How To: Store Your Spices

To get the most out of your spices, it's important to store them correctly to keep their flavours and aromas. Storing them properly will prevent the spices from absorbing moisture or avoid losing their aromas quickly: two things that affect the spice's potency in your cooking.

How should I store herbs and spices? 

To help herbs and spices keep their the flavour and aromas for as long as possible, you'll need to store them in a cool place, out of direct sunlight. This is why Gewürzhaus jars are amber-tinted, and our spice bags are black – we keep the light out!

Any source of heat that the spices are exposed to – for example, sunlight or near the stove and oven – will cause the spices to turn bland over time. Keep this checklist handy when you're looking at how to store your spices:

• Keep the spices out of sunlight

• Keep the spices away from moisture and condensation

• Keep spices out of the heat

• Keep them in an airtight jar or container

How long should spices last if I store them correctly?

Spices don’t have expiry dates as such, they simply lose their flavour and aroma. Here is a rough guide to how long they will be at their prime when stored correctly:

• Whole spice: up to 2 years
• Ground spice: up to 1 year
• Leafy herbs: 1 to 2 years
• Salts: Indefinitely.

If you have visited our shop and self-scooped your spices, we recommend you keep them in the spice bags for no longer than two weeks. Although the bags are lined, they are not 100% airtight – ground spices especially will hold their aroma and potency better in a jar or air tight container. Be sure to place each individual bag in a separate container or jar to avoid aroma taint. This is especially important for the pungent spices and blends: cardamom is a notorious contaminator!

How do I keep my spices from clumping?

Should one of your spices or blends clump, just break them up with a spoon and use as before. We don’t add preservatives or anti-caking agents to our blends, so as nature has it, some of them will tend to clump. This is generally due to the higher moisture content of certain spices: juniper berry, for example, retains some moisture even when dry.

And remember the golden rule - always store out of sunlight, away from moisture and condensation, out of the heat and in an airtight jar or container.

View our exquisite range of herbs and spices online.