This Food Is Good!

Every so often, I need a certain blend of spices for a recipe and have to decide which is more practical - to buy it, or to make it myself. I take pride in my large collection of spices, so I'd rather create the mix myself... but if I am missing a few, it's usually more economical to spent $5 on the blend then to drop $10 on spices that I am not likely to need again for a while. When I needed some Old Bay Seasoning for a corn fritter recipe, and could only find it for $7, and had the ingredients... it was a no-brainer to just make it.

Old Bay Seasoning

1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
2 teaspoons celery salt
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

I didn't have the white pepper or the mace... so I left them out. No big deal, because everything turned out great. I mixed everything in a small container, and since the recipe was a hit, I've made it a few times since.

Spices also lose some of their kick after a while, so it is good to use them up in a reasonable amount of time. Buying them at small international groceries is usually a lot cheaper than buying them in a small glass jar at a large store.