The Yellow Curry Spice Kit includes hot Indian, old school, and Vadouvan curries.
Photo by Lindsay Jean Fastiggi
With a brick-and-mortar location in Putnam County, the Hudson Valley spice company offers the freshest wares around.
Looking to up your pandemic cooking? A stop may be in order at Cold Spring’s aptly named Spice Revolution, where hundreds of spices, coffees, and teas are organic, non-irradiated, certified fair trade, small-batch, hand-harvested, and/or unencumbered by pesticides and additives, offering a freshness and pure flavor markedly different from store-bought brands.
“The difference is drastic,” says owner LJ Fastiggi, a former sous and pastry chef. She started Spice Revolution 10 years ago because she had trouble finding good quality spices. A Dobbs Ferry storefront was short-lived, but Fastiggi maintained an online presence and a booth at the Pleasantville Farmers’ Market before opening a Cold Spring brick-and-mortar in June 2020. “We’re finally getting it just right,” she says, citing better understanding of the concept and greater customer interest in where food comes from.
Fastiggi sources her wares locally (sage from North Adams, MA), domestically (garlic from Gilroy, CA, the garlic capital of the U.S.), and internationally (Aleppo pepper from Syria). Some spices, like Spanish paprika, come with government certifications as to their provenance. Many, like the shop’s best-selling Saigon cinnamon, are ground and shipped within 48 to 72 hours. The majority of the store’s stock is less than 30 days old.
Spice Revolution also offers popular bakery items, like deep dish Nutella cookies and tarts, made with local ingredients, and Fastiggi leads Zoom classes to teach customers easy ways to apply spices. Freshness makes all the difference. She says, “People are like, ‘Oh, my God, why is this so good?’”
161 Main St, Cold Spring; 914.279.0077
