I had the pleasure of interviewing Janet Johnston yesterday, star of the Food Network show
Spice & Easy that premieres this Saturday at 9:30EST. With her husband Mike, Janet is the owner of the
Savory Spice Shop in Denver and both are avid home cooks. The message of the show is simple: to convince Americans to breathe new life into classic dishes with spices. Saturday's premiere will show Janet putting together a Moroccan spread for her book club including Chicken Skewers with Herb Sauce, Mediterranean Spiced Cucumber Medallions, Five Spice Carrot Cupcakes with Ginger Frosting, and Vanilla Bean Sugar Cubes. I love that this new show celebrates cooking and ingredients instead of gimmicky reality show components.
Often group interview conference calls can be a bit dry, filled with awkward poses, but Janet's contagious enthusiasm about spices was impossible to resist. It's easy to see why a feature on the
Road Toasted with the Neely's show led to an invitation to headline her own show from the Food Network. Janet Johnston makes the world a more interesting place, and more importantly, inspires the desire to cook.
I got to ask Janet three questions. Here's what I asked her and excerpts from a few of the other call participants:
Me:
If you could only have five spices in your pantry, what would they be?
Janet: That's such a great question and I get asked it a lot. It's a tough one because I have close to 500 different products in my store.
I would have to go with Saigon Vietnamese cinnamon - it's a kafia - not a true cinnamon. It's the strongest cinnamon ever, it has to be fresh ground and I love to bake so I have to my cinnamon.
Then a Greek oregano, and a good vanilla extract, for sure.
And the other two would be blends.
I think everyone should have an Italian blend of herbs, heavy on the basil.
I also think everyone should have a mild chili, a mild yellow curry just to use as an ingredient to build flavor. This is one thing we like to do at Spice & Easy, take a blend that's really accessible to people and turn it into something else. Take a mild curry and add maple sugar to a mild curry and the results are amazing.
Me:
How often should spices be replaced? I know that's a fear for home cooks. I get into exotic supermarkets and I'm so excited that I want to buy everything but I worry about how long they'll last.
Janet: As I own a savory spice shop, I would want to say very, very often, but in reality probably more often than you would think. That huge discount container of cinnamon will begin to taste like sawdust after a while.
Most spices kept in a cool, dry place, not over a stove, will last a good year to year and half. Away from sunlight, away from heat. Whole spices like peppercorn and nutmeg can keep 2 to 3 years even because they still have their oil. Something like cinnamon, which has a low level of oil and evaporates really quickly once its been ground, I would say 6 months.
In our store, we like to offer small batches, you can come in and get half an ounce of a spice. That's how we want America to start buying spices. No longer should you be forced to buy an overpriced probably very old jar of oregano from the supermarket. You can buy a half-ounce, you can have a choice between a Mexican or a Greek, and even though it's a dried flake, it should be bright green.
Me:
I'd love to kick my desserts up a notch. Other than cinnamon and vanilla, what are some other good spices for dessert?
Janet: That's so exciting to me because I love to bake, it's one of my favorite things to do. On the premiere, I use a Chinese 5 spice in my carrot cake. Chinese spice is an Asian spice that is beautiful with meats like duck or pork, but the basis of it is baking spices. Instead of peppercorn, we put black pepper and ginger in ours so it's got this wonderful baking base that gives it an edge, a little bit of heat with that peppercorn. Replacing your cinnamon with that Chinese 5 Spice can be amazing. That's what I've done with this carrot cake along with some fresh pineapple and it's to die for.
Something that's simple but crazy sounding as putting a yellow curry in pumpkin pie. A mild yellow curry is wonderful in sweet dishes. I love to take blends, things you can easily, nothing too scary, and take something all-American like carrot cake or even apple pie and turn it on its head.
A few other questions:
Christine from the Examiner.com:
Can you talk about the health benefits of herbs?
Janet: That's not really my specialty so I don't really touch on that except to recommend that people use herbs instead of salt and extra fat. You don't need to add extra fat or salt when you have flavor. Healthwise that's the kind of stuff I'm touching on.
Karen from Rockin' Mama asked: I've never used spices before. How do I get started? typically mostly use salt and pepper. How can I start incorporating more spices in my cooking?
Janet: Begin with a particular profile you know you like, say you love cinnamon. Experiment with all different types of cinnamon and use it in different ways. Make it savory, then make it sweet. You could also beign looking into the type of cooking you like. if you love Italian and pasta, start researching the spices around that: oregano and fennel and explore those spices.Don't be afraid to try something new.
Karen: Do you have ideas for getting children used to spices? I tend to do the same old boring dishes for my kids.
Janet: I don't have children but I have a lot of friends with kids. Kids nowadays amaze me because they know about flavors like sushi that I didn't know until I was in my 20s. Children's palates are more diverse than when I was a child.
There's the whole hiding stuff in foods but I don't think that's necessary. Open them up and educate them about the spices that are out there by intorducing stuff that is kind of mellow, add maple sugar and a touch of black pepper to a yellow curry and put it on pork chops and you have something sweet, and mellow. Use sweet to get them interested right off the bat.
Troy from
the Deadbolt - Is it worth it spending the money on good quality saffron?
Janet: Saffron can be affordable although it is a pricier spice. The beautiful thing about saffron that kept in a cool, dry place, it can last up to 7 years. A quality saffron is worth it. You use a tiny bit at a time. People want to be generous with this expensive spice, but too much saffron makes dishes bitter.
Me:
I'm playing around on your site and amazed by the products there. What are the products you would recommend I buy to get a sense of your offerings?
Janet: To really get a sense of what
Savory Spice Shop has to offer I would focus on the blends. Our new
Peruvian Chili Lime is amazing. Our chicken cordon peru should now also be available on the site.
I would also get some basics.
Wash Park is our garlic pepper.
Mt Elbert is a wonderful base.
We also have some specialty items which are really hard to find and are really fun. We have a
black garlic which is basically fermented garlic bulbs. It is jet black from Korea. I use it in a shrimp pot pie which is to die for.
Grains of paradise,
Korean chili threads are really fun, really different. Szechuan peppercorns which were banned in the states for years and only have become available in the last three years or so.
