It's Thyme to Spice Things Up

INTOXICATING AROMAS from every corner of the globe fill the Savory Spice Shop. Open since 2013, the store just off the Santa Fe Plaza stocks a bewitching blend of more than 400 spices, seasonings, and herbs, with bottles and bags stacked on shelves along every wall. “We do all of our own importing, grinding, blending, and packaging,” says owner Kate Wheeler, who started at the original Savory Spice shop, in Denver. A paradise for anyone who cooks, bakes, grills, or smokes, the store offers rare finds such as crushed Urfa chiles: an Old World varietal from Turkey with smoky, earthy notes. New Mexican Bizcochito Spice—a mix of Madagascar vanilla beans, Ceylon cinnamon, anise, and mace—is a bestseller, not just for baking the New Mexico state cookie but for stirring into coffee and cake mixes and sprinkling on toast and oatmeal. “I want to show off world flavors,” Wheeler says. Although the shop occupies just 2,100 square feet, a visitor can travel thousands of miles on an epicurean odyssey. “We like to teach people about the spices and help them figure out ways to use them,” says Wheeler. “You get to smell and taste a spice to see what it is before you actually buy it.”

Read more: In Las Cruces, Riptide Spice House marries tropical flavors with desert heat.