Ohhh how tempting...but eventually I'd still like to build an Alton Brown style velcro spice rack!

Do real people actually use 30 spices? For those who say toss the spice and buy good ones. I can see that for some, but don't most of us only have 4, 5 or 6 spices we use all the time, Oregano, Garlic, salt, pepper, maybe Peprika and Cinamon?

99% of the things I cook are from a box so maybe I'm not a good person to ask.

Do real people actually use 30 spices? For those who say toss the spice and buy good ones. I can see that for some, but don't most of us only have 4, 5 or 6 spices we use all the time, Oregano, Garlic, salt, pepper, maybe Peprika and Cinamon?

99% of the things I cook are from a box so maybe I'm not a good person to ask.

mstar5 wrote:I like a zesty book as much as the next person but actual spices at a bookstore? What's next, edible pages?

I bought a bumper for my truck from Amazon...

(Free shipping too, bet they lost their shirt on that one.)

pilotwillie wrote:Just call me Francis Dolarhyde...(too obscure?)

Depends on the level of nerdage....I got the reference.

If folks are recommending good spice stores, gotta give a shout out to WorldSpice in Seattle. http://www.worldspice.com/home/home.shtml

flowerchild59 wrote:For the price, the spice rack looks pretty good. Since I like to cook, I would immediately toss the current spices. They probably are more than a year old anyway.
I like to use penzeys's spices either on line or from the store in St. Louis. They are incredibly fresh and have hundreds of spices and blends to choose from. Penzey's rocks!!!
Alternately, you all might want to check your local health food store or Co-op type of store. You could take in a tube for "measuring" the spice volume and only buy what you need out of the bulk bins. We have a great selection at my local Co-op. It's great to be able to go in and only buy a tablespoon of some obscure herb and not have to buy a bottle of say, tarragon, that will sit in my pantry going stale from lack of use.

Co-op store?
I can't even visualize what such a place would look like, much less how to find one. I just think Farmer's Market, but that's just whole fresh produce.

Sunburn57 also recommended Penzeys's. Ooooo... they have directions on how to cook the Indian dishes that the coordinating spices are for! The even have suggested adjustments for their spices, claiming that theirs are more powerful. Awesome suggestion, thanks!

funny. i drive past penzey's often. never realized they had such a good rep. i'm going to have to stop in some time.

krankykitty wrote:Can it be hung on the wall? Or is this another counter space eating item?

Holy cow... I got a quality post!

rmm989 wrote:I'd really like to see the back side of this. Thinking I could mount it on the wall or the inside of a cabinet door and clear out some space where our spices are.

The back looks like the front - same metal configuartion so you can mount if you like.

lindeperson wrote:i'm guessing that the tubes are about 7" tall and about 0.75" diameter (based on the dimensions given at the bottom of the description) which provides 12.4 in^3 (13.75 tablespoons) of storage volume.

You are correct on the size - just under 7" tall & 3/4" in diameter.

Thanks to your answers, Colleen Nelson, I bought one! I'm looking forward to seeing this in my contemporary kitchen!

Jayg71 wrote:Do real people actually use 30 spices? For those who say toss the spice and buy good ones. I can see that for some, but don't most of us only have 4, 5 or 6 spices we use all the time, Oregano, Garlic, salt, pepper, maybe Peprika and Cinamon?

99% of the things I cook are from a box so maybe I'm not a good person to ask.

Actually, yeah, I use just about everything in there... with the odd exception of mustard seed, which is included in pretty much all spice racks, but iI have never found a use for.

If these spices are really fresh, this is a pretty good deal.

blappppy wrote:If ordered today, when do they ship out?

This seems like an important question which has not been addressed..

This is a good question that no one will answer. It says 2 day shipping, so when will it hit the shipper?

Now I am just torn... the Chemical Engineer in me loves the test tube appearance of this item, these are spices I use, and if they are fresh, it's worth looking at twice.

Unfortunately, my Mother In Law bought me a spice rack last Christmas... a hideous counter space wasting, spinning, dried up dust containing nightmare...

Which haunts my kitchen, but is impossible to dispose of, because it is too big to miss, and spice racks just aren't one of those items that just disappear...

tseat2004 wrote:This is a good question that no one will answer. It says 2 day shipping, so when will it hit the shipper?

These will Ship via fedEx 2 Day to arrive in time for Christmas.

BTSB George

krankykitty wrote:Actually, yeah, I use just about everything in there... with the odd exception of mustard seed, which is included in pretty much all spice racks, but iI have never found a use for.

If these spices are really fresh, this is a pretty good deal.

I actually use mustard seed on a semi-regular basis... Mostly I grind it to use in rubs for meat, or in homemade BBQ sauces.. (I also grind it and put it in deviled eggs for kick.)I think you can also use it for pickling.

mrgms wrote:These will Ship via fedEx 2 Day to arrive in time for Christmas.

BTSB George

I really want to order but need a better answer than that. I am leaving town on Wed night so I would need it by then.
Can someone please advise EXACTLY when these will ship out???

blappppy wrote:I really want to order but need a better answer than that. I am leaving town on Wed night so I would need it by then.
Can someone please advise EXACTLY when these will ship out???

Gottcha covered!

pilotwillie wrote:Just call me Francis Dolarhyde...(too obscure?)

Red Dragon. Good movie, i always catch myself watching it when it's on cable

krankykitty wrote:Now I am just torn... the Chemical Engineer in me loves the test tube appearance of this item, these are spices I use, and if they are fresh, it's worth looking at twice.

Unfortunately, my Mother In Law bought me a spice rack last Christmas... a hideous counter space wasting, spinning, dried up dust containing nightmare...

