A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Mr Larrington]

Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles certainly used to sell them because I've still got some.  And they probably belong in the bin due to old age.

[L CC]

I used to get send a man to get them from Tesco.

[rafletcher]

Never seen refills of herbs and spices in a supermarket. Have to go a small shop for those.

I certainly have, both Schwartz cartons, and large (fcvo large) pots of own-label from Tesco - I currently have white pepper and oregano ones in my cupboard.  I haven't looked recently.

ETA: Tesco still have the 30g oregano listed, but not, for instance, for tarragon.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I can see that on their website but only ever seen the jars on the shelves. Their stock does vary from shop to shop.

[rafletcher]

I can see that on their website but only ever seen the jars on the shelves. Their stock does vary from shop to shop.

Having signed in this time, the local store does indeed still have "bulk" oregano and black and white pepper.

[orienteer]

Waitrose have recently stopped offering refills, only do the jars now.

[ian]

They only seem to do oregano. Also stopped stocking the silver tins of Barts spices which I quite liked (it's a general rule that any product I like will summarily not be restocked). The pilau is very good with rice, and I eat a lot of cajun blend, sometimes with a spoon.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Barts are grown mixed, packaged, just behind Fowlers Motorcycles, not far from Temple Meads station. Occasionally the area has a wonderful peppery herby smell. Occasionally it smells of friend motorbike or waiting train. Usually it just smells of traffic on the A4.

[Ham]

Waitrose have recently stopped offering refills, only do the jars now.

This was what prompted my comment. My 'erb an' spice main use collection is all little boxes little boxes inside small crates, meaning refills are wot I want.

[spesh]

If you live somewhere sufficiently diverse and inclusive, you can do worse than check out your nearest Asian supermarket or global food store. A 100g bag (Rajah brand for preference, but others are available) should work out as 2-3 refills of a standard size jar, and may well work out more economical than buying new jars every time if you do a lot of Asian cooking at home.

Just saying...

[Cudzoziemiec]

And if you don't have one of those, you might have a polski sklep or Romanian or similar. They tend to sell little packets of various herbs for not many pennies, and the names are similar so won't test your linguistic knowledge.

[Flite]

We are fortunate to have an excellent wholefood shop in Alston.
We take our empty jars and they weigh spices or herbs to refil them.
Little and often is probably better with spices/herbs than bulk buying as some deteriorate pretty quickly.
From the same shop, I purchased a grinder jar pre-filled with chopped nutmeg and it works brilliantly.
(That's once I realised I was turning it the wrong way and nothing was coming out...)

[citoyen]

Has anyone else noticed that refills of herb and spice jars have been removed (apparently) from all major supermarkets shelves, leaving jars only? Weird. One can only assume that the shelf space isn't worth the difference to them.

No, I hadn't noticed but now you mention it, I don't think I've seen them in the local Tesco for a while.

But their supply of herbs and spices seems very hit and miss anyway, which I assumed was just another one of those legendary Brexit benefits.

[Ham]

If you live somewhere sufficiently diverse and inclusive, you can do worse than check out your nearest Asian supermarket or global food store. A 100g bag (Rajah brand for preference, but others are available) should work out as 2-3 refills of a standard size jar, and may well work out more economical than buying new jars every time if you do a lot of Asian cooking at home.

Just saying...

Now why didn't I think of that 

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My well-used masala dabba




And while I'm at it, my standard storage, these pots hold about 80g

[hellymedic]

Never seen refills of herbs and spices in a supermarket. Have to go a small shop for those.

Sainsbury's sold these when I started online shopping but they seemed to disappear about 10-12 years ago.

[hellymedic]

I think I buy some Asian branded bags of spices in 100g bags from Sainsbury's.
This is rather infrequent.
Only last night, D complained there was too much pepper in the mash I had made.
The black pepper is pretty ancient.
And potent.
ETA Sainsbury's website lists 100g bag Natco coarse black pepper for £1.40.
Natco and Fudco bags of spices listed on Sainsbury's website seem very good value for money to me…
… and the Rajah spices are £4.50 for KILOGRAM bags!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Never seen refills of herbs and spices in a supermarket. Have to go a small shop for those.

Sainsbury's sold these when I started online shopping but they seemed to disappear about 10-12 years ago.

Just about the time I came back to the UK then!

[bhoot]

Waitrose have recently stopped offering refills, only do the jars now.

We do Waitrose click and collect and had noticed no more cooks ingredients herbs and spices boxes to use as refills which is rather annoying

[Slave To The Viking]

Yesterday's croissants revive very nicely in an air fryer at 160°C for 3-4 minutes.

If you happen to work in an outdoor shop that sells Osprey bags, and have been supplied with one of their mouldable-hipbelt heating ovens, you can get pretty good croissant-reenlivening results from one of them, rather than having to use the microwave in the staffroom. Just remember to sweep the crumbs out on a regular basis, or the rep gets annoyed.

[Ham]

Tarhanasi soup. Rather good, and recommended to the house.

[JonBuoy]

Earlier this year I bought a small jar of Tesco harissa paste.  I had heard of harissa, didn't really know what it was but I really liked the flavour and used it in random concoctions.

When I went to buy some more I was tempted by a jar of Al'fez harissa paste.  This is OK but it has a strong aniseed flavour that the other one didn't have.  Does harissa usually taste of aniseed of is it a bit random?  Do I have to take my glasses and carefully read the ingredients next time or is there another way of avoiding the over-aniseeded versions like 'Only buy the Moroccan stuff'?  Does anyone have any particular harissa recommendations?

[Mrs Pingu]

Ian put me on to the Belazu Rose harissa. Which doesn't taste of rose.

[Ham]

Tonight I am cooking sweet potato wedges

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Yam by Ham 

[Hot Flatus]

Earlier this year I bought a small jar of Tesco harissa paste.  I had heard of harissa, didn't really know what it was but I really liked the flavour and used it in random concoctions.

When I went to buy some more I was tempted by a jar of Al'fez harissa paste.  This is OK but it has a strong aniseed flavour that the other one didn't have.  Does harissa usually taste of aniseed of is it a bit random?  Do I have to take my glasses and carefully read the ingredients next time or is there another way of avoiding the over-aniseeded versions like 'Only buy the Moroccan stuff'?  Does anyone have any particular harissa recommendations?

If you get a huge tub of the generic stuff from a middle-eastern supermarket (if you have one to hand) you won't go wrong. I get mine from Alfu's in Stapleton Road in Bristol.

https://www.alfu.co.uk/p,2194,harissa-hot-pepper-paste-760g.html?search=harissa

this is not the one I get in store but it is a well-known widespread brand.

[citoyen]

I second the recommendation for Belazu rose harissa.

Not sure whether I've tried Tesco's harissa specifically, but some of the supermarket own-brand ones might as well be called chilli paste rather than harissa. Good harissa should be fragrant and complex, not just one-note spicy.

Caraway is a canonical ingredient of authentic harissa, which would explain the aniseed flavour. I don't think there's such a thing as a definitive recipe though, so it's really a case of experimenting with different brands to find one you like.