Battle of the spices

How is it that when you retire you suddenly find yourself incredibly busy? I don’t mean just putting on kettles and wiping down sides.

Yesterday I decided to start clearing my kitchen cupboards. It is rather alarming as to how much you accumulate – and how many ‘doubles’ you have of things. Take spices and herbs. Do I really need 3 jars of cumin (do I really need 1?). Why do I have 4 jars of sesame seeds? I’d be interested in learning of a recipe which will use them up – otherwise, I wonder… confetti at my next wedding invite? I assume sesame seeds are suitable for birds – or do they have allergic reactions to them?

The next task was putting the mountain of jars back in the cupboard in a way that I can see all the labels. Not easy when the jars are all different shapes and sizes. The ‘tidy’ effect looked more like the skyline from central London – only more precarious! Back to the drawing board.

After a pause for a hot drink, I decided it was a good idea to research spice racks. I cannot believe how many different shapes sizes and versions you can get for such a simple resource! One big problem is finding one that will fit into my cupboard. Too big, too small, not enough jar spaces, depth too big to fit on the inside of the cupboard… ahhh!

Finally, a suitable rack was found and a compromise with extra storage in the shape of two cupboard door racks.

Well, that’s the herbs and savoury spices sorted, next job is the sweet spices. On opening the cupboard with cooking ingredients …. Perhaps not today – I’ll need another rack! Retire-a-Gran has lost interest, and the thought of researching more spice-racks has defeated me - for now!