How I Organized My Spices and Herbs

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I do a lot of cooking from different cuisines…Indian, Japanese, Persian, Arab, Mediterranean, Canadian among them. All of these use varying spices and herbs. Naturally I had to store these spices so they would be easily reached while cooking. I put two Ikea inserts into a drawer next to my stove to hold my spice jars. I bought a whole bunch of glass spice jars from Kitchen Stuff Plus, and printed circular labels in a green typeface.

Dozens of my herbs and spices are easily accessible and easy to find when I need to add a dash-of-this, or a sprinkle-of-that. I’m just one person, so the small jars are a perfect size for me and my cooking. In order to keep the spices fresh, I split a bag with my mom and Tomiko. That way, we use up small amounts of spices and herbs quickly, which keeps them strong and flavourful.

My most used herbs and spices are:

• cumin
• turmeric
• cinnamon
• dill
• mustard seeds
• chili flakes
• oregano

I use the following herbs and spices less frequently, but they are nonetheless indispensable:

• aonori
• fenugreek seeds
• marjoram
• tarragon

We tend to get our spices from a great little shop in Kensington Market. It carries everything you could ever want, from ras el hanout to dried Persian limes, white pepper to asafoetida. The great thing is they sell different package sizes of most spices and herbs, so we buy large bags of cumin seeds, but only small envelopes of fennel seeds.