Spice dump

Telluride Daily Planet, Friday, May 24, 2024

Growing up, there was a single spice rack screwed onto our apricot-colored kitchen wall, the same kind virtually every family in our neighborhood had in the 60s and 70s, with a set of 12 spices that never seemed to diminish over the course of many years, including things like celery flakes, curry powder, paprika and mace. What is mace, anyway? I still don’t know.

Our big yard had an abundant herb garden from which I know with certainty thyme (onion soup) and chives (baked potatoes) were harvested and used. Given my mother’s French background and the big plot of herbs, however, it seems like there should have been herbs in and on everything we ate, from veggies to stews, to soups and sauces. But my mom, a WWII survivor who fled France to reunite with her American fiancé (my dad) – along with 6,500 other war brides – always claimed she’d lost her appetite during years of war rationing and never really learned to cook the way her sisters, who stayed in Paris, did. 

I don’t remember herbs and spices in any impressionable way as a child, except for the smell of the Indian grocery at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, a tiny store that was so evocative and redolent, it fueled my imagination like crazy. This was no aroma-neutral spice rack like ours, it was obviously the way of a more colorful, sensual and festive life. Later on, I’d see pictures of what the world’s major spice markets looked like in India, Asia, Mexico, Morocco, Turkey and Dubai. Other cultures, it was obvious, had deeply tapped into the secrets of the spice world.

If we ever had any doubt that herbs and spices were “medicine” in the sense of tasty and necessary nourishment for the human body, we seem finally to be rediscovering their virtues, not simply for flavor and heat, but for all the health benefits. The leaves, roots, rhizomes, stems, bark, fruit, flowers and seeds, or spices and the living leaves, flowers and stems of herbs: so intricately woven into human history, geography and trade are these plant products that entire books have been written about most of them. 

Lately, my crude herb and spice hack has been to just use a substantially larger quantity of whatever the recipe or dish recipe calls for. This happened for the first time some years ago, when in the course of making a traditional holiday cookie recipe, I read “tablespoon” instead of “teaspoon” for one of the spices, which actually landed me with a new level of end product. It was a recipe I decided not to share after people started asking on a regular basis – a petty move that nevertheless made me laugh every time. 

Why not use more herbs and spices, in general, though? A friend recently told me she’d started making salad dressing by “just dumping a big pile of Herbs of Provence” into the oil and cider vinegar and letting it sit there a minute before adding the other ingredients. A busy person, she had developed this technique for maximum flavor extraction in the shortest time; but what she got in addition from the thyme, marjoram, rosemary, summer savory and lavender (one mix, and there are others) was more of the incredible potency of each of the herbs and more of the health benefits. I became a convert after trying it.

Herbs and spices can add as much nutrient density to a dish as the dish itself. Summer savory, just one of the HOP mix (and another spice-rack mystery for me), is an annual herb that belongs to the mint family, is related to sage, rosemary and thyme, and has been used therapeutically for millennia. It eases digestion, has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, is anti-microbial and eases sore throats. Rosmarinic acid, a polyphenol compound also present in rosemary, sage, and lemon balm, is known for its antioxidant, anti-aging and immunostimulating effects. 

The world of spices and herbs and blends is vast and easily accessible these days. But in a culture that has been known to call ranch, barbecue, and nacho “flavors,” it’s worth a short pep talk on these mind-blowing natural medicines here on planet Earth for our enjoyment. Though chefs might cringe at a more-is-better method, it’s worth a shot, at least. Try dumping more cinnamon on oatmeal, more ginger in stir-fry, more turmeric or garam masala in curries, more black pepper on… anything! Choose non-irradiated spices, buy them in bulk, and don’t skimp.

Mace, by the way, is the lacey outer shell of the nutmeg seed, similar in flavor, though deep red enough to be used as a dye. It figured prominently – along with nutmeg and clove – in the “Nutmeg Wars” between England and Holland, was used as often as salt, and has too many medicinal properties to list here.