[URL] Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages

Web wandering brought me to Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages.

I'd had the brilliant idea two days ago of creating a Web site called wherecanifind.com/ where, f'rex, if I wanted to know where I could find Long Life Tea in San Francisco, I would go to wherecanifind.com/sanfrancisco and type in my request.

Handy helpful w2.0 folks would swarm the site, providing searchers with solutions.

Alas. I went to godaddy.com and every single wherecanifind.* has been snapped up, except .mobi and ...

Well, another brill idea up in smoke.

But I still wanted to know where I could find Long Life Tea in San Francisco, so I searched and came across the San Francisco Herb Company down on 14th St. which had not only a HUGE inventory but also a small retail operation. (A later post.)

Rambling through the SFHCo site, I came across a reference to Nigella sativa, which I used to have growing in our old front yard. SFHCo was selling it as a cooking spice. Who knew you could use the seeds for cooking? (I always saved them to scatter the next spring ...)

But was the Nigella sativa really the one I'd been growing in my front yard?

Check Google images!

No. Turns out I'd been growing Nigella damascena AKA Love in a Mist.

Ah, well. Still curious, though, a further search took me to Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages where he gave me the lowdown on N.s. in great and gory detail.

What a site. Depth and breadth about spices.

solid information on (currently) 117 different spice plants. Emphasis is on their usage in ethnic cuisines, particularly in Asia; furthermore, I discuss their history, chemical constituents, and the etymology of their names. Last but not least, there are numerous photos featuring the live plants or the dried spices.