A few weeks ago I (or rather, we, since it was one of those days when Jan obligued in coming along to do some shopping in the center) discovered a new store in Ghent. It’s called Spice Bazaar (also on Facebook), and as its name says, they sell spices. All kind of spices, most of which are close to impossible to find in a normal supermarket.
But the name is, in a way, also misleading. They also sell tea, both loose leaf, and in bags (that you can actually buy per bag, to try them, before buying a whole box), chocolates, and nut mixes.
If you cook anything else than your standard local fare, this place is heaven. Do you need Chinese all-spice? They have it. Different peppers, smoked salt, black sesame. The list is long. And they keep adding to their stock.
On our first visit, we just roamed, and took note of so many spices & herbs that are not easy to find. And then Jan prodded me, and I got to buy some stuff! Edible lavendel, and Jamaica pepper, Chinese five-spice!
They sell the spices in test tubes, closed with a cork, at quite reasonable prices. Even better, if you have used up all the contents, you can go back with your test tube, and they will refill it and only charge you the price of the spice (and not the tube), or you can buy bigger amounts in plastic bags, so you can refill your test tubes, or use whatever other spice containers.
This is my haul so far:
Spice tubes from Spice Bazaar
And so you can get an idea of their prices:
Lavender: €0,99 / 10 gr
Chinese five spice: €1,69 / 19 gr
Jamaica pepper (all-spice): €2,39 / 20 gr
Sage: €0,99 / 8 gr
Cinnamon (ground): €0,99 / 21 gr
Rosemary: €0,99 / 14 gr
Cayenne pepper (ground): €1,19 / 17 gr
Thyme: €0,99 / 10 gr
Oregano: €0,99 / 6 gr
The conclusion is: I will be coming back to the store and I’m working on replacing my spice cabinet with their tubes. I do want to support this local (actually, not so local, it’s not around the corner!) store, and I hope they are successful and can keep in business for a long long time. Because I am selfish and I like being able to find all the spices I want in once place.