With Aiswarya Rai's gorgeous face hitting the movie screens all over the world as the Mistress of Spices,I think the Indian spices have truly become 'hot'(phaps not so much the movie)!India's history has always had a touch of its rich spices.For good or bad, Spices have always played a pivotal role in making the history of India...the colonial control, the freedom struggle, its rituals, festivals etc., everything owes a lot to its great spices...Chilly, Pepper,turmeric, ginger,cloves, cinnamon, cardamom,vanilla.....the list is endless.'Paspu kumkum'/ 'Manjal Kunkum'/Haldi Kumkum has become the signature of Indian culture...Many temples and even dargas in India give pepper corns and turmeric as a kind of 'prasad'...I remember those days when 'velichappadu', an oracle, came to our house and sprinkled turmeric on our head and we gave peppercorns tied in a red silk cloth...as an offering to God...
I have always been fascinated by the zillion variety of spices that India produces and so thought that I'll share a few spicy info that I could gather....Pepper, known as the 'King Of Spices'or the 'black gold' is one of the earliest, most widely used, and best-known spices in the world. Indian pepper has always been famous for its exotic quality.Most of the Pepper production in India comes from the state of Kerala. Kerala has always reigned supreme in the production and export of this sought-after spice. Indian pepper reached Europe through Arab traders who held a monopoly over its trade. Europe in the middle ages saw the enormous potential of pepper as a food preservative and eagerly sought to control its trade.The potential profits by trading in pepper was to lead to the earliest colonial conquests and wars . Easily the finest in quality anywhere, Indian pepper is mostly grown in along the low lands and high ranges of Kerala. . Here with a combination of natural advantages and organic techniques produces bigger, better-shaped, more aromatic and flavored pepper, better than anywhere else in the world. . Pepper is a perennial climber requiring the support of live or dead trees.It is a beauty to watch the dark green pepper vines amorously clinging on to a jackfruit tree or a mango tree...It is a long lasting romance for most of the pepper vines... pepper has become an integral constituent of the World cuisine.In additional to its culinary uses Pepper is famous as a good carminative and as a stimulant of gastric secretions...Suffering from extreme cold and fever? Cant really find anything tasty?.... Cook rice well and mix it with hot pepper rasam ...nothing can be more relieving...
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