For centuries, the fragrant treasures of Kerala's hills drew traders across perilous seas, reshaping global commerce and cuisine. Today, in the kitchens of this lush coastal Indian state, these same spices bring together flavours from four continents — a combination that is found nowhere else on earth.
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The morning rain has just cleared as I follow Nimmy through her family garden in Fort Kochi. She stops to pluck a leaf, crushing it between her fingers before offering it to me. The aroma is immediate and complex—citrus, pine, and something almost medicinal. "Curry leaf," she says. "Not curry powder. Real curry. Without this, our food has no soul." Around us grow cardamom, turmeric, three varieties of ginger, and pepper vines climbing up coconut palms. This small garden contains plants that once funded empires and launched armadas.
Kerala's southwestern coast served as the epicenter of the global spice trade for over two thousand years. Romans, Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, and British all established trading posts along these shores, each leaving distinct imprints on the local culture and cuisine.
In Nimmy's cooking class, this history comes alive through dishes like Syrian Christian duck roast, flavored with cinnamon and star anise originally brought by Chinese traders but prepared using techniques introduced by Portuguese colonists.
At the spice markets of Mattancherry, I meet Abin Thomas, a fourth-generation spice merchant whose family business has operated since 1947. "My great-grandfather started selling to local kitchens," she explains, "then to exporters, and now tourists have become our customers too." Her warehouse contains burlap sacks brimming with white, green, and black peppercorns, cardamom pods in varying grades, dried ginger, and nutmeg still encased in its webbed mace covering.
Unlike the dusty spices found in modern supermarkets, these are vibrantly coloured and intensely aromatic, many harvested just days earlier from farms in Kerala's Western Ghats mountains.
The culinary journey continues north to Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), where Mappila cuisine showcases perhaps the most distinctive fusion.
Developed by Kerala's Muslim community, these dishes blend indigenous ingredients with techniques brought by Arab traders who first arrived in the 7th century. At Zain's Hotel, a local institution since 1938, I sample pathiri rice pancakes served with chatti pathiri, a layered pastry filled with spiced meat that echoes both European lasagna and Middle Eastern savory pastries.
"Five hundred years of history on one plate," says owner Arif Mohammed, whose grandfather founded the restaurant. "The Portuguese brought cashews and chilies, the Arabs brought their pastry techniques, and we added our own cardamom and black pepper. This is how Kerala cooks—taking from everywhere but making something entirely our own."
