Spice question

[Christabel]

Does the warning about grocery store spices apply to pure spice/herbs or just blends? Because my tarragon, mustard (powdered seed, not spreadable condiment), etc. have no ingredients listed. Which would make one hope the ingredients are just tarragon, mustard, etc., but one would also just hope salmon contained only salmon and not food coloring.

[Summeradele]

If there is no ingredient label on a spice I would say it's safe to say that is the only ingredient. but I agree his label thing gets tricky lol

[Summeradele]

Just checked and none of my trader joes spices have ingredient lists as long as they are not blends.

[praxisproject]

If it's a kind of legal label (the kind with a nutritional panel etc) you're pretty safe. Most ones with a single spice are pretty good but I have found a few single-spices with weird additives. Some I think are added for texture but that doesn't stop them being non-compliant

 

The ones that seem to have marketing rather than legally required labelling may be more questionable (Natural! Delicious! Vague! No brand! No details! Unspecified stuff!).

 

As an example, I like curry mixes of spices and there's a lot of these sold near me in markets, hand mixed by very well meaning people, but often not very business (or legal) savvy. I ask "Are these just spice?" and I'm told yes. When I say I can't eat gluten and that it makes me sick, sometimes there's a sudden "Oh. Not that one" and they swap my packet for something else. So if you're concerned about the source, just save those ones for after your Whole30 and Reintroductions.

 

So I'm pretty wary of handmade things in markets and more cautious of things from countries with more flexible labelling laws than mine.