I know I have Cinnamon, I made 2 loaves of that Amish
bread earlier. I also have 4 starters in the kitchen
ready to MUSH for a few days.

I'll look in the spice pantry tomorrow and post a list.
It would be fun to try and guess which one of the GP
members has the most.

Linda C is my guess.

Can we count the ones in the freezer? The last time I counted, it was 84, but I'm sure there were duplicates. I'll take another count, and the total will be lower because I'm not doing as much baking as before.

And, to bend the topic, see link. I wanted one, until I realized that I'd need three!

Here is a link that might be useful: spice storage

I have a lot of them but before making a list,are you counting herbs too?

Jan,
Please bake all four loaves!!
I'll meet you half way.
Aw, shux, I'll come all the way!!

meldy,
Sure.
Any spice you have.

marda,
Yes.
I have 'made-my-own' dried herbs from my garden I'm counting.

You don't want to know. I have the main rack (it holds 24 jars)in alphabetical order, and not because I am a/r, but because when I am in a cooking frenzy, I don't want to have to go searching. Then I have baskets inside the cupboards. There is the "use often" basket with herbs/spices I need on nearly a daily basis but are too large to put in my spice rack . Then there is the large container stash in the food pantry, with things like shakers of Cajun seasoning or curry. Then there are the baskets in another cupboard where each basket has a category. 1) the exotic and seldom used 2) ethnic 3) canning and pickling or seasonal like poultry seasonings 4) baking stuff like extracts and food dyes 5) the herbs for stuff other than baking. Then there are the ones I have gathered myself and frozen like basils and sage leaves and mints. You don't want me to list this collection. Believe me, you don't!

Right now I have 82 different kinds of herbs and spices. I threw out a bunch of old ones a little while ago when we were talking about this subject because they were over 5 years old. I try to keep the herbs up to date but my spices are all at least a year old or more. Like Suzy,I don't want to list them all but most are pretty basic things and a good chunk of them I grew in my herb garden either this past summer or the one before that. I want to get into East Indian cooking so bet there will be a lot more spices in a month or two.

I second the vote on LindaC having the most spices! Her salts alone put me to shame. and vinegars, and oils, and...

I have so many, it bugs the living daylights out of my hubby. He made it clear that when we build the pantry, they are relegated to said area (anyone know any good hanging system, preferrably long and can hang directly on the wall?), so he can have back the shelves in the cabinets. I prefer to use my fresh ones, but moving from place to place has hindered that greatly.

I may give you a list soon, but work today and senior seminar tonight. Maybe tomorrow night?

Well, this sent me to the kitchen & now I think we need to be committed! 98 different herbs, spices & seasonings and 54 different vinegars, oils & flavorings. And if you think I'm going to take time to make a list of all of them, think again! Counting them was enough. They're DH's problem as he is the real cook in the family.

I inherited my MIL's spices when she passed. Most of them were in those little metal tins, and were less than a dollar according the the papers sticker price tags (pre register scanner). rofl. You KNOW how old that makes them and the tins are prolly collectible. Most of them were disposed of, but I did save those silver bullet thingies one used to decorate cakes with. Suzanne was looking for those a couple years ago and I guess because of silver toxicity, they don't produce them anymore, I forget what they call them. I did, however, find some still on a shelf in a little Amish market not so very long ago.

Too many to list. We built custom spice racks and attached to the inside of the cupboard doors. I want to see the labels at a glance, esp. since I don't organize them.

54, I'm just a novice or at least I feel like one compared to Suzy and the rest of you.
I don't even have a Pasta maker.

I do have a Tomato strainer, that has to count for something.:0)

Suzy, those silver things are called dragees (sp?) & I use them to decorate cookies. And yes, so kind of police or other decreed that they were dangerous, but luckily the French took no notice of them & I can still get them in the high end confectionery here in town.

Finally got a few quiet minutes to post my list.

84 different spices
9 liquid flavors
15 sugars
20 food colors
4 flavors of vinegar
4 flavored oils

andie,
If you have a few minutes, I would like to know some of the flavored vinegars and oils your husband uses and for what.

I found an old bottle of those silver things.
They are "Silver Dragees" made by cake mate.
Bottle says: Use only as a decoration.
Ingredients: Sugar, corn starch, gelatin, acetic acid, and silver. NON-EDIBLE.

Linda C: Where are you?
We are anxious to know your list of spices.

What you all need to do is move overseas where shipping restrictions will require you to discard all your food stuffs. We took all our spices over to Denmark, no realizing they would all have to be thrown out when we were returning. :^(

Since July I've gotten us back up to about 45 spices/herbs.

