If were to go out and purchase a magnificent cookbook of Middle Eastern cuisine -- say Yotam Ottolengthi's Plenty -- you might find its pages laced with shockingly beautiful photographs: fire-roasted eggplant topped with za'atar and pomegranate; tamarind-stewed chickpeas with caraway; or tomato-coriander semolina soup. Armed with inspiration that only comes after seeing perfectly-styled food photographs, you head on over to your local grocery store to rummage for supplies.

Then, a problem arises. Unless you're planning on adding three ounces of paprika to tonight's cous cous, you're going to end up with a surplus of spices in your pantry. And most ground spices only stay fresh for about six months. (So you better start making a whole lot of cous cous.)

Enter Spice Galore, a specialty shop in South Miami that sells sugars, salts, teas, spices, herbs, chiles, honey, chocolates, and, even, ingredients for molecular gastronomy. The store, which opened in early November, is owned by partners Victoria Nodarse and Aimee Ortega. Both have a culinary background, and a serious passion for all things spicy.