Penzey's Spices

Penzey's Spices is one of the finest sources for herbs and spices out there, and we've used their mail-order service for years.  Their Mexican and Madagascar vanilla beans are plump and moist, and a bargain at just over $5.00 each.  We've used their beans for years to make our own vanilla extract. 

For comparison, we saw a dessicated, tired looking vanilla bean at Wegman's yesterday with a $10.00 price tag attached.  We were unwilling to pay so much for a weeny looking vanilla bean.  We're also poaching pears tonight, and we needed star anise.  We couldn't find star anise at any of our local grocery stores...though we probably should have patronized the huge Asian supermarket that's less than a mile away.

Basically we were looking for an excuse to visit Penzey's retail outlet in Falls Church:

This place is awesome.  A commenter on Don Rockwell called this place "hardcore olfactory food porn", which it is.  The store is full of canisters of spices and beakers of extract that invite deep, deep sniffing.  Not only does the store have a wider selection of herbs and spices than any store I've visited, it also has excellent prices. 

To give you a sense of the selection, there's a large section devoted solely to various sorts of cinnamon - look at the huge cinnamon/cassia bark on display.

Ahem.  This probably isn't even worth whining about, but in what's becoming a theme recently, we got slight attitude from one of the employees for taking pics in the store.  I know, I know, it's the store's prerogative, but when we asked if we could take some (flashless) photos in the store, the employee responded...

::sigh::  ::grimace::  ::pregnant pause::  "a couple."

Her response didn't give us the warm fuzzies. 

Here's our booty, which totaled less than $50 for 15 vanilla beans, poppy seeds, two types of cinnamon, a ton of star anise, and a glass canister.  The prices and quality are excellent, and we'll be dropping tons of dough for Penzey's goods in the future.  If you're into quality spices, you should too.

Penzey's Spices
513 W. Broad St.
Falls Church, VA
(703) 534-7770
Mon - Sat: 10AM-6PM
Sun: 11AM - 5PM

Comments

[Farah]

I wasn't aware that Penzey's was opening up in our area. I can't wait to go - I can't stand overpaying for my spices!

[Dakota]

I have been buying from Penzey's for years. It is nice to have them in our area. I have been buying more from Morton & Bassett (in SF) the past year or so and find their herbs and spices (especially the organic ones) to be very good as well.

[Nicole]

This past Sunday I made it to the Falls Church Penzey's. So nice to be able to see just what the differences between several different kinds of cinnamon, etc. really are. It's an education to examine all the wonderful things.

[The Secret Ingredient]

I live in southern Connecticut where we are lucky enough to have a Penzey's store. I get WAY too excited when I go in there. I may need therapeutic intervention!

[Kat]

This store looks great, a huge selection of herbs and spices. I'm going to have to go down there and get some new herbs for this recipe Herb and Nut Cream Cheese Log listed at http://lovemyphilly.blogspot.com/. Check it out for tons of great recipes using Philly Cream Cheese.

[Dave Hunter]

That place looks great I'll have to try it out. I never realized the value of a high quality vanilla bean until I had a Tahitian one chopped up into banana boat with some good vanilla ice cream on the side. Man that was tasty.