We had such fun playing with spices in my Free the Seeds workshop last weekend. Attendees watched as I toasted, ground, and bloomed a spice blend, and then they sampled the results on Zesty Baked Chickpea Snacks. Afterward, I could smell the aroma of the spices emanating from the classroom almost all of the way down the college building’s long hall. I hope I made the people attending the next workshop in that space hungry and curious.

The curious can find the handout from my Seeds of Flavor workshop here. I share a bonus spice blend recipe this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

Learn more about using whole spices and get the complete recipe for Sweet Spice Mix in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

Excited about cooking with spices? My Free the Seeds workshop handout has an overview of my recommendations for buying, storing, and getting the most flavor out of spices. With the event’s focus on saving seeds, it also covers some of the seeds I grow and save from my own garden to use in the kitchen, as well as other seeds and aromatics that grow well in colder climates and can be used as spices.

The spice blend in this week’s Flathead Beacon column has sweet, warming notes, so I substitute it for cinnamon and other spices in baked goods, breakfast and dessert recipes, and even savory dishes. Here are just a few recipes on the blog that work well with my Sweet Spice Mix. You can find more in the recipe index.

• Sour Cream–Applesauce Coffee Cake or Muffins
• Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls with Buttermilk Glaze
• Gourmet Granola with Nuts and Fruit
• Russian Kasha (Multigrain Hot Cereal Mix)
• Cinnamon-and-Sugar Pie Crust
• Home-Spiced Nuts
• Chickpea and Vegetable Couscous Salad

You can also learn more about drying fresh herbs in this blog post. If you’re looking to add a spice grinding tool to your kitchen, learn more about my favorite mortar and pestle set in this blog post and read my reviews of other options in this article for The Spruce Eats. I recently wrote about spice grinders for Allrecipes.com, and that article should be going live soon. You can find more of my work off the blog here.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.