India Unbound
Spices in the Indian Kitchen
Your kitchen shelf hides stories from faraway lands! Some spices are flower buds or tree bark. One came all the way from the Americas!
Did you know?
Chillies did not first grow in India! They came from the Americas. Portuguese traders brought them here about 500 years ago.
A clove is a dried flower bud! Its name comes from the Latin word for 'nail', because it looks like one.
Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tree. As the bark dries, it curls up into rolls called quills.
Try this: Smell Detective
Do this with an adult
With an adult, put a pinch of four spices into four small bowls. Try cumin, fennel, cloves and cinnamon. Close your eyes. Ask the adult to hold one bowl near your nose. Sniff gently. Can you name the spice? Do not taste the spices. Keep chilli powder far away from your eyes and nose.
Go further: The King of Spices
Black pepper grows on a climbing vine. It grows wild in the Western Ghats. Long ago, people in faraway lands called it 'black gold'. It was so precious that it was sometimes used like money! In 1498, the sailor Vasco da Gama reached the coast near Kozhikode in Kerala. His crew had come looking for spices. Green, black and white pepper all come from the same plant!