Why Kirkland Spices Might Not Be The Deal You Think They Are

Costco is known for offering wholesale, bulk items that cost less per unit than a standard grocery store. It's perfect for big families or those who go through certain products quickly, and customers rave about many must-buy items at Costco from its Kirkland Signature brand – but you might want to avoid the Kirkland spices. This has less to do with the quality and more to do with the size of the spices; they'll often lose their freshness before you're done with them.

Bigger isn't always better. When it comes to spice jars, you don't want to buy enough dried oregano or garlic powder to last you five years. As spices sit in their jar, they lose flavor over time, meaning a freshly-opened bottle of paprika will taste better than the same bottle would a few years later. Since Kirkland spices come in massive containers that weigh more than a pound, unless you're using an exorbitant amount of a certain spice, you're better off buying smaller, standard-sized spices from a regular grocery store and just replacing them more frequently. Using old spices is a seasoning mistake that will result in a less-flavorful meal.

Besides the size of the spices, customers with strong noses can also recognize the difference when spices are sourced or harvested differently. According to Reddit users, Costco has changed the type of pepper it offers over the years and where it sources it from, and consumers have complained that the newer pepper offerings aren't as good as the older ones.

"Pour one out for the loss of the Kirkland Tellicherry Black Pepper," one user wrote on the r/Costco subreddit, referring to the idea that Costco switched its black pepper from Tellicherry (sourced from India) to a variety of black pepper sourced from Vietnam. Tellicherry is a type of black peppercorn that refers to larger, more mature peppercorns with a more robust flavor; consumers claim Costco used to use these for its black pepper but eventually switched to a less-flavorful peppercorn. "Huge loss, the Tellicherry ones tasted way better. It's a substitution of quantity over quality," another person wrote. Others have claimed that spices like smoked paprika have changed over time, too, and that Kirkland doesn't offer as many spices in those large containers as people want.