After graduating from Grinnell College with a biology degree in 1974, Lucia Cleveland traveled across the U.S., backpacking much of the way. Her meals during that time often consisted of just mac ‘n’ cheese, which she started flavoring with various spices and seasonings. She enjoyed cooking and exploring the wide world of spices, and that experience never left her. When she moved to the Central Coast of California in 1980 to work as an environmental aide, she transformed a spare bedroom in her home into the company’s first office.
Cleveland started by making classic French Bouquets Garnis, a bundle of fresh herbs and spices, wrapped by hand. Soon she added other spice blends, such as Herbes de Provence, Italian Seasoning, and a Cajun Creole seasoning, inspired by food cultures from across America and the world. With The Spice Hunter’s Italian Seasoning, for example, Cleveland added more basil and less oregano, which was common in Italy but less so in the U.S. at that time.
She realized the difference in flavor and aroma from using high-quality spices, compared to what was available in grocery stores in the 1980s, and wanted to share these high-quality products with other home cooks. Cleveland’s love of exploring the unknown aided her as an entrepreneur, allowing her to gradually grow the business from gourmet and natural food shops in California and New York to grocery stores across America.
Her first line included 12 spices, and many of the company’s earlier retailers hosted cooking demos to introduce the spices to consumers. Talking to gourmet shop owners provided Cleveland with valuable feedback, including one exchange in which a store owner suggested that The Spice Hunter offer mulling spices. Cleveland took the suggestion to heart and created a mulling spice blend that is still available through The Spice Hunter today.
Cleveland’s burgeoning business would eventually lead her to quit her full-time job and focus solely on growing The Spice Hunter. She traveled the world in search of spices from ideal growing regions, such as Highland Harvested Saigon Cinnamon from Vietnam, vanilla beans from Madagascar, and saffron from Spain. Her first spice scouting trip was in Greece, where she discovered oregano from the Greek mountains. In talking with local experts, Cleveland put her background in biology to work by understanding how the elevation, sunlight, and rain impacted specific growing regions of the world. Today, The Spice Hunter still sources its oregano from the Mediterranean, a testament to the foundational work that Cleveland laid in those early years to sourcing the highest-quality spices.
Forty years after Cleveland founded the company in her spare bedroom, The Spice Hunter has expanded to 35 states, including Missouri, where its spices are now available in 96 Schnucks stores. The Spice Hunter product portfolio has grown to include organic dips and seasoning mixes, a best-selling turkey brine, and a range of other spice blends and rubs. These unique and flavorful new products reflect the same values that the company was founded to promote back in 1980: to inspire home cooks to try new flavors and explore food cultures far and wide.
Now, after only one trip to your neighborhood Schnucks store, you can find earthy, warm Garam Masala for a traditional Indian chicken curry or get a taste of Istanbul with lamb kebabs seasoned with classic Turkish Cumin. The Spice Hunter offers a wide selection of products to home cooks across the U.S. including, organic, Non-GMO Project Verified and salt-free spices and seasonings. Cleveland’s entrepreneurial drive has allowed those same home cooks to experience authentic flavors from around the world from the comfort of their kitchens.
