Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I’m taking with me when I go.
– Erma Bombeck
We thought that the spice drawer would be a very quick story – just alphabetize our existing spices and clear out the duplicates. But, then Erma Bombeck’s quote gave us pause and we decided that perhaps we needed a little research into exactly how long these spices last.
Every chef’s kitchen should have a well stocked spice drawer.
Spices come from the root, bark or seeds of a plant. Herbs come from the leaves of a plant [source: Thekitchn ]. The list here pertains to spices only.
A few spicy finds: