How do I keep herbs and spices fresh?
How long dried spices actually last, where to store them, and how to get more out of the ones you have.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Store dried spices airtight, away from heat and light — not in a rack above the hob, which is the worst possible place. Ground spices lose most of their aroma within a year; whole spices keep two to three.
Spices do not spoil, they fade. Heat, light and air drive off the volatile oils that carry the flavour, so a jar that has spent two years above a cooker is essentially coloured dust.
What you'll need
- Airtight jars
- A cool dark cupboard (optional)
- Pestle and mortar or grinder (optional)
Step by step
- Move the spice rack away from the hob.Heat and steam are the fastest way to destroy spices, and above the cooker is where most people keep them.
- Store airtight, cool and dark.A closed cupboard away from the oven. Clear jars on an open shelf look good and fade fast.
- Buy whole spices where you use them often.Whole spices keep two to three years and are dramatically better when ground fresh. Ground ones fade within a year.
- Buy small quantities.A large bag of turmeric is poor value if it is stale before you finish it. Small and fresh beats large and old.
- Label with the date you opened them.It is the only reliable way to know. Most jars in a kitchen are considerably older than their owners think.
- Test by smell before using.Crush a pinch and smell it. If it smells of very little, it will taste of very little regardless of how much you add.
- Toast whole spices before grinding.A dry pan for a minute until fragrant. It revives the aroma substantially and is the biggest single improvement to how spices taste.
- Store fresh herbs by type.Soft herbs like coriander and parsley upright in water with a bag over. Hard herbs like rosemary and thyme wrapped in damp paper in the fridge.
Tips
- Freezing fresh herbs in oil in an ice cube tray preserves them far better than drying, and drops straight into a pan.
- Bloom ground spices in oil at the start of cooking rather than adding them to liquid later. It makes a noticeable difference.
- A cheap coffee grinder kept solely for spices is one of the more transformative inexpensive kitchen purchases.
Common mistakes
- Keeping spices above the cooker — Heat and steam drive off the volatile oils fastest. It is the most convenient and worst location in the kitchen.
- Buying large quantities of ground spices — They fade within a year. A big jar is usually stale for most of its life.
- Adding more of a stale spice to compensate — The aromatic compounds are gone. More dust adds texture and bitterness, not flavour.
Questions people ask
How long do dried spices last?
Ground spices keep most of their aroma for about a year; whole spices for two to three. They do not become unsafe, but they progressively stop tasting of anything.
Where should I store spices?
Airtight, in a cool dark cupboard away from the cooker. Heat, light and air are what degrade them, and a rack above the hob supplies all three.