Supermarket spice aisles are fine for the basics, but you won't usually find Aleppo pepper or high-quality saffron gracing their shelves. If your next culinary adventure calls for Ras el Hanout or nigella seeds, don't despair! These great online sources are prized by chefs and home cooks alike for their exceptional selection of top-notch herbs and spices.
A New York City landmark since 1944, Kalustyan's is the go-to spot for Manhattan foodies -- including many of the city's most renowned chefs. Countless cookbook writers suggest Kalustyan's in their resource lists for hard-to-find ingredients. It's no wonder, either -- the shop stocks hundreds of herbs and spices, and they are available for purchase online. That's not all. Kalustyan's also carries a tremendous range of prepared specialty foods and ingredients from around the world, including pappadums, chutneys, and ghee from India, rosewater and pomegranate molasses from Lebanon, and noodles from Thailand and Japan. Whatever unusual ingredient you're looking for, you'd be hard-pressed not to find it at Kalustyan's.
Penzey's has a catalog, an online storefront, and retail stores throughout the United States. Penzey's stocks a great selection of high-quality herbs and spices, along with peppermills and a variety of well-priced jars for herb and spice storage. They also offer well-thought-out gift boxes and crates, including an 8-jar selection of favorite baking spices, and a wedding crate filled with herbs and spices to stock newlyweds' kitchens. The website also features a drop-down menu option that allows shoppers to view all of Penzey's salt-free offerings. That's an especially nice touch for those watching their sodium intake, or cooking for those on special diets.
Established in 1937, the Culver City, California-based Surfas bills itself as a "Chef's Paradise." In fact, this third generation family business supplies restaurants with everything from cookware to shelving. But best of all, they've got a fabulous selection of herbs and spices, in home cook and chef-friendly sizes, like an ounce of mint or a pound of lavender. You can score a very affordable one-gram tin of Spanish saffron for $3.43, or splurge on an ounce of French or Iranian saffron for $100 or $83.33, respectively. There are plenty of herb and spice-inflected foods, too, including an apricot, cumin and orange zest fruit spread to pair with Camembert, and a ginger, wasabi, coriander, and sesame seed-flecked chocolate bar.
Known for its well-edited selection of gourmet ingredients from around the world, its beautiful produce, and its exceptional prepared foods, Dean & Deluca's flagship grocery in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood is a food-lover's dream emporium. They've also got a very respectable collection of herbs and spices, available online and through their catalog. Though Dean & Deluca's offerings can be a little pricier than others, their herbs and spices are quite attractively packaged, which makes them a wonderful choice for gift-giving.
Melissa's is best known for its wide variety of exotic produce. Many supermarkets carry some of the company's specialty items, but you're likely to find the widest selection of Melissa's offerings online. Melissa's has dried epazote, an important herb in Mexican cookery, and several organic spice blends, like Herbes de Provence, with built-in grinders. But Melissa's true claim-to-fame may be its incredible array of dried and fresh chile peppers. Whether you're looking for dried chipotle or tepin peppers, or fresh habaneros, you'll find them at Melissa's.
