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Kerala has a climate suitable for many spice plants to grow in. Around Thekkady there are a number of spice gardens and producers. We visit a spice garden that was arranged as a show area and the owner showed us around and described the various plants and their processing to make spices. There were also a number of the tropical fruit plants in the gardens as well.
Among the spices grown in the region are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla, fruits include bananas, pineapples, papaya and guavas. Other commodities are cashew nuts and tapioca.
Cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree. Each year they will strip half of the bark from one side of the tree, alternating sides each year. Cinnamon is often used as whole pieces of bark, as well as in ground form. In the UK the bark is often sold as tightly rolled sticks. This comes from the inside of the bark. In India you also often see thicker chunks of the outer bark as well, these tend to be used here for savoury dishes while the inner rolls are used for sweet dishes.
When the long pods of vanilla are harvested they go through a complex sequence of drying and fermenting to prepare them for use. This can take over 45 days with half a dozen or so activities, which is why it becomes so expensive.
This is a cardamom plant, It has tall stalks that are a bit bamboo like and the flower spikes grow from the bottom, changing to the seed pods. The seed can be used fresh, but don't last long so the pods are dried to preserve them.
Cardamom can be harvested all year round with about only 40 days between crops from a plant.
This
was the garden owner standing next to a Jackfruit Tree. The fruit is the
large ball on the right of the tree, and grows straight out of the trunk rather
than off branches.
A
banana tree in fruit and with a large red flower at the end of the stalk.
The
fruits on the tree are guavas, whilst on the plant behind you can see the
strings of pepper seed pods. The colour of the pepper seed will
depend on when it is picked. Green pepper, is when the seeds are still unripe,
when they have ripened they will be black and if left to mature further then
they will be white.
The white pepper will have the strongest heat and the green the least.
This
is turmeric, it is the root that is dried and ground to make the yellow
spice. It also has medicinal purposes being a good antiseptic and
coagulant. Another use is to test if mushrooms are edible or not; if a
mushroom is placed in water and the turmeric is added then if it stays yellow,
the mushroom is edible, if the water goes blue then it is poisonous.
Some more plants are on the next page