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

 

 

 

   

Spices used in Ayurveda

Spices used in Ayurveda

 

Sri Lankan spices and herbs are part and parcel of the traditional Ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda or the Study of  Life is an old type of medicine where much emphasis is placed on food habits, also it emphasizes the importance of relying on natural stuff like herbs and ointments. In other words Ayurveda is a system of medicine practiced by the ancient people, utilizing very unique and natural solutions to accomplish physical and mental health.

Herbs, spices and their essences play a big role in Ayurvedic therapeutic treatments. Sri Lankan spices are utilized as scents, cleansers and cosmetics. There are quite a few herbs and spices which is added when making Ayurveda toothpaste. One of the main ingredients of this ayurveda toothpaste is cloves. this spice has the ability to numb the mouth. so whenever a sri lankan gets a toothache, he runs into the kitchen and starts to chew a couple of clove buds. And this numbs the mouth and the pain disappears. In fact cloves are a good home remedy for tooth ache. Those days that is about two or three decades back sri lankans used to have their own home made tooth paste. we can't call this stuff exactly a paste but it was a combination of about 10 spices like clove buds,clove leaves ,cinnamon bark,cinnamon essence etc. They crushed all these spices and used it to brush their teeth. This is part of the reason why sri lankans those days had very strong teeth. This tooth powder they made out of spices and herbs  could decrease the arrangement of tarter in the teeth and sticky substance in gums that produces germs and microbes, likewise could work against pyorrhea and gingivitis, and could keep the mouth fresh throughout the day. Not only Cloves are prescribed  for toothache but also for sore throats.

Nutmeg and dark pepper improves appetite,
Ginger helps to digest foods and aloe blended with coconut oil makes a fabulous sun cream while citronella repulses bugs. 
These are a few of the many spices used in Ayurveda