Yesterday, Sara and I took a trip to the Disneyland for cooks: Penzeys Spice Shop in Falls Church, VA. Longtime known for being a mail-order catalog spice company, Penzeys specializes in spices, both exotic and familiar. But going to the store is a whole different experience. You can smell the difference between the various basils, note the geographic influence of the different cinnamons, and just roll around nose-deep in your favorite scents. After an hour of sniffing and sneezing, I came home with 7 items:
-a California sweet basil that smelled fresher and stronger than its French counterpart
-a Hungarian half-sharp paprika, which was less sweet than the others but still rich-smelling
-a deep red cayenne that made me sneeze
-a hot blend of crushed red peppers
-dried Tien Tsin hot peppers for my Asian cooking
-Penzeys' Country French Vinaigrette Herb mix that will go lovely with any salad
-and "Gumbo-file", a sassafras powder used in gumbos and jambalayas--very earthly, and used to thicken.
Their mail-order catalog is worth signing up for. Besides having access to the herbs and spices without going to the store, the catalog offers recipes of all sorts, and Penzeys often sends samples of spices and mixes in the mail each season. The catalog is a great place to go for inspiration and day-dreaming, but until they come out with a scratch-and-sniff catalog, I will certainly keep going back to the cute Falls Church shop every few months!
0 comments:
Post a Comment