The Unique Way Ina Garten Uses Coffee Grinders

The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, has a lot of amazing tips and tricks for home chefs to elevate their cooking. Among the many thoughtful items on her list of favorites to keep stocked in the kitchen, there are several gadgets and essential ingredients to be found. While not everyone might have as much room in the kitchen as Garten, there are plenty of multi-purpose pieces that you can use for a variety of different tasks. You'll be pleasantly surprised to find that Garten uses her coffee grinder for much more than just coffee. In fact, of the many unexpected ways to use your coffee grinder, pulverizing spices is an excellent method to make the most of this handy kitchen tool just like Garten does. As noted on her website, her preferred machine is a Krups One-Touch Coffee and Spice Grinder (available on Amazon) because it can take on a heavy workload and keep going.

While Garten likely isn't the first person to tout the virtues of making your own spice blends at home for total flavor control, she's certainly popularized a time-saving method of doing so with the handy use of a coffee grinder. The benefits of using a coffee grinder for spices include consistency of the grind, ease of use, and in turn, streamlining what can often be a laborious process. This also means you can blend in bulk to store your spices and keep them fresh for later use.

When using your coffee grinder to crush up spices, there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind. First and foremost is cross-contamination. That is, if you're using your coffee grinder for spices, the residual oils can end up flavoring your coffee in a way you might not have anticipated. Carefully cleaning your coffee grinder between uses is essential to avoid this. You can use popping corn or dry rice in between to clean out your grinder. You should also be mindful of the level to which you've adjusted the coarseness of your grind and reset it between uses.

There are plenty of creative spice blends you can make with your coffee grinder for the most flavorful meals at home, some of which are inspired by Garten's favorite flavors. For example, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves make up the autumnal spices Ina Garten uses to make unforgettable shortbread, which can be made all the simpler when you use your coffee grinder to get a perfectly consistent mix. Knowing that you can easily adjust the levels in your coffee grinder based on how fine or coarse you want your grind will also benefit your homemade spice blends to create the right consistency for your seasonings. Try grinding your own house-blend five spice powder for a delightfully robust addition to many different dishes.