Every kitchen in the world uses spices. They are in charge of giving our favourite sweet and savoury dishes their delicious flavours and beautiful hues. It is typically advised to get pure and fresh spices because they provide food with a unique flavour and fragment the entire dish. But did you realise that we frequently settle for shoddy imitations of spices?
Keep in mind that imitation spices are offered widely in the market, even if you live in a country where these spices are grown. Here is a helpful guide to help you differentiate authentic spices from fake ones.
Genuine Spices Vs Adulterated Spices
1) Cinnamon:
It is possible that most of the time, you are buying Chinese cassia in the name of cinnamon. Comparing it to the original or Ceylon cinnamon, the latter has a considerably milder and less complex flavour. Additionally, unlike actual cinnamon, cassia does not have a powerful fragrance. Always look at the texture to determine which of the two is which. Comparatively speaking, cinnamon is thinner while cassia is coarser and thicker. Additionally, Cassia often curls mostly to one side. If you want to check adulteration in ground cinnamon, add a drop of iodine to it. If it turns blue, cassia has been added.
2) Black Pepper:
It is quite difficult to differentiate between black peppercorns and other seeds that imitate it because black peppercorns are so widely utilised throughout the nation that nobody would be able to recognise the fake ones. To cut costs, many vendors do, however, combine black peppercorns with papaya seeds. Most individuals are unable to distinguish between papaya and other seeds since they are both around the same size and colour. Before purchasing, always crush a black peppercorn. A real peppercorn will be cut into huge pieces and left behind some oil if it is a real one. Crushed peppercorns of poor quality or age will break up into tiny pieces.
3) Hing:
There are two ways to check adulteration in hing. There could be foreign resin in hing or you could also find soapstone or earthy matter in hing. If you want to check adulteration in hing, heat a spoon full of hing over a candle. Genuine hing will burn camphor whereas adulterated hing will not burn like camphor. Another way is to take a spoon full of hing and dilute it in water. Genuine hing will have no residue settled at the bottom and adulterated hing will have earthy matter at the bottom of the glass. Read a detailed blog on How to Check Adulteration in Hing by Vasant Masala.
4) Clove:
Before selling the spice, many traders remove the oil from the cloves. As a result, the cloves have a thin, flat appearance and typically lack their distinctive aroma. Try to avoid purchasing these spices because they won’t be able to give your food the flavour you desire. Instead, seek up robust (big size and fuller-looking), plump cloves that still have a strong aroma. Place the cloves in water to see if they are still fresh. The new ones float vertically, while the old ones stay at the surface.
5) Turmeric:
Turmeric and ginger look similar from the outside but as you cut through the root, ginger has a tan tint and turmeric has a yellowish-orange hue to it. Many vendors now sell coloured flours under the name of turmeric powder. Fortunately, it is very simple to check if it’s genuine or not by simply combining a small amount of ground turmeric with some water. The powder is not manufactured with genuine turmeric if white specks are floating on the surface. Purchasing knotty turmeric roots, drying them off, and then powdering them at home is one ideal procedure and the other one is to buy spices from a trustworthy company like Vasant Masala – They extract the spices naturally and put them through a hygenic process of drying and grinding spices. They pack these spices with utmost care and precision.
So, the next time you set out to buy monthly groceries, make sure you choose spices by best spices company in india because they spices they make are 100% pure, genuine and hygienically made!
