Today I have been going through a plastic box containing odds and ends of spices. You know the sort of thing – the ones you used once for a specific recipe, or the ones you bought because you forgot that you already had some in the plastic box of spices you hardly ever think about. That’s why I have two lots of juniper berries and a jar of star anise.
I’m now in a quandary. Do I use them, even though they may have lost their flavour, to spice up a stew, or do I just cut my losses and throw them out? What I have done in the past is to find a recipe that uses some of them and then buy extra spices because the recipe needs them. At least I have learned to avoid that trap. That’s why recipes demanding nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger end up with mixed spice and black pepper. It’s not, I admit, the same, but it’s an attempt.
Squirrel in MENCAP gardens, Wilford
The good news is that I now have a number of useful jars to put things in. Unfortunately I lack a selection of things to put in jars. Given time, I’m sure I can find some.
This is, of course, a well-known marketing trick. Mr Colman, of Colman’s Mustard used to say that he made his money from the mustard that people left on the side of their plate.
While I was washing up I was able to see a number of birds on the feeder, though a lot of time was taken up with the Big Squirrel. He struts round like he owns the place, but I have plans for him. Some of them involve the mixture of spices I have found in the bottom of the various jars I mentioned above. They may not be strong enough, or reliable enough, for cookery, but I’m sure they are still pungent enough to disturb an animal with an acute sense of smell.
Squirrel in MENCAP gardens, Wilford