You might invest in a good bottle of wine or even Wagyu steak to enjoy at home, but if you haven’t updated your spice drawer in a while, your meals aren’t going to be as restaurant-quality as you might hope.
Small but mighty, spices add oomph to even basic dishes, not only in terms of flavor, but as far as health benefits go, too. “Most people don’t use spices enough at home because they are often intimidated by them and unsure how best to use them,” says Kanchan Koya, PhD, an integrative nutrition specialist and founder of Spice Spice Baby. “And yet spices bring so many health-enhancing polyphenols, antioxidants, and flavor to our food.”
Spices are basically any aromatic part of a plant other than a leaf (those are technically herbs, though the two are often used and sold in similar ways) that is used to enhance the flavor of a dish. “Spices are such a power tool to build flavor,” says Betty Liu, a cookbook author whose latest book, “The Chinese Way,” will come out in September. “They can be so potent when properly used. They can transform the character of a dish.”