How to Toast and Grind Your Own Spices

This post is all you need to know on how to toast and grind your own spices!

I’m talking spices today. Whole. Glorious. Unprocessed. Spices.

I’m sharing with you how I toasted and hand ground whole spices into dust. It’s quite an intoxicating and exhilarating experience. Toasting anything makes it better; i.e. Subway sandwiches {although I’m more of a Potbelly’s girl}, shredded coconut {better toasted!}, pecans {uh-yeah!?} and of course sandwiches! Wait… wasn’t that already on the list? Oh yeah… and spices.

You can find whole spices in your grocery store albeit it’s most likely a limited one. However if you have a spice specialty store, like Penzy’s, then you can find a whole smorgasbord of spices, whole and just perfect for toasting and grinding.

So on the reals, toasting your whole spices will draw out their natural flavors and grinding them yourself will release their natural oils. They overall just taste better, different… more fresh. Pre-ground spices are great, lord knows I have a drawer FULL of them. But if you’re feeling up for it and want to go all out for guests, or a special dinner or just because… then doing it yourself is the way to go.

The essentials you’ll need are these: A pan, small clean and dry jars (with a tight fitting lids), mortar and pestle {this is up to you, if you have a spice grinder then more power to you… I however do not} and spices. That’s it. Oh and time… you definitely need some of that.

The first spice I’m toasting and grinding fresh is coriander seed. I needed that and cumin seed for a recipe I was making so I thought I’d snap away as I went.

Start by measuring placing your whole spices into a dry pan.

The whole to ground measurements are up to you. I did two tablespoons of whole spices and that yielded 4 teaspoons of ground, but I can’t imagine it’s the same for every whole spice.

On medium-low heat, slowly toast the spices. Shake the pan or stir with a wooden spoon. You’ll know they are done when they are fragrant and start smelling toasty.

I added the toasted coriander seeds into my mortar.

If you listen, you’ll hear then snap, crackle and popping.

With my pestle I started putting some muscle into smashing and grinding the seeds.

Almost there.

I’m not sure I could get it any finer by hand. So again, if you want an ultra-fine ground spice pick up a spice grinder or a coffee grinder and do it all in there. Keep in mind that you don’t want to use the coffee grinder for coffee beans after you’ve ground spices. Bleh!

Ps. I got my mortar and pestle and Homegoods for 13 bucks and I love it.

Ta-dah! Ground coriander! Oh and it smells heavenly!

The cumin seeds were next to be toasted.

Since the cumin seeds were smaller it didn’t take quite as long. They were pretty fragrant to begin with, so I kept sniffing until I detected a toasty cumin scent.

Then in they go, into my mortar…

And I went grinding my little heart out.

Ahhh… seriously I wish you could smell this!

Store the ground spice into a jar or tiny canister. You could even go green and reuse old spice bottles that you’ve washed and dried out thoroughly.

Label the tops so you know which is which. These spices are relatively similar in looks, although my nose would know the difference.

Freshly ground spices do tend to be more potent then pre-ground. So a slight adjustment will be needed when you’re using freshly ground spices. Just like any ground spice… these should be good for 6 months.

I hope you give this method on how to toast and grind your own spices a try… it’s totally worth it!

Enjoy! And if you give this how to toast and grind your own spices a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!