What's hiding in your spices?

Last night I was making dinner when I had one of the most disturbing experiences I've ever had in the kitchen. I pulled out my Hungarian Sweet Paprika, poured it into a teaspoon and almost had a heart attack when I saw the spices crawling around on the spoon. YUCK!

Upon further inspection and some research, I found that grain beetles are quite common in not only grains, but also in dried spices. It turns out that they are a good indicator that your spice could be moldy and old and needs to be thrown out anyway. I methodically went through each of my spices to make sure I didn't have any others and found them in my chipotle chili pepper, which I recently purchased and was almost gone, so that too instantly went into the trash. I even went as far as dumping out entire containers of Old Bay to make sure they are completely clear of anything gross and was happy that I had no additional issues.

How can you prevent these gross little bugs? It turns out that some people recommend keeping red spices in the fridge/freezer, just like your grains. I already keep most of my grains and various flours in the freezer, but I had never heard of keeping red spices there too. From now on, if you are at my house and looking for a red spice, you can bet it will be in the fridge! I also learned that you can avoid the beetles with air tight containers and making sure the area is kept clean. There is still a chance that you can bring an infested product into your house, so make sure to check all your grains, flours, and spices before you use them!

Farmers Market Find - Concord Grapes

At the farmers market last week, I found big juicy concord grapes. I have never tried them before but was drawn to them because they looked so big and picture perfect. The farmer allowed me to try a grape and I couldn't believe how much it tasted like grape juice! So, that makes at least two things I learned this summer at the farmers market…

1. Raspberry candies taste like black raspberries - I didn't know there was a raspberry out there that actually tastes like a candy, but I found them at the market this summer
2. Grape juice and jelly tastes just like concord grapes - I didn't know there were grapes out there that taste as sweet as the juice!

Anyway, I had to buy the grapes after my discovery! Even though they are extremely delicious, the skin is tough and chewy and they have a lot of seeds, so cooking them seemed like the natural thing to do.

I found a recipe online for grape jam that only requires grapes and sugar and thought that is the perfect recipe for me! I followed her directions exactly, except for the amount of grapes and sugar. I only had 1 lb of grapes and used about ¾ cup of sugar total. The jam came out amazing! Here is the fantastic step-by-step guide that I followed: http://chefinyou.com/2011/10/concord-grapes-jam/

Here is a pic of me squeezing the grapes. It is amazing how the insides are all white… and how they came right out of the skins. I think it is because the skins are so thick.

I put the skins aside, as directed, so that I could put them back into the jelly when cooking. I was nervous when I put the skins back into the pot that they would be too thick, but they weren't at all. In fact, they cooked down quite nicely.

Once it was all done, I poured it into a glass jar and put it in the fridge. Well… after I ate some straight off the spoon! :)

Look at the amazing purple color of the jam. If concord grapes are still in season this week, I know what I'll be buying at the farmers market!