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ers, allowing them to switch suppliers

if there’s a weather event or labor is-

sue. But customers have little sense of

what they’re getting. They don’t know

where their peppercorns came from.

They don’t know how long they sat in

storage or when they were ground—

the moment when a spice begins to

lose its aroma and essential oils.

Spicewalla’s priority is freshness.

By buying directly, Mr. Irani says he

has spices in hand two or three

months after harvest. His first custom-

ers were restaurant chefs, who, like

home cooks, didn’t have a lot of op-

tions when it came to spices, accord-

ing to Mr. Irani. “They come in that 1

gallon jug you see at Costco,” he said.

“And you have to get that size whether

it’s black pepper, which you use a lot,

or cloves, which you hardly ever use.”

The vivid freshness was an eye-

opener for chefs. Spicewalla now sells

to nearly 500 restaurants. “His spices

are great because they are so fresh,”

said chef William Dissen of the Mar-

ket Place in Asheville, one of Mr.

Irani’s first customers. “They are

more aromatic, brighter in color and

richer in flavor.”

Burlap & Barrel was, in a way, an ac-

cidental business. Ethan Frisch, a New

York chef, left restaurants to study in-

ternational development and ended up

working to build infrastructure and

schools in Afghanistan. As he traveled

the country, he tasted astonishing

spices and herbs. “It was the cumin

that really grabbed me,” he said. “In

the province called Badakhshan, at the

western end of the Himalayas, is a vari-

ety of cumin that grows wild. I had

never tasted it before.” Mr. Frisch

started to collect spices on his travels

and bring them back to Kabul, where

he would cook big dinners for friends.

Soon, he saw a business opportunity.

“Even professional chefs don’t un-

derstand how spices grow. And like cof-

fee or chocolate, that’s important,” Mr.

Frisch said. “The variety, the terroir,

how it’s processed and dried—it all has

an impact on flavor. There’s an opacity

in the supply chain that is set up to

stop people from knowing.”

Mr. Frisch and his partner, Ori Zo-

har, are trying to reconnect customers

to the provenance of the spices in

their cupboard and expose them to

new ones. The company’s cinnamon,

for example, hails from Zanzibar and

smells a lot like red-hot candies (in a

good way). They also bring in yellow

cardamom—instead of the usual

green—from Guatemala that is fully

ripened on the vine and has a slightly

softer, sweeter flavor.

If there’s any drawback to the ex-

plosion of new spice companies, it’s

that consumers will be a bit over-

whelmed. It’s one thing to get to know

which kind of coffee you prefer. And

tea. And chocolate. It’s quite another

to try to know the history and prove-

nance of every spice in your cupboard.

Ms. Cheney of Curio Spice Co. encour-

ages her customers to start by getting

to know more about the spices they

use often and to try blends, which

make sophisticated cooking easy.

Others, though, are certain that

tasting is believing. “It’s amazing how

many people still have that 10-year-old

jar of spices,” said Mr. Zohar of

Burlap & Barrel, “and how

much better their food would

taste if they had the cour-

age to just Marie Kondo

their spice drawer.”

Spice Sources

Burlap & Barrel

Exotic and everyday

single-origin whole

spices sourced

globally from

sustainable farms.

burlapandbarrel.com

Spicewalla

A wide range of

spices, whole and

ground, and blends

in sizes from single-

serve packets to 50-

pound bulk orders.

spicewallabrand.com

Curio Spice Co.

Single-origin spices,

whole and ground,

and blends

designed to reflect a

sense of place.

curiospice.com

Spice Trekkers

Whole spices and

loose-leaf teas.

spicetrekkers.com

The Reluctant

Trading Experiment

Spices straight from

India; salt from

Iceland and

flavored salts.

reluctanttrad-

ing.com

Diaspora Co.

The specialty here:

highest-quality

turmeric and, now,

single-origin

heirloom

cardamom too.

diasporaco.com

somewhere in the 1950s when it

comes to spices. With the possible

exception of vanilla—do you prefer

Madagascan or Mexican?—we know

nothing about where our carda-

mom, cumin and ginger come

from. We buy them wherever

and keep them forever. Then

we wonder why that curry

or stew lacks spark.

High-end chefs will attest

to the power of fresh spices.

For years, the New York

spice shop La Boîte has supplied

discerning consumers and boldface

names, including Eric Ripert of Man-

hattan’s Le Bernardin, with blends such

as Apollonia, a magical mix of cocoa,

orange blossom and pepper that works

as well on a doughnut as a pork shoul-

der. Now a new generation of spice im-

porters and blenders is working to

bring that same high quality to every-

one, often at prices that match those

you find in the grocery store.

Mr. Irani has bought spices directly

from an importer since he opened his

first restaurant, Chai Pani, in Ashe-

ville, N.C., in 2009. In 2017 he

launched Spicewalla, a company that

grinds and toasts 150 spices and 30

blends to order and sells them in small

quantities so they don’t go stale in the

pantry. Burlap & Barrel, meanwhile,

goes straight to the source, bringing in

single-origin spices: cumin handpicked

in the mountains of Afghanistan, fen-

nel from Egypt and ginger from Tan-

zania (which, for the record, is spicier

than the ginger the company sources

from Indonesia). Curio Spice Co.

brings in some spices straight

from the farm—for instance,

founder Claire Cheney offers a

local blend, Supeq, with sea-

weed, spice and sea salt all

from New England—but

buys other spices from

trusted importers to make blends

like Fleur, a mix of hibiscus, pink pep-

percorns, fennel and rose petals.

