That's OK. It does kind of.........I'm trying to figure out my best option to preserve some at this great price. Unfortunately, I don't have a basement. Or anywhere else that stays dark and cool. YET!! I want a root cellar!!!! Deanna

Jessy - I have no idea who Pam might be, but Patty Erd is Bill Sr's oldest child. In other words, she and Jr. are family, but very much competitors in business. Let me clarify -- I think Penzey's is head and shoulders above McCormick or the other commercial brands what the grocery carries. I'm not saying Penzye's is not good. I'm saying that IMO they have slipped from what they were. That said, I think The Spice House has maintained higher overall quality, but if I had a Penzey's within a few minutes of the house, I'd probably buy at least some things there. Since I have neither nearby, I prefer to order from The Spice House. Why I switched: I started noticing about 4-5 years ago that the blend ingredients have shifted so that there are more of the "cheaper" ingredients (including salt and sugar) and a lower percentage of the more expensive ingredients. Also the cinnamons and ground chiles don't seem as fresh to me as they used to be. DH noticed the slide, too, and it became more obvious when MIL, not knowing we'd switched, sent us Penzy spices as a gift that included duplicates of some spices I'd just purchased from TSH. Patty is still very hands-on, very dedicated to doing things the way she learned in the original store. Twice when I ordered large quantities, I called in the order and spoke with her directly. Both times she mentioned that she would be grinding or blending something on my order that day and so would package and ship the next morning rather than that afternoon. Coincidence? Maybe. But we got into a conversation about small batch coffee roasting once and she indicated that she firmly believed in small batch grinding and blending being just as important to spices as small batch roasting was to coffee. (So, obvisouly, I had a bias born then. LOL!) "Their" -- I took it to read "(Tom and Patty Erd"s) business was founded by...." In other words, little brother wasn't the first in the spice game.

Oh good, I'm so glad this sounds like something you might want to try. Susan, you're welcome! I was having so much trouble with the hot oil, and frying them was making them much too greasy for me. Carol, I liked the nail on a board trick too. I have a corn stripper like the one Chris demonstrated, and saw it recently (somewhere in my kitchen). I fear it went down to the basement while I was trying to free up a little space. Right before corn season too. What was I thinking? Nancy, that a good tip. I've used a bundt pan in the past, and went looking for that too. Do you think I could find it? Nooooo. I finally had to cut it off the cob the old fashioned way, and make a mess while I did. Ah well. We had reheated corn fritters for breakfast, and they really are good. Bake, not fry! The best part is you don't have to babysit them, and you can make the whole batch at once while you're doing something else. Can you imagine trying to fry the whole batch of these while hungry people wait?

Made these quite a few times and exactly what you get on Carnival. ******I serve mine in the ramekins like Carnival does Easy Chocolate Lava Cakes Dark chocolate may be substituted for semisweet in this recipe. These can be made at least a day ahead least one day ahead. Pour the mixture Pour the mixture into ramekins, cover and refrigerate. Be sure to bring to room temperature 30 minutes before baking. I also had a couple of baked and prepared ones left over, and I left them in the ramekins and reheated them in the microwave for 15 seconds, and they worked great! Prep: 15 minutes Cook: 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings Ingredients 4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate or 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels (I used Ghirardelli for both) 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup confectioners sugar 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour Preparation 1. Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly grease 4 (8-ounce) ramekins (custard cups or souffle dishes). Place on a baking sheet. 2. Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on High 30 seconds or until butter is melted. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in vanilla and confectioners sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and yolk. Stir in flour and pour batter evenly into prepared custard cups. 2. Bake 13 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 10 minutes. Carefully loosen edges with a knife. Invert cakes onto serving plates and sift powdered sugar over the top. Serve immediately.