2 Exercise: Identifying Spices by Smell Alone

Fill small wide-mouth dark bottles with a layer of ground spices, some with one spice per bottle, others with a blend of spices. Top with a cotton ball, to hide the spice from view, and label each bottle on the bottom with its contents. Cover each bottle and shake gently, to stir up volatile molecules. Uncap and sniff, and see if you can identify the spice from smell alone. Repeat until you are able to identify all spices and all spice combinations.