Sage advice: Stock up on holiday spices

By Peter Jensen
The Baltimore Sun

Nothing reminds us of the winter holidays like those familiar scents of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa and sage. And what better way to perk up a holiday meal? Or flavor those Christmas cookies or spice up a turkey dressing?

Now is a good time to stock up on these holiday flavors. Spices purchased this year should be good for next year's celebrations, too, if they are stored correctly -- in an airtight container in a dark, cool, dry place.

Vanilla: Among the most dependable seasonings, vanilla beans and extract last a long time -- even when the extract shows signs of sediment.

Tip: Be sure to use pure vanilla extract rather than artificial seasoning. It's made from beans that have been chopped up and percolated and aged.

Cinnamon: The flavor most closely associated with Christmas is also one of the oldest spices known to man and was used by the Egyptian pharaohs.

Cinnamon sticks can last about four years in an airtight container kept in a cool, dry place. Ground cinnamon should probably be checked for potency after a year or two.

Tip: For extra zip in your cinnamon creations, grind the whole sticks to make powder. It better preserves the aromatic oils.

Ginger: Sweet and lemony, aromatic but pungent, ginger puts the kick in holiday baking and in savory dishes, too. Its popularity in the United States has nearly doubled since 1990.

Ginger comes from the rhizome of the ginger plant, and is available fresh in many supermarkets.

Tip: Use ginger to add zest to carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.

Sage: This distinctive herb comes from a hardy evergreen shrub grown in the Mediterranean and has long been considered a memory enhancer.
Around the holidays, sage is often used to flavor pork sausage and turkey stuffing, imparting a pine-like flavor.

Tip: If you use whole leaves, be sure to rub them first. It helps release the natural oils and aromas

Cloves: The unopened, dried, nail-shaped flower buds of a tree grown chiefly in Indonesia, cloves have a strong, sweet but penetrating flavor.
Used both whole and ground, cloves work well with ham, pork, pickled fruit, pumpkin pie, gingerbread, ketchup and many other foods.

Tip: Don't use too much. Cloves can overpower other flavors.

Orange peel: The dehydrated rind of the fresh fruit is a useful seasoning to give a subtle, citrus flavor when fresh orange zest is unavailable.
Orange peel is another seasoning that can lose its potency with age. Check color and flavor if it has been in your cabinet more than one year.

Tip: It can substitute as an equal amount (or slightly less) of freshly grated orange peel in a recipe.

Nutmeg: The pit of a fruit grown on trees in Indonesia and Grenada, nutmeg presents a flavor that is sweet and bitter and perfect when sprinkled on eggnog.

Like cinnamon, it's a long-used spice with centuries of tradition. The flavor seems amplified when nutmeg is freshly ground.

Tip: The outer covering of the nutmeg seed produces mace, an Indian spice with a similar but more delicate flavor.

Cocoa: Few flavors are more welcomed by children around the holidays than chocolate, baked into sweets or served as a hot beverage.

Cocoa powder is derived from the paste produced from South and Central American cacao beans after they have been fermented, roasted and ground.

Tip: Cocoa has a shelf life of about three years (less if not kept in an airtight container away from heat and humidity).

Allspice: A flavor that is sometimes mistaken for cloves, allspice tastes a bit like a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It actually comes from just one source -- the pea-size reddish brown berry from a small evergreen tree grown in Jamaica, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Tip: Outside the United States, allspice is often called pimento because it resembles peppercorns.

Poultry seasoning: This combination of herbs and seasonings generally includes sage, thyme, marjoram, pepper and celery seed.

So closely associated with turkey dressing, this seasoning was recently voted the third most essential for the holidays (behind only vanilla and cinnamon) in a survey by McCormick & Co.

Tip: In a pinch, you can always blend your own poultry seasoning by combining 3/4 teaspoon of dried sage with 1/4 teaspoon thyme and 1/4 teaspoon marjoram.