This Is The Best Way To Organize Spices, According To Ted Allen

Thanks to the spice trade of ancient civilizations, the world is able to enjoy a myriad of distinct and flavorful ingredients that can liven up anything we are eating. According to Silk Road Spices, well over 4,000 years ago, spices traveled along the infamous Silk Road by camel caravans, making journeys from Asia to the Mediterranean, North Africa, and Europe quite the task. Something that would probably shock ancient predecessors is how easily folks can now walk into a supermarket and find an entire section dedicated to spices and dried herbs like black pepper, cumin, basil, parsley, and salt (and that spices now travel by more motorized means as well). 

For burgeoning home cooks, the spice section at the supermarket can be a haven of unexplored flavors beckoning them to slip another little container of za'atar into their cart. But, with more and more people cooking at home, growing spice racks can get a bit out of hand. Enter Chopped host and TV personality Ted Allen with his great (and simple) save for spice racks everywhere.

In a tweet shared through his personal Twitter page, Ted Allen reveals that the best and easiest way to organize your spice rack (or drawer, in his case) is by putting everything in alphabetical order. In his post, the former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy co-host shared a picture of his spice drawer noting that it "looks like chaos," but how in reality it wasn't. All of his spices were neatly organized alphabetically. 

Allen also pointed out that "all chiles/peppers, of which there are many, are filed under 'p'." The Order Expert echoes Allen's sentiments when it comes to organizing spice racks and drawers in this manner. It's a practical way of creating more order in the kitchen, and more order means less overall kitchen chaos. And it seems that once you've organized your spice rack in this manner, you won't be going back to any other way of organization. Allen notes in another tweet that he once caught his housekeeper undoing all his work and setting them by height "and almost had a heart attack."