Spice Farm Adventure with Roshani

Today they brought me to a spice farm. We went through the jungle, deep into the nature of South Goa. We arrived really early, so I ended up being the only one on the tour, alone again. I guess the universe keeps putting me in situations where I have to learn how to be alone.

Anyway, you can’t imagine how interesting it was! It was sooo cool, and I could ask anything I wanted. I took so many notes about everything, but I’ll just share a few things that I found super interesting:

Nutmeg (Muskat):

It’s red on the outside, a beautiful, shiny red color. The outer cover is used for making candy. But too much nutmeg is poisonous and can cause hallucinations. Half a nutmeg can make you sleepy, while three or four could make you never wake up again. It’s sometimes used as a drug, but it’s more dangerous than weed because an overdose can be fatal. Also, the nutmeg tree has three genders!

Piri Piri Chillies:

The chillies that grow pointing upwards are much spicier and hotter than the ones growing downwards. “Spicy” or “hot” isn’t actually a taste, it’s a pain sensation. Birds don’t feel that pain, so they can eat chillies without any problem.

Cinnamon:

Cinnamon is actually the bark of a tree. The rolled ones, the “real” cinnamon comes from Sri Lanka and have medicinal properties. The ones from China, called cassia, don’t have those benefits and even contain toxins that can damage the liver and cause infertility in women.

Mangos:

Only the green-skinned mangoes are the natural, organic ones. If a mango looks very orange or yellow and is super sweet, it probably has chemicals. Having a few small yellow lines is fine, but the whole mango should be mostly green.

Well… I learned so much more than that, but these were some of the things that I found fascinating.