The imposing teak cabinet with glass doors and deep drawers that looms behind the counter at Sugarpill haunted Karyn Schwartz from the minute she saw it in Thailand. A family of apothecaries had owned it for many generations. They liked the idea of selling it to a trained herbalist and homeopathic consultant. After she left Thailand, a friend brokered the transaction, and when the cabinet arrived in Seattle it became a talisman, a portent, a spur for Schwartz to open the store she had long envisioned. The cabinet bestows an ancient aura on this fragrant, contemporary shop. For the gastronome, it’s a place of endless discovery, a magical mystery tour of exotic delights for body and soul, among them herbal tinctures and teas, spice blends, flavored salts, and fancy foodstuffs. Schwartz is both curator and creator. Local foragers and growers supply ingredients for proprietary products like her Four Thieves Tea; the mix of peppermint, cloves, rosemary, sage, Angelica root, ginger and thyme is designed to ward of “all common plagues.” An erstwhile restaurant cook, Schwartz blends potent curry powders, masalas, and ras el hanout. You can taste them here, as well as sample her flavored sea salts, including one with wild fennel and nigella suggested for seasoning flatbread. “A huge part of good health is joy and a huge part of joy is pleasure,” says Schwartz, who believes herbs are a bridge between us and nature and that consuming them connects you to the life force of the plant. She sees herself as a link too. “I really feel having the shop is the best way to teach people what we all should know,” she says. “I can reach many more people here in a different way than I could as a consultant.”
