During the 16th to the 19th century, Indian businessmen used to export spices around the world. There was a huge demand of Indian spices in the Europe, Africa and other countries. India was considered a wealthy nation and due to the spices, foreigners started coming to the India for trade purposes. The East India Company’s main motive was not to rule the India, but to do business with Indian businessmen and manufacturers of spices. For the Dutch, Portuguese and French people, the main initiative to visit India was the same.
Indian food is considered the best in the world because of the variety of added spices and delicious cuisines. Spices are used in different forms- chopped, ground, whole, roasted, sautéed, fried and as a topping. Some spices are added before cooking and some are added at last.
Let’s know few spices which are used in Indian cuisines.
Turmeric: Turmeric or Haldi (in Hindi) is a Rhizomatous Herbaceous Perennial Plant of a Ginger family. It needs a temperature of 20°C to 30°C and considerable amount of rain to thrive. The main ingredient in the turmeric is Curcumin which has many medical characteristics and is widely used in the potential treatment of Cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Diabetes, Allergies and Arthritis. Apart from it, turmeric is widely used as a key ingredient in the Indian cuisines. It adds taste and mild yellow color to the cuisines.
Chili Powder: Chili powder is the dried form of Chili Pepper. It is mostly used in cooking to add the spiciness in the food. In the India, it is used widely as Indian people love spicy food. Sometimes, chili powder blend is made by adding salt, garlic powder and Cumin. In the Gujarat, chili powder of the Gondal (A small town of Rajkot district) is famous for its Chili powder.
Jeera: Jeera or Cumin Seeds are used in the instigation level of the cooking. It is mostly used in all the Indian cuisines because of its health benefits. It is used in the both forms: Ground and whole form. India also exports Cumin seeds to the European countries especially Britain. It is used as a key ingredient in kormas, curries and different soups.
Black pepper: Black pepper is mostly cultivated in the south India. However, Vietnam is the world’s largest producer and exporter of black pepper having 34% of market share in the black pepper world market. It is the world’s most traded spices as it is used for medical and culinary purpose. It adds spiciness to food. It is also used in both forms: whole peppercorns and ground black pepper.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon is a widely used spice, which is obtained from the bark of different trees. It is called Dal Chini in the Hindi language. In the ancient times, it was used as a gift item due to its high cost and low unavailability. One inscription records the gifts of cinnamon and cassia to the temple of Apollo at Miletus. It adds spiciness and sweetness to different cuisines. It is highly used in the different European cuisines. It is highly used in the items like chocolate, liquors, candies, coffee, tea, apple pie, doughnuts, etc. it was also used as a medicine in the ancient times to cure snack bites, cold cough and kidney troubles.
Cloves: Cloves are used in the Asian, European and African cuisines mostly in the curries, marinades and meats. It is best when combined with Cinnamon, allspice, basil, onion and peppercorns. It has tremendous health benefits. It is natural anthelmintic. It is best for digestion related problems. It is also used in curing cold cough, hiccoughs, kidney diseases, vomiting and diarrhea. The clove oil is used as an ingredient in some toothpaste, purgative tablets, and clovacaine mixture.