The materials and equipment we use to make Inspice products

At Inspice, in order to offer products that are safe and sound, we are particular about what we choose - the tools we grind spices with, the containers we store them in, the materials we pack them in - and we work on that every day. In this story we are making those details public and sharing them with you.

Food-grade vacuum bags

These come into direct contact with the spices and ingredients, so we insisted on something safe: a Japanese manufacturer, and a bag made and labelled for food use. Inspice uses Kurilon Chemical's Kyobijin bags.

Outer packaging

For the outer packaging we use an aluminium foil material.

Of all packaging materials, aluminium foil has the highest barrier properties: it lets through neither air nor light. Plastic film and kraft paper allow gases to pass through over time and let light in as well, whereas aluminium foil is the ideal material for a near-perfect seal. Damp and light are the great enemies of storing spices. We chose it so that we can deliver freshly ground products to you, and so the bag also works well for keeping them at home.

The tools we grind with

The Vitamix blender

Choosing a blender or mill has been one long run of trial and error.
A blender needs the power to break down hard whole spices, the control to grind to the particle size we are aiming for, and the safety required for handling food. In current production we generally pair a Vitamix blender with the dry container, which is made from Tritan, a newer resin chosen with endocrine disruptors in mind. It is made for grinding grains such as nuts, wheat, soybeans, rice and millet, and it works finer and in less time than the wet container.

For some spices we also use a stone mill made by Kandori (神取優弘), a stonemason. There are aromas that only a stone mill can draw out. It goes deep.