Old Spice!

I buy fenugreek seeds for my parrot she loves them and I love the smell. I buy it regularly in 500grm bags from Amazon.

I have a plastic basket containing my spices etc. The ones I use most are cummin an corriander, both ground. I keep them in screwtop jars and up to now they've kept their flavour. About 5 years old.
I agree about whole spices though, I've used them in the past.

I usually use sumac which stored in the spice rack, that is convenient. www.cuou.net/best-spice-rack.html

I have discovered that Italian garlic seasoning is lovely on tomatoes, especially fried ones.Yum.Ditto on cheese sarnies.

Elrel

Justwokeup - thanks, love the idea, surely there's a half hour radio comedy lurking in that cupboard! They've got the characters, just need the stories, poor Paprika!
I think Nigel Slater once suggested that the best use for most dried herbs was as a mulch for the real thing!

I had a curry with fenugreek in our local highly regarded Indian restaurant. To me the taste was overpowering and I could still taste it the next day and was not pleasant. It was a little like cloves (which I do like) but much stronger.
I now know that when I've ordered curry and been unable to eat it was not (usually) because it was full of MSG and chemical colours as I thought but it was fenugreek.
My most used spice at home is cumin.

Never used it tbh.
I clear out the spices now and again and find I really only use about ten, any more sit about until they are thrown away.
I do grow quite a few herbs in Summer though, and have a bay tree in the garden.

I think this is the link to Michael McIntyres 5 spice joke, not as iconic imo as fork handles Elrel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvi0ZLEHj3A

Scribbles - now “gracefully pensioning off” a selection of herbs and spices. Spring cleaning and all that .....

But do spices go off? Probably lose their hit. But they’re not a protein, and have been dried out. I use them way over limit. Am a terrible housekeeper, though.

I binned the fenugreek but washed the jar before recycling. Each time I opened the kitchen bin the aroma wafted out.

Michael McIntyre's 5 Spice joke?? Nothing to do with 4 candles I guess!

This post makes me laugh as it reminds me of the Michael McIntyre '5 Spice' joke. I have garlic granules in my spice drawer ... absolutely no idea why as I always have fresh garlic in the fridge and I've never seen a recipe requiring garlic granules. No fenugreek though.

Fennel seeds, that should have said.

I’ve finally got my spice jar shelf as I want it, thirty or so matching jars (Tesco’s own, as it happens) in alphabetical order, contents from various brands and refill packs so I’ve no way on earth of knowing now how old they all are. A quick sniff or taste soon tells me if any need ditching. Unfortunately that usually happens as I’m halfway through a recipe, and there’s no known substitution.... Though I’ve got fennel that I know is pre Millennium, but still smells and tastes as it should.

I was 'taught' to cook curry by an Indian friend about 42 years ago. We lived close to Manchester's curry mile and we'd do our herb and spice shopping there. I visited India for the first time recently - the food was spectacular. The chefs all said the taste was down to the number of spices, often 14 of them, plus the fact they use fresh whole spices, dry fried then pounded to powder. Lots of work but the tastes were fantastic.

I use that a lot too glamma and found a pristine one in a second hand book sale. Weirdly, I don't like using the 'clean' one.

I have been cooking Indian food for 40 years and honestly consider mine to be better than any Indian type restaurant I have used. I must have about 60 different herbs and spices. Used to take us a whole day to prepare several dishes but got time right down these days. My favourite book is Madjur Jeffrey’s “A Taste of India” but don’t think it is in print any longer.

Am I odd? These are my regularly used herbs and spices - I don't have any sumac!

Sumac is nice sprinkled on thinly sliced very mild onions. These can be served as an accompaniment to any kind of kebab

I hardly ever use these any more. When I first got married I really coveted a large spice/herb rack with lots of china pots - the blue and white was my favourite but I also hankered after the Portmeirion - couldn't decide which I liked best.
Roll forward the decades and I realised that all I really needed was salt, pepper, mixed herbs/ spice in four glass jars. If I want anything fresh there's chives and marjoram in the garden.

I think 2005 is more like Old Spice rather than ‘ teen spice!’ ?

When I saw the title of the thread I thought it was about Men’s aftershave!!

My DS1 was here 6 months ago and had a clear-out of my cabinets. I think I did have some fenugreek until then. I have no idea what I used it for.