Raise your hand if you have over-the-hill spice jars in your kitchen, their senility evidenced by a layer of dust on the cap, or a price that makes you feel old (when did they ever use a font like that on a price tag?!).
Katie Luber and Sara Engram, two enterprising women in Baltimore, set out to end the cycle of flavorless open jars of cinnamon and cloves in their pantries, and founded tsp spices, a line of organic spices individually wrapped in teaspoon-sized packets. I met them last week at the Fancy Food bacchanal, and giddily left their booth smelling of cardamom.
Each tsp spices tin comes with twelve teaspoon-sized packets, which works out to be 1/4 cup (how much more do you need?) The idea is that the last teaspoon in the tin is as fresh as the first. Despite feelings about excess packaging, here is a great example of packaging used in a thoughtful, useful way.
The line is sold as individual spices (from Allspice to Tumeric), and as spice collections like Spice Basics (Chile Pepper, Coriander, Cumin, Fennel Seed, Ginger, and Turmeric).
The Sweet Basics collection is perfect for baking. It has allspice, anise seed, cardamom, Korintje cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. This collection is for those who bake in enthusiastic, but occasional spurts. Unless you run a commercial kitchen, you probably fall into this category.
At $9 a pop for the individual tins, and $42 for the largest six-spice collections, the line may feel a bit pricey, but compare to any other brand of organic spices, and factor in the novel notion of not having to toss the jar after opening it and using it a few times, and you have yourself what my grandpa would call a downright deal.
Enter our Bittersweet Baking Contest and you just might win tsp Spice's Sweet Basics collection.
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Nice idea, but the packaging and the price would stop me. I get mine from the bulk containers at the health food store, so if anything gets stale, I've only wasted a dollar or so.
To me the packaging makes this a wonderful gift!
I agree with Joan A-- getting small amounts in bulk makes it cheaper and more efficient, plus I can put the spices in my own jars.
The idea is nice though, esp as a gift for someone less likely to buy in bulk.
Count me in as an another, avid supporter of bulk spices and herbs. Whole Foods, at the least, carries a full range of organic herbs and spices, at probably 1/10 the cost.
I always figured bulk spices would be stale -- am I incorrect?
The packaging alone is a big turnoff for me. Combine that with the readily available bulk spices at several of my local supermarkets and I see no reason to purchase this.
Most of my little packets of spices also cost half a dollar or less.
As for the staleness of the bulk spices, I've never noticed a problem with them. And certain spices have an extremely high turnover rate at the market...
Guess Green Month is over, eh?
Hi all -- this is Sara from tsp spices. Missuswayne is correct -- bulk spices do go stale more quickly. The enemies of spice flavor are air, light and moisture. That's why most spice companies tell you to throw out your supplies every few months. It's also why we decided to package spices so that they have a longer shelf life.
I used to buy bulk myself, and still have some in my kitchen from all the samples we've tested. I've noticed that the cumin I was loving a couple of months ago is now a pale version of its former self. Even stored in a dark cabinet in a tightly sealed Ziploc bag it has lost a lot of flavor.
Make the packaging 100% biodegradable and you may generate some more interest. Until then, people like myself will continue to buy their spices in larger quantities for lower prices.