Small touches of specialty ingredients can make your cooking soar! In many of my recipes, I call for modest amounts of certain special ingredients—often as optional augmentations to the recipes. Note that these are “special” and not “essential,” yet I strongly recommend that you keep this list of things on hand. We all need “special” on a regular basis to keep life (or at least moments of it) joyful.

Here’s some useful information about the specialty items I think you will appreciate the most so that you can stock up to the degree that your wallet allows.

Pure Maple Syrup

It’s delicate, not overpowering, and it adds a subtle layer of flavor as well as sweetness. Use it to sweeten Greek yogurt (for a great little breakfast) or to make a glaze for fish, tofu, or roasted vegetables.

Vinegars

Keep several types in your cupboard—they keep indefinitely. I recommend:

• cider vinegar
• a decent, moderately priced balsamic vinegar
• red wine vinegar
• seasoned rice vinegar (make sure the label says “seasoned”)

From there, you can experiment with fancier varieties, such as sherry, raspberry, and so on.

High-Quality Olive Oil

There are many, many imported and domestic olive oils on the market these days, ranging from “pure” to “extra-virgin.” I recommend using a not-too-expensive extra-virgin for everyday cooking and salad dressings, and keeping an extra-extra nice one around for special-occasion finishing and drizzling.

A small drizzle can have a large and good effect, so you can use this economically. Store olive oil in a cool, dark place—or in the refrigerator for more lengthy storage.

Toasted Sesame Oil

Buy the dark, Chinese kind, sold in the Asian foods aisle of supermarkets. Once opened, store sesame oil in the refrigerator.

Roasted Nut and Seed Oils

These profoundly flavorful “seasoning oils” (which can include walnut, almond, hazelnut, pistachio, and pumpkin seed oils) are not for cooking, but rather for drizzling onto your cooked food as a “flavor finish” or to supplement the olive oil in salad dressings. You can also pour one of these flavorful oils into a small bowl for dunking fresh bread—this makes for an exquisite appetizer, soup accompaniment, or quick snack. Once opened, keep these oils in the refrigerator.

Pomegranate Molasses

This sweet and tangy syrup made from reduced pomegranate juice is available at Middle Eastern food shops and in the imported foods section of many grocery stores. It keeps forever in your cupboard, and a little bit goes a long way, adding flavor and bright color to Middle Eastern dishes and all kinds of other foods, from salads and grilled chicken to yogurt and cheese.

Dried Fruit

Keep a supply of dried apricots, prunes, figs, dates, cherries, cranberries and blueberries (as well as other, more exotic dried fruit, such as pears, papayas, and chili-dusted mango) on hand to liven up salads, grains, entrées, and desserts.

Lightly Toasted Chopped Nuts

Keep a variety of these in the freezer (which is the best place to store them because freezing prevents them from going rancid) and use as toppings for practically everything! The best way to roast nuts is in a toaster oven, spread out on the tray at 275°F for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant. Sprinkle them on cooked grains (such as Kashi™ 7 Whole Grain Pilaf) either for breakfast or for a terrific side dish at dinnertime.

“Designer” Salts

Fancy salts harvested from the sea and mined from the land are becoming more popular all the time. As an alternative to ordinary table salt, kosher salt has a pure, clean flavor and somewhat coarse grains, and it’s a great, multipurpose choice that goes anywhere, including the rim of a margarita glass. Sea salt tends to have a more assertive flavor than kosher salt and can be fine or coarse. Specialty salts, like fleur de sel, gray salt, black salt, and pink salt, tend to have a coarse, crunchy texture, which makes them a good choice for “finishing”—that is, sprinkling on dishes like salads or vegetables at the very last minute so that their texture and intense hit of saltiness stand out. Then there are flavor-infused options, like smoked salts and truffle salts. And of course, there’s only one way to know which of any of these you’ll like: buy a few, and start experimenting.

Ready to begin cooking with some of your specialty pantry items? Try these little recipes:

• Maple-Mustard Glaze
• Dried Fruit Jewels
• Creamy Pomegranate-Walnut Vinaigrette