On Spice

A revealing look at the history and production of spices, with modern, no-nonsense advice on using them at home.

Every home cook has thoughts on the right and wrong ways to use spices. These beliefs are passed down in family recipes and pronounced by television chefs, but where do such ideas come from? Many are little better than superstition, and most serve only to reinforce a cook’s sense of superiority or cover for their insecurities. It doesn’t have to be this way.

These notes On Spice come from three generations of a family in the spice trade, and dozens upon dozens of their collected spice guides and stories. Inside, you’ll learn where spices come from: historically, geographically, botanically, and in the modern market. You’ll see snapshots of life in a spice shop, how the flavors and stories can infuse not just meals but life and relationships. And you’ll get straightforward advice delivered with wry wit.

Discover why:

Salt grinders are useless

Saffron is worth its weight in gold (as long as it’s pure)

That jar of cinnamon almost certainly isn’t

Vanilla is far more risqué than you think

Learn to stop worrying and love your spice rack.

Caitlin PenzeyMoog is the grandchild of Bill and Ruth-Ann Penzey, who founded the Spice House in 1957, where Caitlin worked for most of her childhood. The Spice House now has four locations in Milwaukee and Chicago, and Caitlin’s family also founded Penzeys Spices, which operates seventy retail stores in twenty-nine states in addition to online mail orders. Caitlin studied journalism and media studies at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. She is deputy managing editor of The A.V. Club, a subsidiary of Onion, Inc. and the Gizmodo Media Group. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.