Spice Up Your Life with a Spice Rack
Spice racks are great kitchen helpers for controlling clutter and saving you space and time when needing to go to your selection of spices. Made from framed wood, stainless-steel, metal, or plastic, a spice rack can be as simple as a cabinet shelf to house your spices. Other types are ones that can be mounted to the wall or inside a cabinet door, set on a counter, or stored in a utility drawer. The number of spices they might contain varies by their sizes. Typically, the carousel design, as a plastic or stainless-steel spice rack can fit as little as 6-12 spices and upwards of 20. A wall spice rack can hold as little as 8 upwards of 20, depending on the number of shelves and container sizes. A magnetic spice rack can fit 12-18 jars or more, depending on the room on the magnetic easel surface where they attach. Because spices will vary from kitchen to kitchen, you can purchase materials to make a wood spice rack to hang on the wall, or even use Velcro to stick spice jars to a wall, inside of a pantry door, or cabinet for easy access.
Spices and Where to Find Them
Spices are made from dried seeds (like mustard and fennel), leaves (like thyme and oregano), roots (like ginger or garlic), bark (like cinnamon), or powdered forms of fruits (like berberis). India and Indonesia are the largest spice producers in the world, while McCormick & Co. is the largest spice maker.
Common spices used in the home are pepper, salt, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, ginger, basil, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, tarragon, mustard seeds or powder, minced onion or onion powder, paprika, celery powder, oregano, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder or garlic salt. More savvy cooks with a penchant for global cuisine might also add dill, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cubeb, saffron, star anise, five-spice powder, curry powder, garam masala, za’atar, ras el hanout, shichimi togarashi, or berbere.
The cheapest spices are usually sold at ethnic grocery stores, spice websites, or food warehouses (like Sam’s Club or Costco). Discount stores often have a decent selection of spices, but might not always be the best quality. Supermarkets have good quality spices, yet less of a selection, resulting in somewhat higher prices. Powdered spices and spice blends are cheapest, followed by minced, and then whole (as with seeds or berries). You can find them for as low as $.50 for .87 oz. containers or an average of $3.49. On the other hand, saffron, vanilla, and cardamom are some of the most expensive spices in the world because of the quantity needed to make each ounce.
Spices keep best in glass containers with tight-fitting lids to keep moisture out, away from heat and direct sunlight. Another option is stainless-steel, as it will ensure freshness and provide instant darkness to keep the spices out of direct sunlight. The cheapest spices you will find at a grocery store might be in plastic bottles, and tend to be less air-tight and prone to drying out or clumping. For this reason, buying your own supply of containers or canisters is a must. The quantity of each spice sold and the size containers can range from the standard sizes of .62 oz, 1.2 oz., 1 3/8 oz, 1.5 oz., or 3.4 oz. or upwards of 8 oz. to gallons for industrial use.
The best rated spice racks are:
- Select-A-Spice Carousel by Kitchen Art for $24.95. Made from plastic, it holds 4 oz. containers of either 12 single-stacked or 24 double-stacked spices.
- Spice Rack by Bartlett for $29.95. Made from alder wood, it holds 18 spices.
- Revolving Spice Tower by M. Kamenstein, Inc. for $34.95. Made from steel, it holds 20 3 oz. jars.
- Magnetic Spice Rack with Easel by M. Kamenstein, Inc. for $49.95. Made from steel, it holds 12 3 oz. bottles.
- 3 Tier Spice Rack by Stacksandstacks.com for $19.99. Made from metal, it holds 18 bottles.
