Spice It Up!

Day 362: "Caraway, cardamom, celery seed, chili powder...wait a minute...caraway, cardamom, celery seed...where the hell is the cayenne pepper?" That outburst you heard was me, and I was standing in the spice aisle at the grocery store, looking for one of my cooking essentials among the house-brand jars. Cayenne was missing. There wasn't even a shelf tag for it where it should have been, c-a-y following c-a-r and before c-e-l. Nor was it under "pepper, cayenne," something I tried because I couldn't believe my eyes. A second store yielded up similar results, although I did find it among the specialty spices with a prohibitive price tag. I glared at the dollar signs and left the store empty-handed, thinking I might find it in bulk at another location. Nope, no cayenne. I was too far from home to swing by the Olympia Natural Foods Co-op in the hopes of finding it in their bulk section, so tried a third major chain store. I found it there, and although it was still pricier than it should have been, it was about 2/3 the cost of the specialty brand. I can't cook without cayenne. I bought it.

This experience put me in mind of another spice which has disappeared from the shelves: ground rosemary. You can buy the leaves, but not the powder. I ask you: do you like finding pine needles in your stew? I don't. I find the powder much nicer to use, and it's a primary ingredient in my homemade "sheep spice," ground rosemary, garlic powder and paprika. Why isn't it offered in stores? The Co-op doesn't carry it. It's the very devil to grind at home, even in an electric spice grinder.

Ground rosemary, cayenne pepper...what's next? Garlic? If that disappears from shelves, I'm going to give up eating.