Penzeys Spices

I love Penzeys. The staff is very helpful. I love the cinnamon especially the Vietnamese cinnamon. The Penzys cinnamon is a blend of 3 types of cinnamon that is a good all purpose choice. The dried shallots are handy and when hydrated taste like fresh. The high fat natural coco is great. There is no arguing the quality of their products. Make sure yo sign up for their newsletter, There are coupons every so often. Usually for new products — its a great way to try something new.

I’ve been a Penzey’s customer for years and there is no arguing the quality of their products. Recently the brand simultaneously overhauled their packaging sizes and imposed a price increase. In many cases this resulted in a per ounce price increase of over 50%!
I refuse to get shafted by such mercenary pricing tactics and you should too! The Spice House has thus far retained their much fairer pricing scheme. (And, oddly enough, The Spice House is also owned by members of the Penzey family.)
Since Detroit has such a global influence I wonder if quality spices could be found much cheaper elsewhere in the Metro area?

Love this place. I call it the adult candy store. They have everything you could ever wish for and even things you have yet to wish for. The staff is very helpful. Yeah, the prices are a bit higher than other places but their quality is also better than most. We are lucky to have one in the area. Make sure yo sign up for their newsletter, not only
Is it packed with suggestions it usually has a coupon on the front for a free something. If you have never been, take a chance and enjoy smelling everything. I have found it is a little cheaper to buy in the bag rather than the jar, i transfer them to my own containers when I get home, or sometimes keep them in the bag. The spices usually have suggestive advice in their containers, both bags and the jar. Spice up your life and your dishes!

I really love this place. Trying new spices. Really great quality products! I always keep an eye on the newsletters and try to catch a good sale so I can try new spices! Employees are always nice and helpful.

Buy all the spices! They have everything you would need. Plus their own blends. Try the mint hot chocolate mix. So yummy! The employees know their stuff and can help you pick the right variety of the spice for your needs. They have several different kinds of cinnamon. In addition, there is usually a choice of different types or origins of the other spices. Each one has a smell container so you can get a sniff before you buy. If it is your first time in, be prepared to spend some time. It’s like Ikea for spices.

I haven’t been recently, and forgot how much I love Penzey’s. I needed Vietnamese Cinnamon for my nut roasting and they did not disappoint. While I was there I of course bought many other spices for future dishes. So much to choose from, with great prices, great gift sets and great ideas for delicious recipes. The staff is always really helpful and nice as well.

Places like this are why I love Unilocal.
After living in (or not far from) the Metro Detroit area for 35 odd years, I’d never heard of this place until I noticed check-​ins from multiple Unilocal associates. No clue how many of those 35 it’s been around, however the point remains that I may have never heard of it if not for Unilocal.Nice.
I checked it out recently for the first time and it is a freaking spice utopia!!! Nearly any spice you can imagine, sold in varying quantities, with description/​ingredient listings for each as well as RECIPES!
This place is über-​inspiring. Wandering around in there and sniffing the contents of jars I found myself wanting to cook cook cook cook cook. So far have bought 5 different spices from Penzeys and I don’t plan on buying spices from the supermarket ever again. Not only do the the selection and quality rival anything I’ve found at the market… but the prices are very competitive as well.
Dearest Penzeys, now that I’ve found you I’m afraid I can’t quit you.

It’s like being a kid in a candy shop for home cooks. Love the double strength vanilla and everything else. Subscribe to their catalog. It is more of a magazine with recipes and readers life stories attached to them, plus it comes with a coupon.

The store smelled great. Everything looked fresh and wonderful. There was a huge selection. But the prices. I was in town visiting family. We came in to look around and I grabbed some sumac since that can be hard to find and is a great flavor for Middle Eastern food (especially fattoush salad).
But I’m used to getting spices from the bulk section at a couple of the stores where I live. If you can find a place with a good turnover rate, it may be cheaper at other stores. But this is a specialty store that will have everything you need for the spice cabinet.

