An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary

Spices of India

Spice Gardens

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.
Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.
The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional folk dance.


Indian Spices – Background We Indians use a lot of spices in our daily food.
But most of us do not know where the spices come from.
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the World’s Most Used Spice

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.
Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants which give us different spices.
The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance.

Back ground

We Indians use a lot of spices in our daily food.

But most of us do not know where the spices come from.

Read the rest of this entry »

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the Queen of Spices

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.
The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance.

Background

We Indians use a lot of spices in our daily food.
But most of us do not know where the spices come from.
Someone suggested that I should write about the spices in my blog.
So here we go.
This one on Elaichi is another in a series on Spices of India. Elaichi (Cardamom) is one of the most popular spices and is known as the “Queen of Spices”. It is used in tea and coffee; various food preparations; and in medicinal concoctions.I personally love Elaichi tea and lassi. Read the rest of this entry »

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  Spices of India – My Favourite Spice      

                        
My favourite spice is Kali Mirch.
I love to sprinkle a little powdered Kali Mirch on my buttered toast every morning.
And my wife uses it in a number of dishes.
You can see Kali Mirch plants in Spice Plantations, Coconut Plantations and Areca Nut Plantations throughout Kerala (South India), Karnataka and Goa.

The Name

The English name for Kali Mirch is Black Pepper.
The word Pepper is derived from the Sanskrit name Pippali or Pippalii.
This became Péperi in Greek and Piper in Latin.

What is Kali Mirch (Black Pepper)

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Spices of India                                       

the most widely used spice  
Once a month or so, I go to the nearby nurseries to see new plant arrivals.
And invariably, I purchase a few plants                                                                     .
The last time, a nursery owner showed me Pudina plants.
I brought one and now it is happily thriving in a little flower pot in my balcony.
Pudina, or mint, is the most widely used spice.
We use Pudina every day, in different forms, for various purposes.

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Shakti Peeth  of  Mahalakshmi and  
the Gateway to Karnataka and Goa       
                                   

Kolhapur is famous for its Mahalakshmi Temple which devout Hindus believe will fulfill all their wishes.
There are plenty of places to see around. And, you can stay in a real lake side palace without making a big hole in your pocket.

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One of the finest beaches in West India        

                    
If you are looking for a beautiful, clean, pristine sea beach, far away from the mad, mad crowd, you will love Ganpatipule.
If you have the time and the inclination, there are a number of nearby forts to explore.
And of course, the famous 400 year old Ganapati temple is a major attraction.

Location

Ganpatipule is a small village on the sea coast near Ratnagiri – 375 kms south of Mumbai.
It is not too close to Mumbai, not very well known and therefore not crowded.

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            the most popular Flavouring  in the world                                                    

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.
Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.
The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance.

Background

We Indians use a lot of spices in our daily food.
But most of us do not know where the spices come from.
Someone suggested that I should write about the spices in my blog.
So here we go.
This one on Vanilla is another in a series on Spices of India. In 2004, I was working in a city called Hubli, a small but important trading centre, in Karnataka, South India.
I was invited to visit some plantations in Sirsi about 100 kms away.
There were the usual coconut trees, areca nut (betel nut or supari), some spice trees and Vanilla vines.It was the first time I saw a Vanilla plant.
I was surprised. The plantation was heavily guarded, with high level of electronic surveillance.
I thought the owner must be under some sort of threat. But no! The security was for the Vanilla plants. The crop in Madagascar had failed. The prices of Vanilla had literally shot through the roof.
Theft, and even robbery (using armed force), had become quite common. 

History

Vanilla originated in Mexico, where the Aztecs used it to accent the flavor of chocolate drinks.
In the 16th century, the Spanish explorer Cortez, brought it to Europe.
The Aztec drink, made with Vanilla pods and cacao beans, became popular among the aristocracy in Europe.In 1602, a chemist for Queen Elizabeth I suggested that Vanilla could be used alone as a flavoring.
Today, Vanilla is the most popular flavour in the world.

The Plant                                                                                                                

The Vanilla essence comes from the long, greenish-yellow seed pods of the tropical orchid plant, Vanilla planifolia.
The plant is a creeper and climbs up on the trunks of other shady trees.
It can be easily grown on coconut trees, areca palms, other trees, even poles.
Left alone, it will climb up and up.
But growers fold the higher parts of the plant downwards to keep the height accessible by a human. This also stimulates flowering.

