Spices of South Asia
The great spice garden: pepper and cardamom from the Malabar coast, chilli, turmeric and the masalas that hold a thousand kitchens together. 75 spices on EveryMasala so far.
Spice cities, markets and growing areas
Kerala 5Manipur 5Goa 4Nagaland 4Maluku Islands 3Assam 2Bombay 2Calicut 2Himachal Pradesh 2Kochi 2Muziris 2Sikkim 2Alexandria 1Almora 1Arambol 1Azamgarh 1Ballia 1Brahmapur 1Byadgi 1Calcutta 1Chhatrapur 1Coimbatore 1Collinsville 1Delhi 1Dhule 1Didwana 1Eau Claire 1Edayur 1Erode 1Ganjam district 1
Blends of the region
Garam masalaChaat masalaSambar powderPanch phoronGoda masalaRasam powderTandoori masalaPav bhaji masalaBiryani masalaChettinad masala
Countries
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreParsley
A bright green herb from the celery family, used fresh across Europe and the Middle East.Leaf · Bitter · Herbal and green
🇮🇳 IndiaErode TurmericErodu Manjal
A Geographical Indication turmeric from Tamil Nadu with high curcumin content.Root · Earthy and deep · Bitter
🇮🇳 India and 4 moreEast Indian arrowrootകൂവ
A wild South Asian ginger valued for its turmeric-scented foliage and starchy rhizome.Root · Earthy and deep · Herbal and green
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreWild turmericKasthuri Manjal
A South Asian rhizome with a musky scent, used for colouring and skin care.Root · Warm and sweet-spiced
🇦🇫 Afghanistan and 5 moreLovageлюбисток
A tall European herb with celery-like leaves and spicy seeds used in soups and broths.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
🇮🇳 IndiaBlack turmeric
A blue-skinned rhizome from northeast India, boiled and dried for its camphor scent.Root · Warm and sweet-spiced
🇮🇳 India and 1 moreIndian costusकुष्ठ (kuṣṭha)
The dried root of a Himalayan thistle, used for centuries in perfumes and traditional remedies.Root · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreTurmericहल्दी
The dried rhizome of a tropical ginger relative, prized for its golden color and earthy bite.Root · Warm and sweet-spiced · Bitter
🇭🇺 Hungary and 5 moreHorseradish
A pungent root vegetable from Southeastern Europe used as a spicy condiment.Root · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent
🇧🇩 Bangladesh and 2 morePiper chaba
A creeping vine from South and Southeast Asia whose stems and roots are used as a pungent spice.Root · Sharp and pungent · Hot and fiery
🇮🇳 India and 3 moreZedoarytemu putih
A bitter rhizome from the ginger family, once common in Austronesian kitchens.Root · Bitter · Sharp and pungent
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreGinger
The pungent rhizome of a flowering plant, widely used as a spice and folk medicine.Root · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Piper chaba: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Turmeric: J.M.Garg, CC BY 3.0, source
- Ginger: Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0, source
- Horseradish: Pethan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Wild turmeric: goldentakin, CC BY 2.0, source
- East Indian arrowroot: Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Indian costus: Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Black turmeric: Ramesh Raju, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Lovage: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Parsley: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Erode Turmeric: Sivaranjani, CC BY-SA 3.0, source