The Spices of Life (Part 2)

Last week we took a deep dive into the topic of spices and dried herbs. As promised, today’s post will continue that discussion with a special guest and expert, Aarika Patel, the owner of Nashville’s popular Suraj Spices & Teas. 

Aarika comes from a family who has worked in the spice trade for a long time. However, like many young college graduates she didn’t start out right away to follow in the footsteps of this tradition. Instead, after graduating her career took some twists and turns before arriving along the spice route.  

In her words:  

I was sociology major in college and moved to New York to intern with documentary filmmakers. Eventually, I found myself doing various jobs in the world of television commercials, in the office, on set, and in the art department. Then, I moved to the craft service world (the department which provides cast and crew with snacks, drinks, and other assistance.)  

Normally, craft service is a fairly easy job; you purchase some fruits, cheeses, and snacks and make a pretty table. I would go one step further, bringing in homemade desserts, brewing people tea with spices and herbs, and highlighting different cuisines each day by setting up, for example, a make your own sushi hand-roll or build a Sabic sandwich. (This is a Middle Eastern dish made with pita bread stuffed with fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, Israeli salad, parsley, and a tahini sauce.) 

We worked 10 to 16-hour days so it was a great way to keep up the crew’s energy on set. Members would often come to me to chat about food, different dishes from their hometowns, or how something they ate at my table brought up a food memory. Eventually, that was the only thing I actually liked about my job – chatting with people about food, sharing recipes, and talking about how to use an ingredient in a new way. I had friends in the restaurant business and knew that was not the life for me. I preferred the idea of creating a place where people could learn and share. Eventually I decided a spice and tea shop would be the perfect place. 

And thus, Aarika’s spice and tea business was born. Like her parents who for years have had an Indian grocery store named Suraj Imports, Aarika adopted the same moniker for her business. Sometimes customers will recognize the name. Usually, as Aarika likes to explain, it’s because their parents originally bought from her parents' store and now, they are buying from her spice and tea emporium.  

Both businesses are named after her father’s mother, Surja.  In fact, “Suraj” translates into “sun” in Sanskrit. Aarika designed a stylized sun for her company’s logo. As she describes it, the logo has strong recognition as it is also a motif frequently used to decorate architecture found in forts and palaces in India, Spain, Turkey, and other countries as empires expanded across the world. Its aesthetic popularity is such that the Indian sun is also used on contemporary rugs and tables found today at World Market as well as Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

Here are the questions posed to Aarika for this interview along with her informed answers:   

 1.  What are the three most common mistakes people make about using and keeping spices? 

The first common mistake is not using them. Ground spices will retain the height of their flavor for about a year, while whole spices last longer. After that, they lose their potency and, as one of my customers said, will taste like sawdust. We buy spices because we want to add new flavors to our dishes but often just put them in the back of our kitchen cabinets and forget about them. Use the spices, eat better and differently, and never keep sawdust in your cabinet. 

Another common mistake is storage. You will want to store your spices and herbs in a cool, dark place. Storing spices at too high a heat can cause them to become rancid, particularly for spices with a high oil content like ground clove or some cinnamon. Storing spices where they are in direct sun will cause them to lose their color, bleaching the beautiful reds of chiles or greens of parsley and making for dull dishes. 

Finally—not necessarily a mistake but something we could do better— only buying ground spices. While ground spices do have a lot of flavor, nothing can match when you grind the whole spices yourself just before cooking. Freshly ground spices are at the peak of flavor. Buying whole spices also means you can toast them before grinding, which again brings a greater depth of flavor. And since whole spices retain their flavor longer than ground, you won’t have to feel as guilty for discovering a bottle of peppercorns or cumin in the back of your spice rack. Grinding them will give them new life. 

 2. If you could only have five spices in your kitchen, what would they be and why? 

Black Peppercorns – I use them every day, and when you have a good quality black peppercorn, sometimes it is the only flavor you need. 

Crushed Chile Flakes – Again, something I use almost every day. Crushed chile flakes can have a sharper heat than peppercorns, and I love anything spicy. 

Clove – Used in savory or sweet, clove also brings a different type of heat to dishes. My mom adds a dash to tomato vegetable soup to brighten it up.   

