Spice Gardens Sri lanka

Spice Gardens in Sri Lanka

One must visit a Spice Garden in Sri Lanka to get an insight into the long cherished spice history of the island. Spice gardens in the hill capital ,Matale, Mawanella etc. give fascinating experiences to spice lovers from all over the world. In fact most of the tourists visiting these gardens take back with them a memorable experience after seeing and feeling Sri Lankan spices.

Sri Lanka which was then known as Taprobane, was world renowed for its high Quality Spices. It is believed even during ancient times the Greeks, Romans and the Arabic kept up their connections with Sri Lanka through the spice trade. In the sixteenth century Ceylon, as Sri lanka was then known, was found by Portuguese who soon started exchanging cinnamon and different spices with the kings of Ceylon. They were followed by the Dutch and English who contributed their share to shape Sri lanka's spice history. In fact in the Western part of the country which was mostly frequented by the Europeans, the uniqueness of the dishes can be tasted even today.

Among the mostly exchanged spices, cinnamon takes the first place.The Dutch loved cinnamon and even went to the extent of imposing certain laws to punish those who fell or harmed cinnamon trees. Among the other much valued sri lankan spices are  cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, mace and pepper, for which Sri Lanka is famous all over the world.

  pepper corns                               

 

Pepper Corns

                                             

 

vanilla

                                     

Vanilla


 

nutmeg

Nutmeg

Aloe Vera                              

Aloe Vera

Cocoa

Cocoa

World renowned chef Peter Kuruvita visits Ranweli Spice Garden

 

 

 

   

Ginger As a Spice

Ginger As a Spice

Ginger has been utilized for its medicinal properties for a considerable length of time. Nevertheless it is mostly used in cooking too. Specially in many sri lankan dishes ginger is added as a spice. Sri lankans use ginger when making Dosi ( a sweet made of melon, sugar and ginger) chutney, jam and ginger beer. A word must be said about ginger beer. Sri lankan ginger beer does not contain any alcohol. So don't drink ginger beer in sri lanka and expect to get high. It is a very nutritious drink that has the ability to improve your appetite. And many sri lankans prefer ginger beer to other carbonated drinks. When it comes to tea many sri lankans love their tea with a bit of ginger. Tea with ginger is believed to enhance one's memory and also help to digest food.

Ever wondered why sri lankan curry powder is so unique. Now I am going to tell you why. Sri lankan curry powder has about 7 spices. These ingredients differ from village to village. And many sri lankans add ginger to this combination. When ginger is mixed to this combination , it becomes stronger and gets that unique taste. This is one of the reasons why curry powder in sri lanka has this amazing taste and aroma.

Ginger is also used when making cake and pudding. Specially when making traditional sweets at weddings and other special occasions ginger is used a lot.