On Spice, Caitlin PenzeyMoog
On Spice, Caitlin PenzeyMoog
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

On Spice
Advice, Wisdom, and History with a Grain of Saltiness

Author: Caitlin PenzeyMoog

Narrator: Tanya Eby

Unabridged: 6 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/11/2020

Categories: Cooking, Nonfiction

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

Every home cook has thoughts on the right and wrong ways to use spices. These beliefs are passed down in family recipes and pronounced by television chefs, but where do such ideas come from? Many are little better than superstition, and most serve only to reinforce a cook's sense of superiority or cover for their insecurities. It doesn't have to be this way.

These notes On Spice come from three generations of a family in the spice trade, and dozens upon dozens of their collected spice guides and stories. In this book, you'll learn where spices come from: historically, geographically, botanically, and in the modern market. You'll hear snapshots of life in a spice shop, how the flavors and stories can infuse not just meals but life and relationships. And you’ll get straightforward advice delivered with wry wit.

Discover why:

● Salt grinders are useless

● Saffron is worth its weight in gold (as long as it's pure)

● That jar of cinnamon almost certainly isn't

● Vanilla is far more risqué than you think


About Caitlin PenzeyMoog

Caitlin PenzeyMoog is the grandchild of Bill and Ruth-Ann Penzey, who founded the Spice House in 1957, where Caitlin worked for most of her childhood. The Spice House now has four locations in Milwaukee and Chicago, and Caitlin's family also founded Penzeys Spices, which operates seventy retail stores in twenty-nine states in addition to online mail orders. Caitlin studied journalism and media studies at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. She is deputy managing editor of The A.V. Club, a subsidiary of Onion, Inc. and the Gizmodo Media Group. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Louis on March 16, 2025

Fun, quick, read that reminds us that history doesn't need to be about troop movements or elections to be pertinent and interesting. A bit of repetition even within chapters, which is surprising for such a short book......more

Goodreads review by Carol on May 19, 2019

Interesting book written by the Granddaughter of the Penzeys (Penzeys stores). I love Penzeys store and likely most people who like to cook and have ever visited one of these stores feels the same. But I digress. The book takes an in depth look at several spices: salt, saffron, cinnamon, etc, as wel......more

Goodreads review by TeriLin on March 17, 2019

A bit hard to follow in spots, typos, a little history, and a lot of unnecessary saltiness.......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on January 25, 2023

Fun read! The section on each spice is fairly brief but entertaining and interesting. She gives highlights about the history of specific spices, as well as interesting things about the etymology of their names, mythology and historical beliefs about the uses of certain spices. She doesn’t claim to b......more

Goodreads review by Nate on December 02, 2020

My sister recommended this book to me, and it seamed every chapter contained new charms sprinkled throughout. One of my curiosities is how much Caitlin PenzeyMoog had to research and how much she already knew about this topic. Clearly she has a deep reservoir from her family history; however, there......more