Great place for browsing and learning about spices. Everything looked and smelled fresh and you can buy spices in packages rather than jars to save some money. The prices were more than I expected. I guess if you’re comparing it to the little jars in the grocery store this is an improvement, but we’re used to getting our spices from the bulk section of the grocery store where they are much cheaper.

This place is the Disneyland of spices. They have spices you didn’t even know you needed and maybe didn’t know existed. Multiple varieties of cinnamon alone. I counted 8 varieties of curry blends. Rubs and spice blends for all sorts of meats. Making sausage? They’ve got your spices, already blended and in a jar. Besides spices, they’ve got all kinds of dried herbs.
I could go on, but you get the idea. If you enjoy cooking, you’ve got to check this place out!

If you want good spices, this is the place to go to. They have a really awesome variety of spices and good quality. You can smell samples of most of their spices so you at least have some idea what you’re getting. Great service, you get what you pay for. Now if they would cook steak with some of their seasoning so you would know exactly what it will taste like, they would be golden :-)

WOW. What an awesome store. The organization makes it easy to browse depending on what you’re purpose is. They have the store divided into different spice sections — baking, chili, salad, etc. The employees are very helpful and friendly as well.

If you need herbs, spices, salts or seasonings, then this is your place. Friendly staff and great selection. Also nice pepper mills. My favorite things here are India Extra Bold Black Peppercorns, Galena Street Rub, and Vanilla Beans. I wish they had compressed pretzel/​bagel salt.

The other Unilocalers reviews say it all. So I thought I’d share (some) my favorites. Can’t list them all because there are way too many!
If/​when you go, pick up some:
Granulated Garlic (can’t live without it)
Vanilla Bean (no homemade ice cream is complete without this)
Indian Black Tellicherry Pepper (I buy three grinds: fine, shaker grind, course)
Ground Chipolte Pepper (must for mexican and chili)
Half Sharp Hungarian Paprika (use in spicy shrimp recipe)
Smoked Paprika (awesome as a substitute to regular paprika)
Italian Herb Mix (I could NOT live without this. It goes in everything!)
I don’t buy their pre-​made mixes, but I’m sure they are good. I’ve tried a few, but I prefer to make my own. I make a taco seasoning and a secret recipe for steak rub in large batches and give them away as gifts. People go nuts over it.
I spend about $ 100 here twice a year. A shopping trip my husband doesn’t mind and is always excited about because it guarantees him awesome homemade food.

I came here looking for ground celery seed and found so much more!
They make their own spice blends, some of which are salt-​free. «Sunny Paris» is a spice blend that has chives and shallots (among othere things), that is fabulous.
Great gifts for newlyweds and those who love to cook!

Where would I be without the aromatic herbs and zingy spices of Penzey’s other than a grey, bland wasteland of unimpressive food and sad recipes crying out in the wilderness for succor? The Michigan climate doesn’t support fresh herbs and spices year round, as dismal attempts to turn saffron fields in Flint into a billion dollar industry attest. Penzey’s steps in to offer chefs, foodies, and starving people like myself the opportunity to make tasty meals without a culinary degree. I look forward to entering into the vast, wooden pantry of the shop almost as much as I do seeing movies at the Redford Theatre.
The cozy atmosphere is welcoming rather than intimidating, rather like having your mom take you through the steps of making a recipe. Wooden crates tipped over and stacked up like shelves lend a bit of a rustic ambiance I associate with home cooking, Wisconsin (or the Okanagan), and Grandma about to bring something out from the oven. Walking in here is really like coming home, kind of. The open floor plan is divided into sensible sections like «Peppers,» and «Seasonings,» «Salad Dressings» (you just add oil, water, vinegar or your secret stash of moonshine) and «Baking.» Wandering around envelopes customers in a fragrant cloud wafting up from each section, allowing an olfactory experience equal to sight and touch. Jars are placed with each spice or herb or mix so you can smell (and presumably taste if you really wanted to).
Penzey’s excels in providing healthy options and variety. No less than four types of cinnamon and ten peppers are available, not to mention the rainbow of salts (pink you might know, but how about French grey?). Many of their combinations are specifically salt free as we tend to get far too much of that seasoning in our diet. Mural of Flavour is one popular choice, and they list out the salt-​free versions in their outstanding catalog. More on that later. Another strong suit of the store is its blended spice section. Combinations are thrown together in more ways than you can shake a stick at, ranging from favourites like bonne herbs and herbs de Provence to fire-​cracker Chili 3000 and grilling combos. No matter whether you bake or fry, turn to a grill or a fire pit laced in pine cones, there’s something here to suit your tastes.
Even better, the labels all have suggestions on pairings and uses. I am a sucker for the Krakow Nights, which I had no idea of how to pair until I started shaking it on just about everything. The Pasta Sprinkle, Parisian Herbs, and Tuscan Sunset are my standbys for almost everything I make. I’d prefer to have their cocoa, cinnamon sugar or Raspberry Enlightenment in everything, but a girl has to watch her waistline.
Really, this store has made me a better cook. Everything is fresh and imaginative. You can jar your own herbs or buy loose bags instead of getting a jar when you are out, an economical and environmentally conscious alternative. Add to that lots of recipe cards put around the store, a website full of recipes and details, and the monthly catalog that always comes with a free coupon for a full-​size jar or – even better — a sampler kit if you get it delivered, and I am utterly smitten.

