DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997                TAG: 9704100152

SECTION: FLAVOR                  PAGE: F1   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: MORSELS

SOURCE: RUTH FANTASIA

                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

THE GREAT SPICE HUNT PAYS OFF IN BARGAINS

GOOD FRIDAY evening the grocery stores were crowded with people buying items for Easter dinner. My shopping was moving along just fine until I reached the spices. A 1.6-ounce bottle of whole cloves was priced at $8.29. It was enough to send me, and two other shoppers looking for the same, into cardiac arrest. The three of us stood there complaining loudly about the prices of spices and decided our hams didn't need that many cloves.

But I'll still have cloves stuck into ham and stirred into chili. After searching around town a little, I've discovered that cloves, and many other spices, are less expensive where they are sold in bulk. The few minutes it takes to scoop the spice out of a large container and into a bag will save you a few bucks. Don't like storing your spices in plastic bags? Just don't toss those old spice bottles.

The Whole Foods Co-op on 21st Street in Norfolk sells a wide variety of spices and herbs from bulk containers. Last week whole cloves were $8.39 a pound or 53 cents an ounce. Harris Teeter stores also stock bulk spices. Whole cloves there were even cheaper, at $5.99 a pound. BEANTOWN BOOM

Boston Market, the semi-fast food chain that features ``home style meals,'' has expanded in the Hampton Roads area again. A new Market opened last week near Military Circle at 472 N. Military Highway in Norfolk. If you don't want to stand in line, you can call ahead at 461-2400 or fax your order to 461-1849. HANNAFORD SUPERSTORE

People in the northern areas of Virginia Beach don't have to drive to Pembroke to shop at Hannaford anymore.

On Saturday, the Maine-based grocery chain opened a ``superstore'' on Shore Drive near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

The 47,000-square-foot store offers conveniences such as computerized check printing and refunds for reusing your grocery bags. An in-store pharmacy will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Store hours are from 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

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