Letter 6 - The Senses are Alive with Fragrance

If not for anything else, read on for the mulled wine recipe! 🍷 Discover the rich world of spices and their stories, from ancient history to your kitchen.

Hello, dear reader,

How are things? 

Do you have a favourite piece of jewellery? It could be a gorgeous heirloom necklace. Or a pair of bangles you treated yourself to when you built your house. Maybe it’s jewellery you like but haven’t got yourself yet. 

I tend to do this: admire things from a distance, sometimes for years, before I decide to buy them. You might be surprised to hear this, but gazing from a distance also applies to books. I do wait for some books, too. 

For the last many months, I have been looking at this. It’s quirky, to begin with. It’s unique; I have never seen anything like it. If you want to go the LinkedIn way, it is a reminder that small things have a huge impact. 

I see this spice bracelet as a good option—perhaps for the chef in your life or the friend who’s the life of the party. I’d advise against giving this to your partner, and I have a good reason to. I know of a person who ‘gifted’ his wife a washing machine for their anniversary. It may have been her birthday, which makes it worse. I like impractical gifts, though some research says that people appreciate practical gifts. 

Spices have existed since humankind, from ancient Egypt and its fondness for cinnamon to the ubiquitous use of spices in many parts of the world. I want to write about a particular part of the world and its spices today. I am, of course, talking about the Western Ghats and its numerous spice offerings. 

Quick, tell me the names of those spices you’re familiar with. 

This is my order without peeking - pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and turmeric. I am sure I’ve missed a couple. How did you fare?

When we look at the sheer vastness of the Western Ghats, one thing becomes clear- we are in for a treat. And so is the case with spices. 

From the strong-smelling garlic available in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra to the sweetly scented vanilla from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, spices have created a lovely ecosystem all over the Western Ghats. Spices can be fiery, like chillies, or hypnotic, like nutmeg. I think about cinnamon and am immediately reminded of Michael Ondaatje’s poem, The Cinnamon Peeler. Cinnamon is such a versatile spice, don’t you think? Add it to your poached fruit, or make sticky cinnamon sugar buns. Cinnamon adds tons of flavour to pumpkin dip and stuffed cabbage soup. 

What spice do you use the most? For me, it is cumin and pepper. When I see them typed like this, I am reminded of a family favourite—the pepper-jeera rasam. It’s great for colds and when you’re feeling a tad under the weather. I want to share this lovely recipe that uses green pepper in rasam. It’s one of my favourite places on the internet, so do check out paticheri.com, too.

But it is not just recipes that come to my mind ( I will go into recipes in a moment, I am sure!). I am reminded of literature, too, as we have seen with The Cinnamon Peeler. Here’s another beautiful poem, Quincing the Poet. Poet Geraldine Clarkson starts the poem with these lines, 

“The Queen of Sheba packed fenugreek,

turmeric, milled cardamom, desiccated

coconut, sweet almond oil, figs, fat

amber dates, green lemons, and mint,

onto a dozen knobbly camels. Let’s see,

Poetaster, how your sinuses like these!

There are many references to spices in the Booker of Bookers, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Rudyard Kipling’s Kim has the ‘scent of spices.’ Alice’s adventures in Wonderland face a roadblock when she starts sneezing because of the excessive pepper in the soup. And that coffee from A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, with its hint of cardamom, created a thirst for it.

One of my favourite Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni novels is The Mistress of Spices. To say that spices are everywhere in the novel is an understatement. And for those who cook with spices or use them extensively, this feeling of being surrounded by fragrance is not alien. 

One of my favourite spice-loaded recipes is Kerala ishtu or Kerala stew. My aunt made the most amazing version of this stew, which consisted of potatoes, onions, other vegetables, coconut milk, and coconut oil. The stew lent itself to dosas, aapams, and even chappatis. 

If you enjoy your tea, you must have tried a cardamom tea or a ginger tea. It’s incredibly comforting and familiar. Pair that with a breakfast of omelettes with a generous sprinkling of pepper, and you could be a happy camper, isn’t it? Or, if you prefer chocolate, add some cinnamon for a decadent drink. 

But why limit ourselves to spice in food? It’s not just the spices in the rasam that have medicinal qualities. Spices have therapeutic qualities and are widely used for healing. For instance, cloves work for toothaches, turmeric is a fantastic antiseptic, ginger helps with digestive issues, and cinnamon can help manage blood sugar. 

It is safe to say that spices are a mainstay in cooking and the country's economy. India produces and exports the most number of spices, touching more than 150 global markets. This trade is not new. If you’ve read some history, you’ve heard of the Spice Route, established by Vasco De Gama and Christopher Columbus.

However, there is a side to these Western Ghat spices. Traceability issues, challenges for smallholder farmers, including improper farm management and poor income, climate change resulting in irregular rainfall, and temperature changes are just some of them. The ecosystem is vital for the healthy cultivation of spices, and biodiversity is the backbone of cultivation. 

In Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance, Elise Vernon Pearlstine writes lovingly about the spices of the Western Ghats. “A Franciscan monk of the fourteenth century, Juan Gil de Zamora, provided recipes to cure raptors in his scientific encyclopedia. To cure a goshawk of a headache, he recommended a mix of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, cumin, salt, and aloes. If you still have your fingers after that treatment, you may want to give your rheumy falcon a blend of ground amber, ginger, and pepper.”

Raptors!

I leave you with this recipe for mulled wine, which should undoubtedly warm your evenings. 

Mulled Wine, Mycelium style. 

Ingredients:

One bottle of red wine (750 ml, to be precise) - we like Indian brands

Eight cloves - this seems like a lot, but it is not

Two star anise - this one is not only pretty to look at but imparts wonderful flavours

Two cinnamon sticks - sticks, not powder, and larger pieces are better.

¼ brandy or orange juice - two opposite choices, and both are good

One orange - we like a bit of bitterness, so we slice it in circles with the peel. If you’re not a fan, remove the peel.

Two tablespoons of sugar or honey - start low with the sugar, and you can always add more if you like a sweeter drink.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a large enough container.

Keep the heat at medium and ‘cook’ the wine until it is just at a simmering point. I know you may have cauldron ideas, but don’t boil the wine. The alcohol will also boil off.

Now lower the heat and let it mull. You can mull about how long you want to let the wine be. I usually go for about 15 minutes, but you can go up to an hour if you like.

(Handy tip: Start your mulled wine about 15 minutes before your guests arrive, and your house will be filled with these aromas.) 

Strain the mulled wine. 

Serve in mugs, along with delicate cookies or hearty servings of chocolate.

From the great-smelling bunch at Mycelium, till next time, cheers, and bye for now.