Herbs and Spices
Photo courtesy of SXC.hu

On my post about Rosemary and Neuroprotection, Greg asked the following question:

Hey Scott can you (at some point) comment on how to go about actually shopping for herbs and spices? This has always been a challenge for people that aren’t cooking for many people.. should we stick to fresh only? or dried? tips for making sure herbs/spices we buy are preserved enough to have the nutritional benefits described?

I thought I should address this question in a new post since comments probably don’t get as much viewing. When it comes to herbs and spices, I tend to view them much as I view any other plant-based food: closer to alive is better. That is, fresh is better than dried. But that doesn’t mean that dried is bad.

So here is how I choose my herbs and spices. I have a spice shelf in a counter next to the stove where I keep a nice selection of the standard dried herbs that you can find in any grocery store. I typically opt for organic since, as this page points out, “irradiation of herbs and spices is now widely practised (sic) on a commercial scale” and organic herbs/spices are less likely to be irradiated. Off the top of my head, in that cupboard, I have the following herbs and spices: oregano, basil, cinnamon, cumin, paprika, nutmeg, turmeric, ground mustard, garam masala, curry powder, and chili powder. I also have a rub with myriad spices and some lemon pepper for use with white fishes. I’m probably missing some, but whatever. Dried herbs and ground spices aren’t good forever though, so I try to replace my bottles every six months to preserve the flavor and nutritional qualities. You should also keep them stored away from heat and light, so not over the stove and not in one of those pretty counter-top spice racks unless the bottles are opaque.

I try to keep some fresh herbs from the farmer’s market around though and opt for using those over any of the ones in a jar. Garlic is a staple that I keep on-hand year-round. Lately, from the farmer’s market, I’ve been getting basil, cilantro, and ginger root. The flavor of fresh herbs is much more potent and the nutritional quality is higher, but obviously they go bad quicker. How much nutritional value is lost to preserving I can’t say, but this study says it was significant for specific compounds in 3 herbs. Garlic will keep for quite a long time, as will roots like ginger and horseradish, but getting any herb to last more than a week is a feat. I store my herbs in the fridge wrapped in a damp paper towel stuck inside of an unsealed Ziploc bag and they maintain freshness for about a week or so.

So to directly answer Greg’s question, you should opt for fresh over dried, but if fresh is unavailable, use dried. They still retain a good bit of their nutritional qualities, assuming they are properly preserved, and the flavor will dress up your meals to keep you from driving your head into the wall out of boredom. Even if dried herbs and spices contained zero nutritional value, I would still say to use them rather than adding sugary or salty sauces to flavor a meal. If it keeps you eating the proper foods and doesn’t negatively affect your diet, use it. Also, when buying dried herbs and spices, opt for organic so you can be sure they haven’t been irradiated, as “Organic spices and herbs are not allowed to be radiation-treated, nor can they use EtO. Instead, these products use heat, steam, ozone, carbon dioxide or a freezing process.” And if using dried when a recipe calls for fresh, the conversion is typically 1/3, so you would use a tsp of dried instead of a tbsp of fresh.

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