Penzeys In Rockville: Why 355 Is The Spice Road

Penzeys spices.  I lost all my photos to a
cracked phone.  Luckily, I had Kyle's
photo from his guest post about "freekah."

Five hundred years ago, people caravaned across Asia for less spice than Penzeys offers in a strip mall in Rockville.  All you need to do is cut west on Rte 28.

I went to Penzey's with low expectations.  People raved about it, but I think I imagined some snobby joint with snobby prices.  Actually, I went to Penzeys by accident.  We just saw the storefront on Rockville Pike, and I thought, "It's on Rockville Pike?  This must be different than I expected."

It is different than any store that I have ever shopped.

Penzy's fills a room with spices.  Some mixes.  Tons of individual spices.  You can smell and sample everything, so the room billows with scents and flavors that should excite anyone who likes to cook good food.

Frankly, the selection overwhelmed me.  You see powder spices, whole spices, entire dried peppers, and extracts like vanilla, lemon or orange.  I couldn't decide what to buy -- whether to get my everyday stuff like cumin and pepper or get exotics like kala jeera and espazote.  So I bought too much.  Curry powder, rosemary, cardamon, two kinds of cinnamon . . . .