To grasp just how innovative this is,

you first have to understand how the

spice business traditionally works. The

chain is long and convoluted; a spice

will change hands five or six times be-

fore it arrives in your kitchen, going

from the farm to a consolidator to an

exporter to an importer to a re-pack-

ager and finally a retailer. It can take

anywhere from 18 months to 3 years

for spices to travel from field to table.

The secrecy surrounding the supply

chain contributes to the romance of the

business. (In medieval times, spice hus-

tlers would reputedly scare off compe-

tition by whispering that nutmeg came

from a dragon’s egg laid on top of a

mountain.) That murkiness regarding

origins helps keep prices low for trad-

Total Time 15 minutes

Serves 4

(^1) / 2 shallot, minced
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 (2-pound) rotisserie
chicken
(^3) / 4 cup mayonnaise or
homemade aioli
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
(^1) / 3 cup chopped cilantro
(^1) / 2 cup minced dried
apricots
1 tablespoon dried English
mustard powder
4 ciabatta rolls
1 yellow tomato, sliced and
salted (optional)
8 butter lettuce leaves

1. In a small bowl, toss shal-
lots with a pinch of salt and
cover with vinegar. Set
aside until shallots lightly
pickle, about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, tear chicken
from bones and into bite-
size pieces. Transfer meat
to a medium bowl and fold
in^1 / 2 cup mayonnaise, mus-
tard, cilantro, apricots and

mustard powder. Strain

shallots and discard vinegar.

Add shallots to chicken

salad, toss to combine and

season with salt.

3. Halve ciabattas length-
wise and toast in broiler or
toaster until golden brown.
4. Spread remaining mayon-
naise over cut sides of bread.
Spread chicken salad over
bread’s bottom half, top with
tomato, if using, and lettuce.
Place top half of bread on
sandwich, press lightly and
halve sandwiches to serve.

FOR TART’S SAKE Dried apricots, minced very fine, bring bright

flavor and a subtle chewy texture to this chicken salad.

SLOW FOOD FAST /SATISFYING AND SEASONAL FOOD IN ABOUT 30 MINUTES

A CHICKEN SALAD must never be gloppy—

this is the first of chef Caroline Glover’s

stipulations. It should always taste of just-

roasted chicken and never be slippery (go

easy on the mayo) or cloying (no grapes).

And there should be some kick. If served on

a sandwich, the bread should have bite and

hold the salad, not succumb to it. Beyond a

crisp lettuce leaf, nothing else is required.

Ms. Glover came by these principles dur-

ing college in Fort Worth, Texas, while

working at a grocery store. There she ate a

game-changing version, minimal and per-

fect. “Before that, I never liked chicken-

salad sandwiches,” she said. “But this had

meat picked off the bone and apricots and

some mustard. It was lighter and brighter

and definitely not your lunch-line chicken

sandwich.” She ate one every day.

When she opened Annette, her restaurant

outside Denver, Ms. Glover came up with a

homage. The recipe—her third Slow Food

Fast contribution—contains tender chicken

mixed with tart minced apricots, a dash of

mustard powder, Dijon mustard and mayo.

Minced cilantro and lightly pickled shallots

provide texture as well as kick. Ciabatta has

the right chew. Butter lettuce adds a fresh

note. Sliced tomato is optional and only

worth it in peak season.

The simple recipe took about 50 tries to

get exactly right. Now it commands the

same devotion Ms. Glover once felt for the

original sandwich. “When it shows up on

the menu,” she said, “people line up.”

—Kitty Greenwald

Caroline Glover’s Ultimate Chicken-Salad Sandwich

CHRISTOPHER TESTANI FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY EUGENE JHO, PROP STYLING BY CARLA GONZALEZ-HART; ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL HOEWELER

A

SK ANYONE who knows

him: Chef Meherwan Irani

is impossibly nice. But

when it comes to spices, it

doesn’t take much to pro-

voke a rant. “You’d never store your

coffee for two years in a glass jar next

to the stove and expect a good cup of

coffee,” he said incredulously. “We

know the provenance of coffees and

chocolates, our meats and produce. But

we know nothing about spices.”

The guy’s got a point. In this age

of foodie enlightenment, we score

points for buying Berkshire pork and

heirloom tomatoes. But we’ve stalled

ADashMore

Delicious

A new way of selling spices demystifies the process

to deliver greater flavor and freshness

BYJANEBLACK

F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MARKET STRATEGY

The Chef

Caroline Glover

Her Restaurant

Annette in

Aurora, Colo.

What She’s Known

For Bringing years

of experience on

the farm to ingredi-

ent-focused cook-

ing. Rustic dishes

executed with

a light touch.

OPEN

SEASONING

Spice

purveyors

are making

the supply

chain more

transparent

and bringing

fresher

spices to

consumers.

EATING & DRINKING

ON THE RACK /TIPS FOR SMART STORAGE

Store spices in a cool, dark place.

Tapeadate on the spices when

you buy them so you know how

long they’ve been hanging around.

Buy whole spices when possible.

Make the switch from ground to

whole especially for cardamom,

cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel, pep-

percorns and star anise.

Use your senses. If spices have no

aroma or feel dry or sandy to the

touch, they’re stale.

Be ruthless. Though there’s no ab-

solute rule about when to throw

away spices, generally you should

use ground spices and dried herbs

within six months of purchase and

whole spices within one to two

years.