years.

So how do you really know?

Well for leafy dried herbs that have no color and no or very little smell when crumbled in the palm of your hand are probably too old for practical use. Yet even if they don't look all that green anymore, but still have some oomph when crumbled in your hand, use them freely.

For ground spices, shake the jar, let it settle, and give a sniff. If there's essentially no smell, it should be tossed out. If the spices have a bit of fragrance left but are not as potent as you remember or think they should be, just use more in the recipe. Then you'll run out sooner and have a reason to start fresh with a new batch. =)

But the best tip I can give you for your herbs and spices is store them no where near the stove or oven, keep them in a cool, dry, dark cupboard,. Also, do not shake the spices directly into whatever it is your cooking. The condensation or steam does go up and into the bottle or jar. And even that tiniest bit will help bring those wonderful spices and herbs to loose their potency.

Please head on over to Tammys Recipes and learn more from the lovely ladies who post their tips and share some yourself! http://www.tammysrecipes.com/