The role of spices in cooking has always been primary.
Spices tend to be associated with cooking to enrich and give a distinctive depth of colour and flavour to food. Different spices like basic spices including powder spices and whole spices are often used together to wonderful flavours to certain styles of cooking. Spices add a whole new dimension to cooking. Each of these spices has its own distinctive colour and flavour. Indian spices have been used for hundreds of years to flavour food. We must salute to the role that these foodstuffs play in our cooking. Let us give them the respect they deserve and allow them to provide the maximum flavour and pleasure they can to our cooking.
Fresh ground spices are found in all homes and will be chosen according to the nature of the dish, season, and family. The role of spices goes beyond cooking. Ayurveda prescribes spices for curative and therapeutic functions. Most spices used in cooking are very healthy, and make the digestion process much easier. Spices have been used to make the food last longer in the days when refrigerators were not available. Integral to cooking all year round, spices are supremely important to have in your kitchen. Spices are high in flavour yet low in fat, calories and sodium. Spices offer the opportunity to explore new tastes.
In 1497 Vasco Da Gama set off on a voyage to discover a new route to Asia and he succeeded. In the two year and 24000 miles long trip around the globe, he travelled through Africa to India and then back to Lisbon with a cargo of spices and other products.
When Arabs conquered India, they brought cumin and coriander which mixed with Indian pepper, ginger and turmeric, this combination of spices was sold by the British sailors, centuries later as curry powder. The Spices were usually mixed together
Now, India is the world’s largest producer of spices, it provides 75 varieties of spices out of 109 listed by the ISO.
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