A few weeks ago, I was making choucroute, a German-influenced French specialty of the Alsace region, when I realized I didn’t have any juniper berries. (After all, who has juniper berries?) I emailed pal Ernie, who would be joining us for dinner that night to see if he might have some, in addition to caraway seeds and whole clove.
“I have caraway seeds,” he replied, “But I have no idea how old they are. They’ve been in here a long time.”
Old spices from my spice drawer (l to r): Chinese powdered ginger, herbes de Provence, something so old I don’t even know what it is, some Jamaican curry a friend brought me back from Jamaica when we were in our 20s, and ancient saffron from my dad’s friend Pierre
I then queried neighbors Chris and Glennis to see if they had any juniper berries, and was pleased when Chris responded that they did. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 