Ceylon or cassia: which cinnamon is in your jar?
Two barks, two flavours, and how to tell them apart at the counter (sample).
Spices ground the week you buy them
Mace & Millet (sample) is an organic pantry and spice shop on Granary Row. Whole spices by the scoop, house blends ground on Tuesdays and Fridays, and grains, pulses, oils and nuts from refill bins.
Open today 9:00–18:30 (sample)
22 Granary Row, Springfield
House garam masala
Batch 41, toasted and ground Tuesday 14 October (sample)
- Coriander seed7 parts35 g
- Cumin seed5 parts25 g
- Black pepper3 parts15 g
- Green cardamom2 parts10 g
- Cinnamon bark1 part5 g
- Clove1 part5 g
- Nutmeg1 part5 g
$7.50 for a 50 g jar
Parts by weight in a 100 g jar. Example prices.
What is on the shelves
Around 140 spices and 90 pantry staples, most of them certified organic. Everything is sold by weight, so buy a spoonful to try or a kilo for the restaurant.
Whole spices
Seeds, pods and bark that keep their flavour for a year.
From $1.80 per 50 g
Grains and pulses
Lentils, beans, rice, oats and ancient grains from the bins.
From $1.40 per 500 g
Dried fruit and nuts
Unsulphured apricots, dates, figs, almonds and walnuts.
From $3.20 per 250 g
House blends
Garam masala, ras el hanout, berbere, za’atar and more
12 blends
Chillies
Mild ancho to hot bird’s eye, whole, flaked and ground
18 kinds
Oils and vinegars
Olive, cold-pressed rapeseed and sesame oil; cider and wine vinegar
From the tap
Teas and infusions
Loose black and green teas, rooibos and herbal infusions
24 kinds
Ranges and Example prices.
Featured this week
New harvests and things the counter keeps recommending. Ask us to put them aside and collect them the same day.
Prices for the first size. Organic means certified organic (sample). Example prices.
House blends, by the card
Each blend follows a card behind the counter: the spices in parts by weight. We toast and grind a small batch twice a week, so no jar on the shelf is older than four days.
House garam masala
Warm and round, not hot. Stir a spoonful into a dal or a curry at the end of cooking.
- Coriander seed7 parts35 g
- Cumin seed5 parts25 g
- Black pepper3 parts15 g
- Green cardamom2 parts10 g
- Cinnamon bark1 part5 g
- Clove1 part5 g
- Nutmeg1 part5 g
$7.50 for a 50 g jar
Ras el hanout
Sweet, floral and earthy. For tagines, roast carrots and couscous.
- Cumin seed4 parts20 g
- Coriander seed4 parts20 g
- Dried ginger3 parts15 g
- Turmeric3 parts15 g
- Cinnamon bark2 parts10 g
- Sweet paprika2 parts10 g
- Allspice1 part5 g
- Green cardamom1 part5 g
$8.00 for a 50 g jar
Berbere
Deep red and properly hot. For lentil stews, grilled chicken and eggs.
- Dried red chilli8 parts40 g
- Sweet paprika4 parts20 g
- Fenugreek seed2 parts10 g
- Dried ginger2 parts10 g
- Coriander seed2 parts10 g
- Green cardamom1 part5 g
- Allspice1 part5 g
$7.50 for a 50 g jar
Bands show grams in a 100 g jar. Example prices.
Bring your own jar
Every spice, grain and oil in the shop can go into your own container. Clean jars, tins, bags and bottles are all fine; we lend jars if you forget.
1
Weigh your jar empty
Put it on the counter scale. We write the weight on the lid with a wax pencil.
2
Fill it from the bins
Scoops for spices, gravity bins for grains and pulses, taps for oil and vinegar.
3
Pay by weight
We weigh it again and take the jar off. You pay for the food, not the packaging.
Where it comes from
We buy from growers’ co-operatives and small importers who can tell us the farm and the harvest. The newest arrivals:
Turmeric
Lakadong growers’ co-operative
Meghalaya, India
Harvest March
Cinnamon
A family estate near Galle
Southern Sri Lanka
Peeled June
Cumin
Tarsus farmers’ union
Mersin, Turkey
Harvest July
Red lentils
Prairie organic growers
Saskatchewan, Canada
Harvest August
Growers and harvests (sample).
Blend your own on a Saturday
Two hours at the big table with twenty spices, a pestle and a scale. You toast, grind and weigh your own blend, write its card and take home three jars.
Saturday workshop, 10:00–12:00
$45
Private group, up to 8 people
$300
Example prices. Spices, jars and tea included.
Kitchen notes
How to start shopping with your own jars
Five jars, one bag and a wax pencil are all you need for the first trip (sample).
This week’s grinding list
Garam masala batch 41, ras el hanout and a new harvest of Lakadong turmeric (sample).
Find us on Granary Row
22 Granary Row, Springfield (sample)
Two doors from the covered market
Monday to Friday
9:00–18:30
Saturday
Blending workshop 10:00–12:00
9:00–17:00
Sunday
10:00–14:00
Grinding days
House blends are ground fresh in the morning
Tue and Fri
Opening times (sample).
