Penzey’s Spices

On a recent trip to Memphis, Quinn and I stopped in Penzey’s Spices, a store I spied the last time we drove up there. When Quinn and I got married almost 6 years ago, a friend of his who really loved cooking sent us a wonderful gift of a collection of Penzey’s Spices. It now being almost 6 years later, those are of course all gone. Well, we’re restocked now.

The best part about this store is that next to most of their spices, there is a jar with a removable lid to allow you to smell them. By the time we had smelled shallot salt, four kinds of cinnamon, seasoning blends, peppercorns, and a miriad of every other imaginable (and some unimaginable) spices, our noses had distinct tingles. We also had a bag full of spices. Two of the aforementioned cinnamons, French sweet basil, shallot salt, vanilla sugar, vanilla beans, and “special extra bold” tellicherry peppercorns.

I think Penzey’s mostly sells through their print catalog and website, but if you have the chance do stop in, smell, and procure some for your own kitchen.

5 comments September 17th, 2006