KERALA SPICES

A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavoring. Spices and herbs are good not only for our taste buds but also for our health.

Spices in Kerala are famous for their high flavouring quality. 

Spices of Kerala

Pepper

 Arab traders who had a control over the spice trade introduced pepper to the European states. With an added advantage of medicinal values,pepper has been rightly termed as King of Spices.The fresh green ones are ground with coconut to make some exotic seafood dishes while the red ripe ones are used to make white pepper powder and the famous black pepper gives extra heat to most  of the non-veg dishes.

Cardamom

 It’s mild and eucalyptus-like flavor  has hooked over many western countries. It is sobriquet as queen of spices.Cardomom flavoured tea is one of the favourites of keralite tea drinkers.

Clove

Cloves are dried flower bud of tropical evergreen tree Because of their strong aroma and taste, they are used sparingly. They found extensive use in north and south Indian dishes.The leaves of the cloves are used to cure tooth decay by chewing on them.

Cinnamon

It is a spice produced from the inner bark of numerous trees from the genus Cinnamomum . It is both sweet and spicy foods. Its flavor is due to an aromatic essential oil with the characteristic odor of cinnamon and a very hot aromatic taste.A pinch of cinnamon in carrot cakes sets the aroma lingering when baked.

Curry Leaves

 In Tamil it means – leaf that is used to make curry. Highly valued as seasoning in southern and west-coast Indian cuisines,curry leaves are extremely aromatic. Due to soft texture, these can be eaten without any difficulty.They are used for tempering dishes, and are very good in controlling cholestrol levels.

Ginger

Though grown all over India, the finest quality ginger comes from Kerala endowed as it is with a congenial climate and a rich earthy soil. Indian dry ginger is known in the world market as 'Cochin Ginger' (NUGC) & 'Calicut Ginger' (NUGK). India offers ginger in a variety of forms; oils, oleoresins, fresh ginger in brine, pickles, candies and syrups. It also comes in garbled/ungarbled, bleached/unbleached and powder forms. 

Nutmeg and Mace

Nutmeg is not a nut, but the kernel of an apricot-like fruit. Mace is  a thin leathery tissue between the stone and the pulp; it is bright red to purple when harvested, but after drying changes to amber.Many Euro­pean languages name mace flower of nutmeg , but this is botanically wrong.The other names given to it is javithri.