Rockerbox Spice Company: Garlic and More!

1/29/2018   |   Anne Maxfield

If you’ve been at a local foodie event, you’ve probably come across Raema Rotindo and her array of spices—Rockerbox Spice Company.

Founded almost 6 years ago, Raema started experimenting with dehydrating garlic and running it through a food processor, making her own garlic powder. She quickly realized that her homemade garlic powder was much more intense and flavorful than the usual store-bought variety (which, can we all agree, is pretty awful). That’s because the jar you bought at the store a million years ago only contain about 60% actual garlic powder.

Francesca and Marisa get Spicy with Rockerbox

2/1/2018   |   Francesca Pardo and Marisa Bulzone

Buying and cooking with spices often frustrates us here at 150ish. Supermarket brands don’t have a lot of flavor—and it’s often difficult to find a small-sized jar that can be used up quickly. The sage advice of many food columnists—“throw away anything that’s more than 6 months old”—just seems like tossing money in the trash. So we find ourselves chopping and mincing and grinding fresh ingredients, hardly time saving when trying to cook on a busy weeknight. Raema Rotindo feels our pain. She turned her own frustration into Rockerbox Spice Co., a Hudson Valley–based purveyor of pure garlic and onion powders and artisanal spice blends. Affordably packaged in small jars, Rockerbox has really taken our cooking up more than a notch when it comes to flavor.

What’s in your spice cabinet? Rockerbox makes pure, pulverized spices from local ingredients

Sabrina Sucato

August, 2017

Rockerbox Spice Co. produces pure, pulverized spices from quality ingredients, without the addition of chemicals, preservatives, or salt. But as a self-proclaimed allium aficionado, the upstate New York producer really won my heart through garlic. Before Rockerbox, the mash-ups happening inside of my spice bottles never crossed my mind. Then I tried Garlic Dust, the golden child of the Rockerbox line and the product that started it all for founder Raema Rotindo. Thanks to a love affair with garlic and a dehydrator, Garlic Dust was born, and, soon after, so was Rockerbox.

Stop Being a Snob and Use Onion Powder

7/2017   |   Leah Koenig

“One onion turns into a generous pinch of good powder,” says Raema Rotindo, founder of Rockerbox Spice Co., a Hudson Valley–based company that specializes in small-batch garlic and onion powders.

As Rotindo puts it, buying onion powder deserves the same consideration as olive oil, wine, or any other ingredient where quality is key. “When you start with a good powder, the difference is revelatory.” And for those of us who have unfairly snubbed onion powder, the time is now.

Panning for Garlic Gold

Sabrina Sucato
May, 2017

"Rotindo, 30, founded Rockerbox Spice Co. in July 2012 out of her small New York City kitchen. While her assortment of premium spices is now successfully housed inside select Hudson Valley storefronts like Pawling's The Blue Olive, the journey to market was far from cut and dried."

20 gifts for food lovers

12/2014   |   Maxwell Tielman

"I’ve always been a bit confused by the term “foodie.” Not because I don’t know what it means or I don’t believe that such people exist, but because I feel like the love of good food is universal. Unless you’re a robot, chances are you eat and make food—and you probably want it to taste great! This is why, whether you’re buying for a five-star chef or a first-time cook, good food and great tools always make great gifts. From beautiful kitchen essentials to artisanal treats from some of our favorite grocers and restaurants, these 20 gifts are sure to please the tastes (and the stomachs) of whoever they meet!

Food Lover's Guide to the Hudson Valley
Shiela Buff
(C) 2014 Morris Book Publishing, LLC

"All [Rockerbox] products are additive and preservative free.  They're also free of the bitterness and gritty texture of commercial garlic powders."