Spice Expeditions came to the Indian Malabar coast throughout history. The Chinese, Greek, Roman traders landed in India in search of silk and spice. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper were as prized as precious stones. The arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498, established the Portuguese in control over the lucrative spice trade to Europe upsetting the Arab control. Today India produces 2.5 million tonnes of spices every year and exports about 200,000 tonnes out of the world total trade estimated at 450,000 tonnes.

Spices are important for medicinal, preservative, and seasoning foods.

Spices have medicinal value as they heal, soothe and rejuvenate us. Ayurveda, the indigenous system of Indian medicine, uses a large number of spices in its combination of preventive and curative medicines. Ancient Ayurvedic treatise lists numerous spices for their medicinal properties. Pepper for digestive ailments. turmeric paste for burns, itchy skin, Ginger for tested remedy for liver complaints, anaemia and rheumatism, cadamom for nausea, fever, headaches, or eye diseases, coriander for insomnia, cloves for spleen, kidney, and intestinal disorders.

Spices are important to make food tasty, aromatic and visually stunning. The art of cooking with spices results in artfully blending spices so that the flavors enhance eachother with no one spice over-powering the other. Spice are used to enhance taste while maintaining the true taste of the vegetable or meat.

A blend of spices/masalas and herbs are ground together to form the basis for Indian sauces. Wet masala is ground in a stone mortar along with water, nuts, coconut, onion or garlic. Chaunk or tadka is a spice garnish where Whole dried spices like kashmiri chillies, cumin and coriander seeds, karipatta are added one by one to hot oil until they begin to sputter or pop. This tempering is then poured over dals and raitas.

Spices add that extra zing that makes Indian food so popular the world over!