AK Hill Producers | Flavours of Westernghats

Black pepper

Pepper is a condiment that has been salt's partner on Western tables for hundreds of years. It adds a flavour of its own to dishes, as well as enhancing the taste of other ingredients. A spice indigenous to southern India, it stimulates the appetite and gives food a gentle warmth. Black pepper comes from a climbing vine, the fruits of which - small round berries - ripen from green to red and finally to brown. Black peppercorns are actually berries that are picked when they're just turning red. They are then dried whole before being sold.

White pepper

Pepper is a condiment that has been salt's partner on Western tables for hundreds of years. It adds a flavour of its own to dishes, as well as enhancing the taste of other ingredients. A spice indigenous to southern India, it stimulates the appetite and gives food a gentle warmth. Black pepper comes from a climbing vine, the fruits of which - small round berries - ripen from green to red and finally to brown. Black peppercorns are actually berries that are picked when they're just turning red. They are then dried whole before being sold.

Cardamom

An aromatic spice indigenous to south India and Sri Lanka, cardamom seeds come from a plant belonging to the ginger family. They are contained in small pods about the size of a cranberry. Cardamom has a wonderful aroma and an enticing warm, spicy-sweet flavour. The whole pods can be added to dishes, or the seeds can be extracted and either added whole or ground.

Turmeric

A bright yellow spice that comes from the rhizome of a plant in the ginger family. It is sometimes available fresh, but is usually sold dried and ground, in powder form. Turmeric has anti-oxidant properties which is why it has long been an Indian home remedy for many illnesses.

Star anise

Star anise is shaped like an eight-pointed star and contains seeds with an aniseed flavour, which comes from the spice's essential oil, anethole. It is used widely in Chinese cooking and is one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder.

Ginger

Ginger is a fiery root with rough beige skin and hard, juicy, pale yellow flesh. It can be used as a spice, fresh or dried and ground to a powder. The fresh, juicy root has a sweetly pungent taste and a perfume-like scent that makes it suitable for sweet or savoury dishes, whereas the dried ground root is much more fiery. Young ginger can also be preserved in sugar syrup or crystallised and rolled in sugar - in both cases it is then known as stem ginger.

Cloves

Cloves are the dried flower buds of an evergreen tree native to eastern Indonesia. Cloves are a versatile spice that can be used in drinks and in both sweet and savoury dishes.

Cinnamon

This warm, sweet spice comes from the bark of a tree native to Sri Lanka. The bark is removed, dried and rolled up to make a tube. Cinnamon is sold dry as sticks and ground as a powder.

Allspice

An aromatic spice that looks like a large, smooth peppercorn (about the size of a pea), allspice is the dried berry of the West Indian allspice tree. It’s also called Jamaican pepper or pimento and is so called because its taste is said to resemble a combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and pepper.

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