Yes, you want dust in your pantry.

More specifically, you want dried porcini mushrooms in your pantry.

Dried mushrooms keep indefinitely and can easily be reconstituted for use with pasta and risottos or added to soups and sauces. More important, you can simply blitz the heck out of them and turn them into deeply flavorful and aromatic dust.

Porcini mushroom dust is a magical condiment. It has a flavor and aroma that is earthy, smoky and umami-rich.

It melds with garlic and woodsy herbs, such as rosemary and thyme, and is a secret ingredient in spice rubs and marinades.

While dried porcini mushrooms are pricey by the pound, the good news is that you don’t need a whole lot of them to make a rub. (In this recipe, you only need a half-ounce.) When mushrooms are dried, their flavor intensifies, so a little goes a long way.

Other dried mushrooms, such as shiitakes, may be substituted, but aim for porcini when available. Use a spice grinder to blitz the mushrooms before mixing them with the rub ingredients to create a paste consistency. If you don’t have a spice grinder, you can use a mini food processor, with slightly coarser results.

Lynda Balslev is an award-winning writer, cookbook author, and recipe developer based in Marin. Visit TasteFood at TasteFoodblog.com.