Do you have a drawer of dishtowels so packed that you can barely open it? A veritable tower of canned beans on your pantry shelves? Jar after jar after jar of ground cinnamon? You are not alone. This week, we asked the team: What kitchen things do you just have to have, even when you know you already have enough?
Taylor: I always pick up coffee wherever I travel—a canister of Café du Monde, espresso, blonde roasts, dark roast, Viennese-style coffees. I have 2 to 3 cans of instant coffee in the freezer to cook with, Turkish coffee and Moroccan coffee to drink in the afternoon... You get the picture.
Jackie: I seem to collect sugar. Raw sugar, refined sugar, confectioners sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, and even flavored sugar, which I use when I make homemade marshmallows!
Hillary: I recently cleaned my fridge and found that I have 12 types of nut butters (including 6 different kinds of peanut butter)—who am I? I like nut butter, but honestly have no idea how I acquired so many types. Please send help.
Catherine: JAM. I have so much jam. I just keep buying it or getting it as a gift. I can't stop.
Micki: My boyfriend made me count the number of salt varieties we had in our cabinets last week. I think the count was over 10? Lavender salt, truffle salt, fleur de sel, grey salt, kosher salt, magic unicorn salt, the list goes on... I blame the office giveaway table.
Merrill: This will be no surprise to many of you: crackers, crackers, and more crackers. #allthecrackers (I need something to go with my #backupcheese!)
Jane W.: Welcome to my fridge, The Cheese Museum. Merrill, if you ever find yourself in a #backupcheese windfall, I will gladly accept an in-kind donation.
Merrill: There's no such thing, Jane.
Amanda H.: Spice containers and plastic containers—just in case someone suddenly sends me 157 things I need to store. I have boxes filled with empty "backup" containers in our closet.
Riddley: My name is Riddley and I have a pasta problem. Seriously, I cannot help myself from buying pasta whenever I go to the store. My justification is that 1. I love pasta, and 2. Different sauces need different shapes, so I might as well keep as many different kinds of noodles around as possible.
Lauren L.: Now that I have completed The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, nothing. But really, jars. All. Of. The. Jars. I have a whole cabinet of jars for use in possible future special projects. Big, small, wide, narrow, old, new. And they spark joy, so there.
Olivia: Pretty sure I could fill a bathtub with the amount of Le Puy lentils I amass.
Which kitchen items do you seem to amass? Come clean in the comments.
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Written by: Taylor Rondestvedt
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I'm reminded of one of the Swedish immigrants in Willa Cather's lyrical "O Pioneers!":
"Alexandra often said that if her mother were cast upon a desert island, she would thank God for her deliverance, make a garden, and find something to preserve. Preserving was almost a mania with Mrs. Bergson."
I feel a lot like Mrs. Bergson, most of the time. Two shelves in our garage, and the constant flow of condiments of all kinds through our refrigerator, bear witness to this. ;o)
WECK Jars.. I've hoarded these from Provisions so much that I have clips and gaskets stuffed into any spare space in my kitchen drawers
Cans and cans of various Thai curry pastes.
and yes about 50 bottles of tomatoes, Jams, chutneys and pickles of all types all canned up for theh winter
China/SE Asia: every possible permutation of specialty vinegar, rice wine, oil, canned and frozen ingredients like lotus root, noodles, dried shrimp, chili pastes, fish sauce, you name it.
Mediterranean (Greece/Italy/N.Africa/Spain): again - chili pastes like harissa, various herb and spice mixtures, dried legumes, canned dolmas/beans/olives/tapenades/fish/etc., extensive selection of tomato products, pastas... ugh.
India: premade puri shells/golgappa, jaggery, curry spices (help!), chutneys, sauces, teas, etc.
N. Europe: Lyle's golden syrup, teas, condiments, beans, pickles, cheeses (cheeses!!), waffle/wafer products...
This list is making me sad. I need to stop because I'm not even scratching the surface. Suffice to say, if I see something "interesting" or "necessary" for an authentic dish... I have it in my small closet-sized pantry. :-)
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