Herb, Spice & Seasoning Storage

WE SHARE OUR EXPERIENCE AND SOME ANECDOTES

Herb & Spice mixes Seasonings, Dips etc.

All of our Herbs & Spices are as fresh as you can get; the number of steps between ‘Farmer and your Table’ are as few as possible. Fresh Herbs & Spices are purchased directly from Primary Processors who purchase from small independent farmers, then cleaned, dried and shipped to Montreal.

The plant there is an acknowledged leader in the industry, HAACP Gold certified, is also Tree Nut and Ground Nut free. Every shipment of Herbs & Spices goes through a thorough inspection and lab testing adding to your assurance of quality.

No ingredients are purchased from Traders where the source and integrity of the Herbs & Spices cannot be guaranteed.

STORAGE: Herb, Spice and Seasoning blends are best stored in a cool, dry, dark place simply put a drawer or cupboard away for heat is ideal. Your mother’s favourite storage place in the small cupboard above the stove was a terrible place, both hot and humid, even worse the classic spice rack that kitchen stores love to sell??

Ideal storage for herbs and spice should be in a cool (<70F/ <21C), dry (<60% r.h.) area, in sealed containers to provide a shelf life of minimum 24 months without appreciable loss of flavour or functional characteristics.

The following storage advice also applies to Hot Chocolate and Cocoa

Why Cool, Dry and Dark?

Cool; Ideal storage for herbs and spice should be cool (<70F/ <21C),

The flavours we enjoy from Herbs & Spices come from the volatile oils contained in them, heat increases the evaporation of and loss of these oils and flavour

Dry; Ideal humidity for storage is relative h     umidity of less than 60%.

Drying is the preserving process for Herbs & Spices certain Fruits and even Cheeses and contributes to their long shelf life. Humidity increases the chance of bacteria growth and spoilage, so above the stove your mother’s favourite was full of steam, even storing in the fridge is bad, when you remove a cold jar of spices from the fridge the condensation immediately increases the moisture and humidity.

Dark; light has a bleaching effect on Herbs, Spices and Seasoning blends, this reduces the flavour and certainly the visual appeal. Good news… if the jar or container of Herbs & Spices has only been exposed to the light for a short or reasonable period of time the damage will be quite negligible, simply shake up the contents, the flavour loss will be negligible.

Store owners; if you are the owner of a store this last piece of advice is a warning to not used Herb & Spices in glass containers for window displays

Strong Smells; less common but still a potential spoiler for your Herbs & Spices and especially Hot Chocolate is storing them in close proximity to strong smells, could be perfumes, Pot Pourri or cleaning materials.

We once received a complaint from a store owner that all the Hot Chocolate packages we had shipped to them were damaged and undrinkable, one of their customers had returned some, very upset. After a very calming telephone conversation it turned out that the store owner had displayed their Hot Chocolate right next to a display of Pot Pourri and scented sachets on their store. The Hot Chocolate powder was very successful in absorbing those perfumes.