"spice rack" news and stories

Oh, how I love a good DIY, and it's not that I happen to love sitting in my garage all weekend making things. It's that I am now on a very strict budget and can't go around dropping $150 at Dean & Deluca on a highly coveted spice rack!

A reader over at Apartment Therapy sent the blog her DIY Spice rack project that in the end, cost all of $40, and that's with the spices included! The shelving is from Ikea, the metallic tins are from Bed, Bath & Beyond, and the spices from a local spice store. I am sure that any of us could put something like this together, and what makes this even better than the Dean & Deluca version (aside from the incredible price differential) is that you can customize it to exactly what you like.

One of the things I miss most about summer, especially where I live, is the availability of fresh produce and herbs. This winter I decided to do something about that and started a little herb garden inside my house rather than having to rely solely on the dried variations in my spice rack. The problem is, I'm not using them fast enough and I hate to see them go to waste or wither away and die. I started to look for some alternate ways of preserving them, and have found a few good methods.

The easiest way is to pick the fresh herbs off the plant (or use the ones you have bought at the grocery store), lay them out on a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer for about an hour - this prevents them from clumping together or freezing into a block. Once they are frozen, put them in a freezer bag, and toss back into the freezer until you are ready to use them. Don't forget to label the bags, they all look the same when they are frozen, and you can't smell them to tell the difference.

Measuring out spices isn't always easy. Some jars only have little perforations in the lid, allowing you to sprinkle, not pour, and if they are removable, the perforated caps are often so difficult to take off that you end up spilling the spice anyway. Other jars simply have unusually shaped openings that don't allow anything other than the very smallest measuring spoons to get inside to scoop up the desired spice. This neat Auto-measure spice rack fits 8 different spices (they must be transferred into the included bottles) and it automatically dispenses them 1/4 tsp at a time, so you can simply add your spices directly to your mixing bowl without bothering to get out measuring spoons at all. The bottles still do have "pop tops for shaking and pouring," if you feel the need to sprinkle your spices, however. The unit can be easily mounted underneath a cabinet or simply set on the countertop, depending on how your kitchen is set up.

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Magnetic spice racks are certainly not a brand, spanking new innovation in storage and space-saving, but MOCHA has made one in different colors. The beauty of it is that the small containers that have see-thru tops so instead of having labels that say "rosemary" and "tarragon," you can see all your pretty herbs and spices inside. Of course, that means you have to be able to identify all your herbs and spices by sight.

Each strip holds five containers and costs £13.99. As mentioned earlier by a commenter, it would be a great gift for a graduate, pre-filled with common spices.

[via: popgadget]