You see, despite my choosing to follow a strict vegetarian diet, I am a foodie. I grew up with parents that both enjoyed cooking from scratch, often with fresh vegetables straight from the garden. A sibling grew up to be a very adventurous cook, making ethnic foods from across the globe. And I was helping out in the kitchen myself since I was "knee high to a grasshopper."
Even though I began dipping into vegetarian cooking years ago, I still love using spices to make the food more interesting. Heck, I've shared my spice list with you before and even finally stumbled across the perfect spice rack after years of searching. I hang out online with other vegetarian foodies and have been hearing people talk about ordering from Penzeys for years. I never got around to really examining their website and didn't particularly want to order sight unseen, or rather spice unsmelled. And then I saw the sign.
I've passed by the store once or twice since it opened but not had time to stop. Yesterday I made time and enjoyed the experience. For every single herb, spice, mixture, and even extract, they had containers specially set up to open and sniff. It was a lot of fun going through the store, checking out the selection, and sniffing almost everything. It confirmed something I already knew, as well: I much prefer spices over herbs. Year ago, it took me a while to figure out that was the reason I preferred Asian food over French - the seasonings.
Not surprisingly, this preference is evident in what I purchased there yesterday. I tried the toasted onion flakes yesterday in some mashed potatoes. They added a nice bit of tasty crunchiness; next time I think I'll rehydrate them in the cooking water to allow the flavor to permeate more thoroughly. It's like Lipton's Onion Soup mix without all the other ingredients (MSG and soy) I don't want!
I just looked online for the other spice market - Flavorbank - I used to go to occasionally in Tucson and their website seems to be gone. That's too bad because their pepper mixtures and smoked salt were incredible. I haven't been in ages because it is/was on the far side of Tucson from my current location.
If you want to check out a Penzeys near you, here's the list of their locations.
12 comments:
I love Penzey's! Their buttermilk salad dressing mix is so good and, like you said, free of the extra crap you usually find in it. Oh, and their Vietnamese cinnamon? So, so wonderful.
I am excited since the one in Scottsdale has moved! Got a coupon, got their catalog and one of these days I will get there!!
On another note, there is an Olive oil and Vinegar store that we discovered the other day in Happy Valley and I didn't have time to taste all the vinegars but I want to go back and get the small bottles! I fell in love with the raspberry balsamic but don't need a big bottle of it!!!
Yum-o!! I'm a lifelong vegetarian but I swear but spices. I think it helps with weight loss too because you want food to be flavorful and spices do that instead of all the bad for you stuff.
Wendy - I debated about getting the Green Goddess salad dressing mix but since I can't do soy, I wasn't sure what I'd mix it with. LOL
And, I skipped the cinnamons. I think sniffing those needs to be a separate trip all of its own!
Nancy - I overheard another person in the store say she was so glad she didn't have to drive to Phoenix anymore for her spices.
What's an olive oil and vinegar store?
Green Bean - You know, I think seasonings are why I was able to stick to the 10-day potato "diet" I just did. I've tried to do an elimination diet in the past, which is basically rice and steamed vegetables, so that I could narrow down food allergies but I've never stuck to it even one day. I think that's because seasonings and vingars are also eliminated and the food was just tooooo boring. Yay for spices!
Penzy's has such great (fresh!) spices. My favorite is their steak seasoning on grilled salmon. It's great what a different flavor will do to a meal.
Have fun with all the exotic spices, and let us know what you create!
My apologies Chile but American Apocalypse: The Collapse Begins is on sale for $1.99
It's like a blue light special on Amazon - Kindle
4 Bushel Farmgal - they did smell fresh, although it always surprises me that dried cilantro has such a grassy smell. It doesn't smell like a lawn when fresh...
nova - ad alert, ad alert! LOL
Hope bunches of them sell for you.
Is the Tucson store open yet?? My catalog says "coming soon". Where is it located? We live in south Cochise County so it's about a 100 mile one-way trip for us. Thanks!!
Hi Lizaz,
If you click on the link at the bottom of the post about finding Penzeys in your area, you'll see the Tucson store listed right at the top (since Arizona comes first on their list alphabetically). The store is open and that link will give you the address and hours, as well as a link to a map.
It's just south of Tucson mall on Oracle (at Limberlost, I think). So plan a big shopping trip with other errands up here and swing by there, too!
Whereabouts in Cochise County are you? I'm really familiar with most of the county...
Chile....the website is olivecreationaz.com! The vinegars are wonderful....didn't look at any of the oils! This one is in Happy Valley
Thanks, Nancy. The link needs an extra s in it though: olivecreationsaz.com. The list of vinegars looks intriguing, but it'd be a heck of a drive to go check it out!
Penzeys are by far and away my favorite spices. So much better than what you can get in a store and reasonably priced too!
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