Spices

Hey fellow adventurers! A lot of things come to mind when I think about India and spices are definitely one of them. India produces over 70% of the world’s spices. They love their spices! And I can’t blame them. I love using spices to make up for my terrible cooking skills. Now, I’m not saying Indians do this (Indian is my favorite food), but you can. When I’m talking about spices, I don’t just mean spicy spices but everything. I can’t handle anything spicy, personally. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about every spice that comes from India but I’ll cover the most popular.

Corianders Seeds (Dhania) and Powder

Corianders is sweet and tangy with a slight citrusy taste. It is commonly used in making pastries, bread, and fish. It is also occasionally used as a replacement for salt in savory meals and is a key ingredient in curry.

Cumin Seeds (Jeera)

Cumin seeds have a nutty, somewhat bitter taste with a slight hint of lemon. It is used to flavor rice and stuffed vegetables, as well as add to a lot of savory dishes and curries (especially beef dishes). Often times, cilantro is also added.

Cardamom Black (Badi Elaichi or Kali Elaichi)

Cardamom is one of India’s favorite spices. It’s commonly used in curries, savory and sweet dishes, ice cream and custards. It is also the 3rd most expensive spice in the world. Cardamom has a sweet, lemony, eucalyptus flavor.

Mustard Seeds (Sarson/Shorshe/Rai)

Mustard seeds have a mild, somewhat bitter taste. Raw food can be cooked in oil flavored with mustard seeds or it can be poured over some dishes just before serving. They help emulsify liquids use in salad dressing recipes to help blend oil and vinegar and add a spicy zip. They are a popular addition to vegetable dishes, beans, pastries and pickles.

Turmeric Powder (Haldi)

Turmeric has a pungent, bitter flavor with scents of orange and ginger. It is one of India’s favorite spices and the 9th most expensive spice in the world. It is used in curries, fish dishes and with beans. Sometimes people use turmeric instead of saffron because of its bright, yellow color.

Red Chili Powder

Red chili powder is very hot because it is made from the hottest part of the chili, the dried, ground seeds of the chili. Unlike other chili powders, Indian chili powder is pure ground chilis.

Ginger (Adrak)

Ginger is both spicy and sweet. It can be used in sweet dishes, desserts, or in savory dishes such as hot curries and stir fries. It is considered an aphrodisiac.

Garam Masala

Garam Masala means “hot spices” and is made up of a mixture of ground spices (often cloves, cardamom, cumin, peppercorn, cinnamon, and bay leaves). The portions and spices change depending on what you’re making. Garam Masala is different for a fish recipe versus a beef or chicken recipe.

Cinnamon (Darchini)

Cinnamon is a sweet tasting spice and many find the smell of it to be calming. It’s the 5th most expensive spice in the world. It is available as a powder but a lot of people prefer it in stick form. Whole cinnamon is used for spacing hot drinks, ground – in  cakes, sweet dishes, fruit pies (especially apples), as well as being used in more savory dishes, such as curries, and combines perfectly with chicken.

Cloves (Laung/Lavang/Grambu)

Cloves have been used in India for thousands of years, not only in cooking, but to sweeten the breath and to relieve the pain of toothache. They contain a mild anesthetic. It’s the 4th most expensive spice in the world. Whole cloves are frequently used to flavor meat dishes, curries, and soups.

Fenugreek Seeds (Methi)

Fenugreek seeds have a curry-like taste. In fact, it is one of the main ingredients of curry powders. It is also used to add flavor to meat dishes. And is considered an aphrodisiac.

Fennel Seeds (Saunf or Mouri)

Fennel seeds taste like a more bitter version of black licorice. It’s used to sweeten curry dishes and is sometimes paired with peanuts or citrus fruits. They’re most popularly roasted and eaten after a meal to freshen the breath.

Nutmeg (Jaiphal)

Nutmeg has a slightly sweet, nutty taste. It is the 7th most expensive spice in the world. Nutmeg is used to add sweet and savory flavor to dishes such as pies, custards, puddings, cakes, soufflés, vegetables, egg dishes, lamb, fish, and beverages.

Peppercorns (Kali Mirchi)

Peppercorns have a pungent, woody aroma and hot, biting taste. It is the 8th most expensive spice in the world. Pepper is the only spice that is used to flavor food before, during and after cooking. Whole or grounded peppercorns can be added to most savory dishes.

Asafoetida

Asafoetida is also known as devil’s dung due to its pungent smell while raw. Most commonly used in powder form, asafoetida gets a truffle-like flavor and garlicy smell once cooked. It is mainly used for digestive purposes due to its supposed antiflatulence properties.

Saffron (Zaffran)

a pile of saffron threads on a rustic wooden table

Saffron has a distinctively pungent, honey-like flavor and aroma. It is by far the most expensive spice in the world with one pound costing anywhere between $2,200-8,000. It’s available in either thread and powder form. The threads can be lightly roasted, crumbled in a hot water and left to infuse to bring out their full strength. Saffron is used to color rice dishes, sweets, puddings, sauces and soups to bright yellow.

If there’s any spices you think should have been on the list that wasn’t, please comment below! Until our next adventure!

2,589 thoughts on “Spices”

  8. Today, I went to the beach with my kids. I
    found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her
    ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
    She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely
    off topic but I had to tell someone!

    Reply

  22. Hi there, I found your site by means of Google while searching for a comparable matter, your site came up, it looks good.
    I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
    Hello there, simply became alert to your blog thru Google, and found that it’s really informative.

    I am going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful in the event you continue this
    in future. Many other people will be benefited out of your writing.
    Cheers!

    Reply

  24. First off I want to say terrific blog! I had a quick question which I’d like to ask
    if you don’t mind. I was curious to know how you
    center yourself and clear your mind before writing.
    I have had a hard time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out there.
    I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or
    tips? Kudos!

    Reply

  27. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up.

    Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to
    say excellent blog!

    Reply

  28. Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; we have created some nice procedures and we are looking to exchange strategies with others, why not shoot
    me an email if interested.

    Reply

  29. Wonderful blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
    Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
    I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
    Thank you

    Reply

  30. A motivating discussion is worth comment. I
    believe that you need to write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo matter but usually people do not speak about these topics.

    To the next! Cheers!!

    Reply

  32. Hey exceptional blog! Does running a blog such as this require a large amount of work?
    I have absolutely no knowledge of coding but I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
    Anyhow, if you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners
    please share. I understand this is off topic nevertheless I just needed to ask.

    Kudos!

    Reply

  45. Hi there! This blog post could not be written much better!
    Looking at this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He always kept talking about this. I most certainly will send this article to
    him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *