The Savory Spice Shop on Spring Street celebrates their 1-year anniversary on November 21st. It's a wonderful niche retailer in Princeton that sells over 500 quality ground spices, blends, herbs and salts from around the world. They also have extracts, essentials oils, and accessories like pepper mills and mortar and pestles.
At Savory Spice Shop, our mission is to offer high-quality herbs, spices, and seasonings at a fair price in customer-friendly quantities.
Whenever I walk in, I'm reminded of the spice markets I've visited in the past, like the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, Cairo Spice Market, and Khari Baoli in Old Delhi. First I'm greeted by the wonderful aromas, and then by the beautiful colors. The biggest difference is the spices aren't displayed in open burlap bags (surely due to sanitary reasons).
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The great thing about the Savory Spice Shop is it makes the world smaller. You can find things there that decades ago, you had to travel abroad for. If I want to cook Tajine, a Thai curry, or a full Rijsttafel, I can find the herbs and spices I need all in one shop. The spices are fresher than the supermarket variety, and of a very high quality. They also have nice blends. I bought a Kansas City rub for ribs, and my parents loved the flavor of the ribs so much when visiting, I had to bring some rub down on my last visit to them.
The advantage of buying from this shop is they have tester bottles, so you can actually taste and smell the spices. They also give you a sample when you make a purchase, plus they sometimes have food samples out with recipes, so you can taste the spices in a prepared dish.
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My daughter loves science, including experimenting with cooking and baking. This past summer she wanted to take it to another level, and make a bath bomb. A key ingredient is citric acid. I searched around town without success when it hit me to try the Savory Spice Shop. BINGO! They had it, and I was a hero for finding it there. You don't think citric acid is hard to find? They have frankincense and myrrh; how's that for unique?
Jon Hauge is the owner, and he's a good cook, so stop by and chat with him for a while to get some ideas for your next meal or dinner party. He was at the library with his wife and co-owner Janet last February to demonstrate how to use spices in a less traditional way. Jon will definitely increase your cooking repertoire!
I highly recommend carving out 20 - 30 minutes to explore the shop to discover new spices, or re-discover ones you've used years ago, but could no longer find and forgot about. There's free parking for up to 30 minutes in the Spring Street Garage located across the street, so that'll give you enough time to look around.