The flowers of the Vanilla plant are hermaphroditic – they carry both the male (anther) and female (stigma) organs. But to avoid self pollenation, a membrane separates the two organs.
In nature, the flowers can be pollinated by a bee found only in Mexico.
Therefore, in cultivation, the flowers have to be artificially pollinated.
Fortunately, the process is simple and easy.
The Vanilla flower lasts about one day, sometimes even less. Growers have to inspect their plants every day for the open flowers, a labour-intensive task.

Harvest                                                                           

·               The pods are harvested while green and immature. At this stage, they are odourless.
·              The vegetative tissue of the Vanilla pod has to be killed to prevent further growing. The killing is accomplished by sun killing, oven killing, hot water killing, killing by scratching or by freezing. In India, I have seen cultivators use hot water killing.
·               The pods are held for 7 to 10 days under hot (45º-65ºC or 115º-150ºF) and humid conditions. The pods are kept in fabric covered boxes immediately after boiling. This allows enzymes to process the compounds in the pods into vanillin and other compounds which give Vanilla its flavour.
·               To prevent rotting and to lock the aroma in the pods, the pods are dried. The pods are laid out in the sun during the mornings and returned to their boxes in the afternoons. When the moisture content is reduced to 25-30% of the pods’ weight (as compared to 60-70% before drying) the curing process is complete and the pods will exhibit their fullest aromatic qualities
·               Once fully cured, the Vanilla is sorted by quality and graded.

How to use Vanilla

There are three main commercial preparations of natural Vanilla:
·               Whole pod,
·               Powder (ground pods – pure, or blended with sugar, starch or other ingredients), and
·               Extract (in alcoholic solution – at least 35% by volume). 

Growth and prices

Till the middle of the 19th century, Mexico was the chief producer of Vanilla.
By 1898, Madagascar, Réunion, and the Comoros Islands produced 200 metric tons of Vanilla beans, about 80 percent of world production.
Due to a typhoon, the market price of Vanilla rose dramatically in the late 1970s.
The prices remained at this level till the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, the cartel that had controlled Vanilla prices and distribution since its creation in 1930 disbanded.
Prices dropped 70 percent over the next few years, to nearly US$ 20 per kilo.
Due to the typhoon Huddah, which struck early in the year 2000,  
political instability, and poor weather for the third year in succession, Vanilla prices shot up to an astonishing US$ 500 per kilo in 2004, bringing new countries into the Vanilla industry.
It was around this time, I visited the Vanilla plantation.

A good crop and more countries starting cultivation have pushed the market price down to the $40 per kilo range in the middle of 2005. Culinary Uses

Good quality Vanilla has a strong aromatic flavour, but food with small amounts of low quality Vanilla or synthetic Vanilla – like flavourings are far more common, since true Vanilla is much more expensive.
A major use of Vanilla is in flavouring ice cream.
Natural Vanilla gives a brown or yellow colour to preparations, depending on the concentration.
The cosmetics industry uses Vanilla to make perfume. Medicinal Uses

Although its medical qualities have never been proved, Vanilla is used as an aphrodisiac and a remedy for fevers.
The essential oils of Vanilla are sometimes used in aromatherapy. 

Recommendation                                                                                                   

There is no Hindi word for Vanilla.
The term Vanilla itself has come from the Spanish word “vainilla”, meaning “little pod”.
Indonesia and China have become major producers of Vanilla. There is no reason why India should be lagging behind.Vanilla is a beautiful green creeper. It can be kept as a house plant. It requires high humidity, bright light and a good stick or pole to climb up.
It can be successfully cultivated even on roof tops in large pots with a screen cover to reduce the sunlight.   

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the World’s Most Expensive Spice

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.
Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.
You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.

The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.
Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance.

Background

We Indians use a lot of spices in their daily food.
But most of us do not know where the spices come from.
Someone suggested that I should write about the spices in my blog.
So here we go.

This one on Kesar (Saffron) is another in a series on Spices of India.
India produces the world’s best Kesar (Saffron).

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Spices of India

The oldest spice known to us

 

If you visit tourist places in Goa and Kerala, you can visit spice gardens.Some plantation owners have improvised their spice gardens into tourist attractions.You can see a variety of plants where different spices come from.The guide will answer your questions and clarify your doubts.Your host will serve you authentic local meals in virgin surroundings and arrange a traditional dance. Read the rest of this entry »

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