I’ve passed Penzey Spices many times and never thought much of it. For some reason, I imagined it to be similar to a bulk food store. Maybe that was due to my lack of cooking experience and knowledge of spices. It wasn’t until I came across the reviews here on Unilocal that I became curious. How could a spice store be so amazing?
Well, Penzey Spices IS amazing! I never thought I’d get excited to go to a spice store but I do. I could spend hours there. I love smelling the jars. As already stated, there are suggestions and recipes for each spice. My favorite blend is Mural of Flavors. It tastes great on meats, fish, eggs and veggies. It’s also salt-​free! The chip & dip mix is also delicious and addicting.
The staff is very friendly and helpful. They will be happy to give suggestions and answer any questions. I also love the catalog. It lists all of the spices with details, uses and recipes. It’s a great resource for someone like me who is learning about spices and trying to cook healthier meals.
I can’t wait to get back into baking and start using some of their baking spices. That is quickly becoming one of my favorite sections of the store!

Much like Kate H., I look forward to a trip to Penzey’s (almost as much as Holiday Market). I get their catalog which seems to arrive every month or two and almost always has a coupon for something free (a new spice blend perhaps) that’ll bring you into the store. Mind you, I always go to Penzey’s with some staples in mind as their spices are the best I’ve found, so free gift or not, eventually I’ll head their to restock the rack. That said, I’d recommend signing up for their mailing list when you stop in.
Their extracts are fantastic (double vanilla, single vanilla, orange, lemon, etc.) and the spices around the store are all available and ready for you sniff out what you really like. The Chili 9000 is very good while not a typical chili powder (I like it on garlic bread) and their selection of whole dried chilis is vast… so much so that I make my own chili powder from scratch now rather than buying it. As mentioned, their bulk spice is super cheap for the amount you get (well under your local grocer’s prices for the volume) and they also carry empty jars for individualizing spices as gifts or for your own cabinets. I’m a big fan of their Cinnamon’s (they have several kinds), their sea salts and the staples (dill weed, high fat cocoa, cayenne, etc.).
The staff is always helpful and friendly and they aren’t ever hovering which is nice. The store is clean and meticulously organized while setup for you to browse so take your time finding new aromas to enjoy.

I love Penzeys. I admit, I buy most of my spices from the grocery store, but honestly, their prices aren’t that much more. They all come in various-​sized reusable glass jars.
A unique spice they carry that I love on tilapia or sprinkled over rice is their Mural of Flavor. It has dried shallots, onion, garlic, chives and lemon and orange peel. A small jar is about $ 3, but last a long time. The bottle of almond extract I bought at the Penzeys back home was cheaper than Whole Foods.
High quality spices are what you’ll get. It’s fun too, to peruse the store. The place is spacious and you can sniff almost all they have to offer from the jars on display. This place is a cook’s heaven, and this amateur baker approves.