Which haunts my kitchen, but is impossible to dispose of, because it is too big to miss, and spice racks just aren't one of those items that just disappear...

"Your gift made me realize how much I loved having a spice rack. However, it takes up a lot of space and my kitchen is really small. Would you be insulted if I bought a new rack that took up less space, one that could fit on a shelf? I have already used all of the spices (/all of my favorite spices/ a lot of the spices) out of yours, so it's also a thrifty time to replace it. "

Or, have them both on the counter next time she comes around, and pour out all of the really nasty spices from hers (which you'll be doing anyways when you trash it later on) and use all of the cinnamon/all spice/etc on things like pumpkin pie. So that the new one just looks like a thrifty, smaller replacement (which is true). - non-verbally saying the above quote.

I would see all of that as less insulting than letting her gift sit about unused (err... and hated).

Though... I would expect this set to have poor quality spices, too.

one time I ate a bay leaf.

krankykitty wrote:Now I am just torn... the Chemical Engineer in me loves the test tube appearance of this item, these are spices I use, and if they are fresh, it's worth looking at twice.

Unfortunately, my Mother In Law bought me a spice rack last Christmas... a hideous counter space wasting, spinning, dried up dust containing nightmare...

Which haunts my kitchen, but is impossible to dispose of, because it is too big to miss, and spice racks just aren't one of those items that just disappear...

The vast majority of dried spices have a shelf life of one year per everything I've read or heard. (Thanks, Alton Brown!) Therefore your obligatory year of using that spice rack has passed and you need to restock. Perfectly allowed.

krankykitty wrote:Now I am just torn... the Chemical Engineer in me loves the test tube appearance of this item, these are spices I use, and if they are fresh, it's worth looking at twice.

Unfortunately, my Mother In Law bought me a spice rack last Christmas... a hideous counter space wasting, spinning, dried up dust containing nightmare...

Which haunts my kitchen, but is impossible to dispose of, because it is too big to miss, and spice racks just aren't one of those items that just disappear...

There was an earthquake in Nebraska the other day, just blame it on that. You had to send it to Nebraska to help the victims of the horrible 3.4 magnitude quake. Your mother in law can't be so horrible she'd allow Nebraskans to go without spices for the huge hunks of cow on their plates would she? I heard in one house, the salt shaker even fell over. TRAGEDY

Website for the company is
http://www.alexander-usa.com/
Not a lot of info - but pretty pictures.

-Alicea

I bought one mainly for the containers.

I'll mount it on the inside of a cupboard door and refill as needed from the bulk bins at the local natural foods market.

And it looks like there's some space under the bottom of it that I could stick a platform under and use to hold my stack of tiny little store-bought containers of white pepper and other spices instead of throwing them around in my cupboard frantically searching behind all the big items.

In for one (my first w00t) and in for my first comment. Just told the wife the other day that I would love to get a stockpile of spices for a Christmas gift, but knowing that she won't actually do it, it looks like Santa's going to be bringing this one!

Spice racks are now on wine.woot?? So what, this site should really be http://pretentious.woot.com??

groo wrote:So what, this site should really be http://pretentious.woot.com??

Selling candied asp lips would be pretentious. A set of basic household herbs and spices is thoughtful.

groo wrote:Spice racks are now on wine.woot?? So what, this site should really be http://pretentious.woot.com??

food.woot is probably a better one. And look at you, using http://! I mean, I can understand using it back when everybody was afraid of getting lost in THE AMERICA ONLINE, but today? Today, I wink at the computer and it knows I want boobs.

For people pretending to be more sophisticated than the rest, we must sure be dumb for you to think we need URLs explained to us. Ya jerk.

koneco wrote:food.woot is probably a better one. And look at you, using http://! I mean, I can understand using it back when everybody was afraid of getting lost in THE AMERICA ONLINE, but today? Today, I wink at the computer and it knows I want boobs.

For people pretending to be more sophisticated than the rest, we must sure be dumb for you to think we need URLs explained to us. Ya jerk.

Yeah, I said boobs. That too esoteric for ya?

maeder wrote:They are. Caps are SS. According to B&N link given elsewhere.

The description says that they are acrylic

sneefy wrote:The worm is the spice. The spice is the worm.

It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

I'd get this if I had the money. Maybe one will be in my next Boggy Old Creature?

[quote postid="3677504" user="impurity"]I've never seen a recipe that calls for crushed bay leaves. I've always put them in whole and pulled them out once the dish was finished cooking.[/quote

Agreed. Crushed up bay leaves sound disgusting.. can't fish out tiny pieces too well.

rleeb77 wrote:The description says that they are acrylic

The company rep says they are acrylic too!

I dunno about that, but I've always thought there should at least be scratch'n'sniff spots in cookbooks. :D

mstar5 wrote:I like a zesty book as much as the next person but actual spices at a bookstore? What's next, edible pages?

Not just disgusting, but many people have reactions to the actual leaves, even if they don't have problems with the taste/oils that are extracted from them (go figure). I ate a whole bay leaf once when I was younger without realizing you were supposed to remove it. Was sick for 2 days. While a little crushed bay leaf probably wouldn't do the same thing, I'll bet it would still make me a little nauseous. I'd dump it and stick in my own rolled up bay leaves.

teomcdohl wrote:[quote postid="3677504" user="impurity"]I've never seen a recipe that calls for crushed bay leaves. I've always put them in whole and pulled them out once the dish was finished cooking.[/quote

Agreed. Crushed up bay leaves sound disgusting.. can't fish out tiny pieces too well.

It's, it's a series of tubes!

I never imagined I would have to be 21 to order a spice rack.