It is no wonder that the Europeans desperately seeked to find a sea route to India. And in Kerala they landed and discovered the amazing world of spices.
It's day 4 of our Kerala Spiritual Adventure and our first full day in Periyar and we are enjoying being here in the Sahyadri Mountains. Our morning started with a class on Hinduism which I conducted. We learned about the 4 sects of Hinduism, about God and Gods, the Hindu temple and explored the foundations of Raja Yoga.
After class our friend and guide, Taj, took us on a wonderful tour of a spice garden. We tasted and smelled an array of exotic spices right off the tree, bush or vine. It was highly educational and fun. Taj is very entertaining and would have us identify each spice. 5 points if we got the answer right and minus 5 points if we got the answer wrong.
Cardamom flower
Wikipedia shares "Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India, they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds......read more about Cardamoms here.
Can anyone guess this spice?
A clove.
Taj shares that these chillies are super hot.
More cloves.
Cocoa seed. Chocolate milk anyone?
Red ants march across a wire in the spice garden.
Taj gifts Anne a beautiful white flower.
A cinnamon tree. Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods. Read more about Cinnamon on Wikipedia.
King of Spices - Pepper. Pepper grows on a vine.
Taj demonstrates how to climb a bamboo ladder.
Close up of the bamboo ladder
Our spice tour is interrupted and we step aside to let Mr. Elephant walk by. He seems undisturbed by our presence as he happily chews on leaves walking past our group.
A very unusual looking eggplant. Small and red and on a thorny bush.
Tiny black tomatoes.
Yummm....jack fruit!
Mandy browsing through Taj's spice shop
