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Any culinary-themed movie will tell you that cooking is an art. Those movies are right. When done with passion and drive, cooking is an art. The aromas, the flavors, and the consistencies of the recipes all collaborate to make a meal a masterpiece, the same way paint and canvases do for a painting. One of the most important parts of any cuisine is the spices.
According to the American Spice Trade Association, spices are defined as “any dried plant product used primarily for seasoning purposes.” That means diverse herbs, dehydrated veggies, spice blends, and spice seeds are all under the term “spices.” They add and/or enhance flavor to any cuisine and can turn a meal from bland to delicious very quickly. But spices can be pretty expensive. Not only that, store-bought spices tend to be very old since they have been sitting on the shelf for who knows how long. As a result, cooking with older spices can be detrimental to the overall taste of the dish. If you’re passionate about this art form, that can be a huge setback to your meal.
Growing your own herbs can be a thrilling venture since you are taking control of what goes into your food. It can make the experience of cooking all the more fulfilling and entertaining. Yet growing your own spices can also be a lot of work and initially more expensive if you don’t have any gardening tools. Both choices have their perks, but let’s see which option has the better overall outcome.
STORE-BOUGHT SPICES
BENEFITS:
Convenience. Buying spices from the store is much more convenient. You can walk into any store that sells whatever spice you’re looking for, pay for it, and walk out. No real work required!
Cost. Depending on the store and the spice you want to buy, the price can be unreasonably high or surprisingly low. Depending on the spice and the store, spices can be as low as 97 cents. For less than a dollar, that’s a steal.
No mess, no fuss. Buying spices means buying an already dried, crushed, and contained spice, so there’s no mess that would normally accompany having to crush and dry the spice yourself. Using store-bought spices is only as messy as you make it.
Longer shelf life. Again, depending on your knowledge and personal taste, this point could be a huge lie. Spices have a longer shelf life in the sense that, if your taste buds are not attuned to the taste of fresh spices, you won’t notice what you’re missing. So, even if the spices are stale, it won’t seem that way. Therefore, technically, they “last longer.”
DRAWBACKS
They’re already stale. According to Simple Bites, “Products on the shelves of your average grocery chain may have been there for a year or more, and they probably sat in a warehouse for up to a year before that. Since the average shelf life of ground spices maxes out at around six months, chances are you’re buying stale spices.” Stale spices have a dull taste to them. That can significantly bring down the quality of any dish.
Other ingredients are mixed in. That same article also had a few things to say about the purity of store-bought spices, “Ground spices may have other ingredients such as salt, rice, or flour mixed in and FDA regulations do not require suppliers to list these add-ins as ingredients. Also, ground spices are not required to be free of contaminants.”
They contain “defects.” In most, if not all, prepackaged food, there are a certain number of “defects.” The FDA has a list of these acceptable defects and how many of them are allowed to exist in our food before taking action. These defects supposedly cause no harm to humans when ingested but they are still…unpleasant. In store-bought spices, “natural” defects include rodent hairs, rodent “filth,” mold, dead insects and insect “filth” and even sand. Uhh, yummy?
You have to use more to get the same potency. Since these spices are usually stale when purchased, you have to use more of them to get the same potency you could get with fresh spices. That can be costly depending on how spice-heavy your cooking style is.
HOME-GROWN SPICES
BENEFITS
Quality Control. After reading those facts above, what a relief it is to know exactly what is going in your food. When growing your own spices, you know what is being added because you’re the one adding it. You know if the spices you’re growing or using are good quality and you know when they’re about to go bad. As a result, you give yourself the best.
Freshness. You’ll get to see the herbs or spices growing right there in your house. Once you’ve committed the knowledge of spices and spice care to memory, you’ll be able to effectively tell when the spices are at their peak and harvest the beauties for consumption when ready.
Healthier. Since there will be no worry of animal excretions or dead insects, the spices will be much healthier. You wash them, grind them, dry them, and store them yourself. The quality factor, and consequently health factor, is in your hands.
You don’t have to use nearly as much. Fresh spices will always be more potent than store-bought spices because they won’t be stale and they won’t have nearly as many “added ingredients.” This means you can use less and make them last longer.
You’ll finally know how spices are supposed to taste. You’ll be experiencing the purest form of spices you can obtain. Fresh is always better. Fresh spices have a taste of vitality to them that is greatly different from the stale, store-bought spices we are accustomed to. Once you’ve had a taste of how spices are supposed to taste, there’s no going back.
DRAWBACKS
Cost. There are many variables to consider when going down the natural route for spices. Cost is one of them. Initially, the cost can be much higher depending on what supplies are readily available to you. If you have no inclination to garden, growing your own spices would mean purchasing your own pots, spades, containers, fertilized soil , and of course, seeds. Depending on how many herbs and spices you wanted to grow, it could get quite expensive.
Must have knowledge or be readily able to learn about horticulture. In order to start growing your own spices, you have to be able to know which spices require what kind of attention. Some spices can grow outside and others are better growing inside. Knowing which spices require more water than others or how long they have to be dried in order to retain their nutritional value can be overwhelming. It’s best to start off small, but even so you’ll have to retain a lot of knowledge. This might sound perfect for those who love to learn, but for those who don’t have the time to dedicate to this venture, you might want to rethink this option.
Time consuming. Plants, like any other living thing, require attention in order to grow properly. As previously mentioned, you have to keep track of every plant, what they need, how and when to trim them, and when to harvest the spices at the peak of freshness. Depending on your work schedule or home life, this may not be a feasible option.
Requires patience. No matter the research or the prior knowledge, growing anything takes time and patience. If you’re going to start your own spice garden, it’s crucial to realize that it is a long-term commitment. It takes a lot of giving before you get anything back so don’t start when you’re impatient. Start your garden when it is inconsequential whether or not you have homegrown spices. In the meantime, you can get fresh spices at farmer’s markets.
Trial and error. Oh, the daunting trial and error. It means there will be many errors before there are positive results. This requires lots of patience as well. This factor can also be costly. If you accidentally kill your plants, then you have just lost money and you will have to spend gas, time, and more money to get new seeds. Try again until you get it down and the journey will be much smoother.
WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
There are definitely some pros and cons to either choice. The answer to the question of which is better in terms of health is that home-grown spices are the way to go. Even so, not all of us have the time, the finances, or, quite frankly, the patience to grow our own spice gardens. So, in terms of convenience and ease, store-bought spices are better. But isn’t there a way to have both convenience and fresh spices? There are several options to consider. Starting off slowly and gaining spices over time is a way to begin and practice. It will take longer but it will also get you much more accustomed to plant care. It is also an inexpensive way to test your horticultural prowess before committing to an entire garden.
Which way will you get your spices? Comment below or tweet us @entity_mag!
