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Kerala Spices Gallery
Here you will find about Indian spices like cardamom, ginger, cassia, greater galanga, chilly, kokum, cinnamon, nutmeg: clove, pepper, coffee, tamarind, curry leaf, tea, cashew, turmeric, vanilla with a picture gallery.
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Indian pepper had a profound influence on the European economy of the middle Ages. Many western countries owed their prosperity to this spice which fetched them a very high price. Easily the finest in quality anywhere, Indian pepper is grown in the monsoon forests along the Malabar Coast in South India. Here, a combination of natural advantages and organic techniques produces bigger, better-shaped, and more aromatic and flavor-full berries.
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CURRY LEAF tree is a small deciduous tree. Most Indian cuisine cannot do without the subtle flavouring of this highly aromatic leafy spice. Curry leaf grows profusely throughout mainland.
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Although Brazil commands the Top Spot for Coffee globally, India has been a major player in this commodity.
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The fruit of a tropical tree, TAMARIND is an indispensable spice in most south Indian kitchens. Today, India is the only producer of tamarind on a commercial scale. A large part of India's production of tamarind is exported to West Asia, Europe and America, where it is used in such food specialties like Worcestershire sauce. This spice also comes in the forms of pulp and
juice concentrates which mainly go into the preparation of cool drinks, sea foods and a range of sophisticated cuisine.
Tamarind or tamar-i-hind, the 'date of India' as the Arabs described it, is one of the most widespread trees of the
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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. They supply calcium, iron, vitamin B, vitamin C, carotene and other antioxidants. For instance fresh parsley has been linked with cancer prevention due to its antioxidant content and spicy food is much more appealing than a vitamin pill. Besides herbs and spices don't have any kilojoules or fat, so you can eat them to your heart's content.
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The dried rhizome of a herbaceous plant, TURMERIC is closely related to ginger. The spice is also sometimes called 'Indian saffron' thanks to its brilliant yellow colour. Indian turmeric has been known to the world since ancient times. Several unique properties of Indian turmeric make it the ideal choice as a food flavour, an effective ingredient in medicines and cosmetics, and as a natural colourant.
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Spices are defined as "a strongly flavored or aromatic substance of vegetable origin, obtained from tropical plants, commonly used as a condiment". In ancient times, spices were as precious as gold; and as significant as medicines, preservatives and perfumes. India - the land of spices plays a significant role in the global spices market. No country in the world produces as many kinds of spices as India with quality spices come from Kerala, an Indian state. At present, India produces around 2.75 million tones of different spices valued at approximately 4.2 billion US $, and holds the premier position in the world spices market.
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CHILLY is the universal spice of India. Chilly is nature's wonder. Its fruit appears in different sizes, shapes and colour. The fruit size of some varieties is more than hundred times that of others. The shape may be elongated or round and distal pointed, blunt or sucked in. Corrugated, leathery or smooth maybe the touch on outer skin. It may look like a bird's eye or a small orange fruit. Colour varies from blue, green, orange, red, yellow, violet, cream white to near black. Chilly has two important commercial qualities. If some varieties are famous for red colour because of the pigment capsanthin, others are known for biting pungency attributed by capsaicin.
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India is the only country rich in many varieties with different quality factors. Chilly is an essential ingredient of Kerala curry. Curry is characterized by tempting colour and titillating pungency. Both are contributed by chilly. In curry, chilly is used as a paste, powder, broken split or whole form. There are Kerala pickles, especially with tender mango in which chilly powder is added lavishly to form a thick paste with biting sensation at the end of curing. In all Kerala homes, chilly is used by the poor and the rich alike.
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KOKAM is an Indian spice specialty, with an agreeable flavor and sweet, acidic taste. By both culinary and medical standards, kokam ranks high. Indian kokam is a versatile spice. Its oils, seeds, fruits, bark and the young leaves are all of extensive culinary and therapeutic value. The kokam fruit is cholagogue, cooling, demulcent, emollient and antiseptic. The bark and young leaves are astringent. The oil is emollient and soothing. Among the major uses of kokam are, as a garnish for curries and in the preparation of cooling syrups.
VANILLA is a climbing orchid cultivated for its pleasant flavour. It is one of the few contributions of the western hemisphere to the world of spices. Over 50 species described, only three are important species as sources of natural vanillin, which are Vanilla planifollia Andrews, Vanilla pompona Shiede and Vanilla tahitensis J.W. Moore. Of these, Vanilla planifollia is the most preferred and commercially cultivated.
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Pods (beans) are subjected to curing process to produce the characteristic aroma. The substance chiefly responsible for the unique fragrance and flavour of the vanilla bean is vanillin(C8 H8 03).
Among the food flavors, vanilla has a prime position. Vanilla essence is largely used in foods in the preparation of ice creams, chocolates, bakery products, puddings, pharmaceuticals, liquors and perfumes. Vanilla is the second most expensive spice traded in the world market.
The vanilla flavour industry was based on the processed beans of the vanilla plants. With the advent of chemical
technology to produce vanillin/ ethyl vanillin, these synthetic substitutes have taken over the use of vanilla beans. However, natural vanillin is still the most preferred food flavor.