Wanda, Actually I don't know what a lot of them are for except in the most general ways. We've got the big jugs of EVOO (as that irritating Rachael Ray calls it) and soy sauce, the former which is used for just about everything requiring cooking oil & the latter the staple of Asian cooking. We've got several different kinds of balsamic vinegars used for marinades & for making salad dressing, & about 6 different flavored olive oils (mostly given to us as gifts) that are used as dipping sauces for bread instead of using butter.

Then there are the Asian products - Rice wine vinegar, Fish sauce, Black vinegar, Pomegranate molasses, liquid smoke, lemon grass oil, bean sauce, Spirachia hot chili sauce, Chu Hou sauce, Thick soy sauce, Red curry paste, Sweet chili sauce, and a big bottle of DH's own homemade hot oil. I've been assured that these are all absolutely essential for something in Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai cooking. however, as with many westerners, although I enjoy eating Asian food, I usually operate on a don't ask, don't tell basis as to the actual preparaation of dishes.

Well, after tossing everything that was more than a year old, I still have 54 different spices/herbs. Among the tosses were twelve different varieties of chili powder [don't ask] and way too many commercial blends -- I don't even know where most of those came from, I surely did not buy lemon/pepper or fried chicken seasoning. I prefer to make my own seasoning blends, although it's mostly easier just to measure as I use. I also tossed all the different basils -- DH dislikes them intensely [I use tarragon in any recipe calling for basil, which he *does* like). I have also discovered that, in blind taste tests, no one can tell the difference between cilantro and parsley... now there is something to do on a blustery day: wrap a couple dozen different herb/spice jars, mix them up, and then see how many you can name without peeking at the label.

Sigh. Who else packs a box of spices to take to their vacation rental house?

Parsley can make an acceptable substitute for cilantro, hmm? That's a good one to know. I most certainly can tell the difference, and I don't have to taste it. Nasty stuff, cilantro. Makes my nose burn, and makes me itch and sneeze. I hated encountering the stuff when I was a cashier.

Cilantro is one of those love it or hate it things. If you hate it it's pretty hard to do Vietnamese, Indonesian or Mexican food & really have it taste the way the dish is supposed to taste. And parsley as a substitute? I don't think so.

Oh I can definitely tell the difference between the two as well. I think it is one of those foods that some people actually have a chemical sensitivity to so it tastes a certain way...sort of like that litmus taste test? Anyone know what that is?

The first time I ever had cilantro in a dish, (in a restaurant) I thought there was SOAP in my food! It still tastes *different*, but now that I know what to expect I enjoy it.

So can I. Cilantro does have an unique taste, to me anyway. I grow parsley but not for me, lol. It's a wonderful host plant for certain swallowtail butterflies. One spring many years ago, I had painted lady butterflies come into my selling house and lay eggs all over my trailing dusty miller. I refused to treat them, and left them on the bench. They looked horrible with the eggs on the dusty white leaves, and even worse when the cats emerged and started chowing down.

Talk about litmus tests, watching customers reactions to nature doing what it is supposed to do was interesting. When asked why I didn't do "something" with those nasty plants, I explained why I left them alone and encouraged the shopper to take home a little goldmine of butterfly larvae. The real gardeners did.

Back to spices and herbs...rofl

Sorry, I should have been more precise. In it's raw state, lots of difference between the two, IMO raw cilantro is nasty-bitter. However, in a dish which calls for chopped cilantro and is then cooked/sauteed, one can use chopped parsley in place of the cilantro providing there is at least one other strong flavor such as onion or garlic or sage. It loses its individuality when in combination.

A group of friends used to make occasional "taste test" meals, presenting 2 dishes of one recipe, of which there would be one difference between the two. When I've pulled the C/P switch, no one has ever been able to determine which was which, and in fact, one gentleman vehemently denied the parsley, saying I was making a joke. That was a baked ziti casserole, and he didn't have a clue.

I cannot find parsley in Mexico except fro ground parsley. Cilantro is not even close. Next year I am going to try to bring in a bottle have to see if I am arrested by the plant police.

Can't you bring in the seeds, or get them mailed in and grow it in a window box or urn to use fresh?

Ground parsley? You mean dried and... ground into fine bits? I wouldn't put that in molé!

Find a gardener and ask for perejil.

The next time you're inthe US, just pick up some seeds & grow your own. It germinates incredibly fast & you'll have a good crop in no time. However, you're going to have to preserve some of it for the summer months. It's essentially a winter crop down there.

rebecca,
Having had to take things into Guatemala several times, I have some suggestions for you.

Email me at wandaredhead@aol.com.

Wanda