Green Cardamom – Savory or sweet, used to spice rice, cookies, and tea, cardamom is the aromatic spice that I can’t help but add to everything. 

Sesame Seeds – Natural, hulled, or black, sesame is another spice that can be used in savory or sweet dishes and incorporated in many cuisines – Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish. This tiny seed has made it around the world from tahini to topping American burger buns for good reason. It’s toasted nutty flavor is a welcome addition to any dish. 

3.  What is the Masala Dabba Kit’s backstory?    

Masala Dabba means “spice container.” It is something that is often found in many Indian kitchens as an easy way to store the most used spices. When it’s time to cook, you just grab your dabba, set it on the counter, and start adding dashes of one spice and spoonfuls of another.  The spices in the dabba can change from kitchen to kitchen, from cook to cook. We offer the dabba both as an empty container that you can fill with your go-to spices or filled with my mom’s favorite spices if you are just starting to build your spice collection. We have filled a few based on our customer preferences – sometimes with Indian spices, but also with just a selection of spices from the store, sometimes Turkish, sometimes Persian, always delicious. 

Before we leave this topic, I wanted to share with you what is in my Masala Dabba kit. Aarika’s mother, Ranjan, tailored the selection for me years ago when her eldest daughter, Chandni, started working at my public relations agency, Cornerstone Communications.  After several years of neglect, I recently asked Aarika to refresh my kit. It consists of: Cumin; fenugreek; whole mustard seeds; red chili pepper powder; turmeric; ajwain seeds (which tastes like caraway and cumin combined); and dhana jerra powder, another essential ingredient for cooking Indian prepared by roasting and grinding both coriander and cumin seeds in a mixer along with bay leaves and cloves. 

4.  Any secret behind the art of spicing you would care to share? 

There is no real secret behind spicing or cooking in general. It’s something people do every day and have been for years and years; there’s no need to be afraid of it. The only difference is the amount of practice. So just try new things, experiment, do a lot of trial and error. The worst thing that could happen is you make something you don’t like. And if that’s the worst thing to happen to you that day, you’re doing fine.   

Aarika’s comments about trial and error reminded me of a funny story Jan Hazard, former food editor of Ladies Home Journal, once recounted at a party. Her older sister had invited her for dinner and served a stew.  After Jan took her first bite and was forced to spit it out, she asked her sister what was in it.  “I thought it was strange that the recipe called for a whole jar of bay leaves.” In fact, she had misread the recipe which had only called for one whole bay leaf not a full jar of them! 

Speaking of bay leaves, let’s be honest. They are a mystery, right?  What is their purpose and what do they taste like? Fresh versus dried?  So, to conclude this post, let’s uncover together the secret behind this leaf. 

We all know that bay leaves are frequently used to season sauces and long-cooking dishes such as soups, stews, and braised dishes.  Yet, if you smell a dried bay leaf, you might not get as much aroma as you would with say, a pinch of dried basil or thyme.  However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t flavor there.

My research shows that when a bay leaf—which is an herb and not a spice—is infused into a cooking liquid, it develops a tea-like, slightly menthol flavor. Its aromatic quality plays well with other herbs and ingredients such as onions, carrots, and celery, too.

While you might not be able to pinpoint the taste of a bay leaf in a stew, for example, if it were omitted, you’d notice. In fact, it’s the bay leaf’s subtle bitterness which rounds out the heaviness in the dish. It is an ingredient which whispers rather than shouts it presence.  

And what about the differences between fresh and dried bay leaves? Fresh bay leaves can be found in the produce section of your supermarket. Look for the Turkish variety which is grown in Turkey or Central America. Those from California—which have a strong minty flavor which can quickly overpower a dish—need to be used sparingly. When using fresh, remember to remove the leaves early in the cooking process.

On the other hand, a bay leaf once dried loses some of its vibrancy. It has a more subtle flavor than a fresh one and thus, is easier to use.  In fact, dried bay leaves can be kept throughout the entire cooking process of the dish.  But—and this is a critical but—be sure to remove the bay leaf, whether you are using fresh or dried before serving your guests the dish.  You don’t want them to end up in the emergency room with one stuck in the windpipe!