This Thing Now: Small-Batch Spice Delivery

Get freshly ground spices delivered to your door

We're pretty obsessed with This Thing Now. Here's how to get it into your life.

This month, it's Peru. Last month? Japan. And if you act soon, you can find yourself with a whole new country come June.

No, this isn't a travel scam: It's RawSpiceBar, a new L.A.-based company that delivers globally inspired, freshly ground custom spice blends to your door once a month. The monthly deliveries are key to freshness: Much like coffee, spices' flavor and aroma rapidly deteriorate after grinding.

Not sure what to do when a packet of advieh khoresh shows up at your door? The chefs behind the spices have your back. Each RawSpiceBar delivery comes with multiple recipe ideas from global chefs for how to use your bounty. (The answer to the aforementioned spice? Exquisitely flavored Persian braised lamb shanks.)

The recipes make enough for eight to 12 people, the perfect size for a dinner party (or yourself, all week long) and range from Peruvian roasted chicken to poached apples with juniper berries. Plus, the preportioned packages mean no more wasted money on big spice jars that will only lose flavor as they sit neglected in the back of your cupboard. Instead, you'll shell out just $6 a month (a steal, considering March included saffron) to spice up your life, international style.

Your mailbox is about to smell a whole lot better.