Subhadrika Sen
This monsoon, keep a keen eye on your spices.
Keep unopened packets in a safe and cool corner of your kitchen. Avoid them from being anywhere near the damp.
If opened, keep them in a dry place inside air tight containers.
Spices tend to react with the humidity in the air and lose its aroma.
However, if you notice that only aroma is lost and the spice itself is mould free, is not smelling foul or doesn’t form a textured crumble, then it can still be used.
What the spices lose is the aroma and not the nutritional value.
You can still dry roast them to bring out the leftover flavours. But aroma, once lost, will not come back.