Spice Up Your Life

Quality

You can trust our spices, teas and herbs to be the freshest, purest and most sustainably produced. Simply put, quality affects taste and efficacy. Our products are selected from suppliers all over the world who carefully inspect each product shipped to us for flavor, color, aroma, moisture and volatile oil content. No irradiated products are accepted. We make sure that just the right parts of each product have been harvested at exactly peak time for optimal flavor and quality. Bulk products are kept in highly controlled storage conditions, with strict sanitation rules enforced throughout handling, processing and packaging.

Why Buy Bulk?

Have you walked by those colorful and aromatic bins at your local health market and wondered, “Who would need that much of anything?” But buying in bulk doesn’t mean you have to buy large quantities. The “bulk” aspect refers only to how we sell it, not the quantity you purchase. (In fact, bulk is often the best option for buying smaller quantities of some products than the packaged versions.) As more of us are watching our budgets — buying in bulk has become a popular option in natural food stores. Besides offering you lower prices, bulk products reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and take less energy and other resources to produce. Bulk also offers an exciting way to expand your food horizons. You can buy just a pinch of the exotic spice or grain called for in that magazine recipe, or experiment with small quantities of new spices.

What You Should Know About Tea

The traditions and rituals of tea date back to at least 2737 B.C. in ancient China. A popular myth claims that tea was born when a Chinese emperor and herbalist was boiling water and leaves from a nearby tree fell into the water. He discovered that when the leaves were infused in hot water, the beverage created was delicious. The Chinese then went on to explore what they referred to as “tea mind” — a calm, yet alert state they achieved when drinking this concoction.

This exploration continues today — amazingly, tea is the second most widely-consumed beverage in the world, behind only water. Tasting tea has become both an art form and a science. There are so many kinds of tea available today that it can be a little overwhelming to find your way.

The state of mind many tea drinkers cultivate is to relax, slow down and “appreciate the moment.” Finding the right tea for that moment is an individual quest. By trying different kinds of tea you will be able to decide what you like best for different occasions. You might want to buy small quantities of a tea to sample it before buying a large amount. Buying bulk tea offers you this opportunity — as well as the highest quality tea, since tea bags usually contain siftings from leaves.

What You Should Know About Herbs

An herb is an edible plant with aromatic leaves, seeds or flowers and is often used for its culinary, religious, medicinal or fragrant properties.  Some are weeds and wildflowers while some are ground covers and leaves. Herbs hold an important part in many aspects of life. The most common uses include medicinal, personal care, cleaning, fragrance and culinary purposes.

Examples of herbs are basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme and dill. Herbs are identified by their green, leafy, spiny or mossy qualities. What exactly is the difference between an herb and a spice? Dried bark, root, berry, seed, twig or other plant matter that is used to season or flavor food is considered a spice. Sometimes the two are used interchangeably — for example, chives and parsley are technically herbs, but many think of them as spices as well.