How Much Spice Should I Buy?

How Much Spice Should I Buy?

There are really several answers to this question and some additional nuances that you should also be aware of but the basic answer is for ground spices you should buy what you think you can use in the next 12 months and for seeds buy what you think that you will use in the next 2 years.

You may find some resources claiming that you should replace your spices every six months and you will see numerous websites claiming the government’s guideline for freshness dating for ground spices is 2 years and whole spices is 4 years. Wow - that’s a big spread.

We think that you should also be aware of how to store spices and what is the shelf live of spices as improper storage will cause you spices and herbs to degredade at a faster rate.

Spices and herbs are generally only harvested once a year, some spices are harvested at different times when they are grown in areas that the spice was not indigenous to. So following this logic 6 months makes no sense as you’re tossing spices and possibly replacing them with the same general time period.

We also think that 2 years for ground and 4 years for whole is too long. Part of this is surely to appease bigger spice companies that buy in large quantities and hold spices at various stages in the distribution channel before they eventually are found sitting on the supermarket shelves (for who knows how much long).

There are numerous flavor components in each spice and herb and these start breaking down at different levels from the moment that the spice is harvested. With that said a top quality spice, herb or blend is going to taste better at two years than a low quality spice is going to at one year.

We like to buy our spices in smaller quantities and turn over our inventory on average 5-7 times per year (with our best selling spices 8-12 times per year). We’re also grinding and mixing in smaller weekly batches to ensure maximum freshness. When you buy a spice, herb or blend from SpicesInc.com you will find a purchase date handwritten on each label. This is the date (month and year) that you bought your product instead of a best if used by date (and following the government guidelines….).

This is also why we offer 8 sizes on most products as it allows you to buy as little or as much as you think you can use while getting the most value for your dollar.

So if you are following best spice storage practices we would still recommend only buying enough ground spice that you anticipate using in the next 12 months and enough seeds to use in the next 24.

If you have any questions about specific spices give us a call and we’ll even let you when we received it.