AROMATUM

This is a journal about aromatic seeds, plants and flavors that give our food meaning. Spices are like stories: they infuse our lives with tradition, warmth and joy. Making observations from my travels to spice farms, hidden markets, foreign kitchens and my home kitchen, I've created this blog as a space to share my journey with you.

CURIO SPICE CO. is my spice business founded on the principle of sourcing sustainable spices and sharing their stories & vibrant flavors with you.

Please leave your thoughts if you have them, or drop me a note to say hello:

claire (at) curiospice (dot) com

About me:

I live in Arlington, Massachusetts. I grew up in the Boston area, as well as in rural Maine where my family had a big garden and access to the forest. Every summer I'd grow herbs in my own tiny plot, or venture into the woods to forage for edible things. Every winter my dad would come home with a giant bag of expired seed packets from a friend who ran a farm stand near by. He'd  dump them out on our living room floor and I'd spend the next several days organizing them. Not much has changed, only now the seeds are bit more aromatic.

I started Aromatum in 2013 after self-publishing my book Art of the Harvest, an illustrated journey of the Greek saffron harvest (see below for more info). The word aromatum comes from a quotation that an old guy wrote to another old guy in Latin about setting sail to find spices.

"ad loca aromatum," he said. 

To the places where the spices are.

painting of the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus from Art of the Harvest

To view or purchase my book about Saffron entitled "Art of the Harvest", go here.

To read more about old guys who liked sailing ships to the spice lands, go here.