The Science of Spice

South Asia 39

Karachi

Lhasa

The capital of Tibet was

an important city on the

southwest Silk Road.

Goa

When the Portuguese

colonised Goa in the

16th century, they

introduced chillies

from the New World.

Kashgar

Balkh

To China

To East Asia

Mumbai

Kolkata

Sri Lanka

Formerly called Ceylon, this island was for

centuries the only known source of cinnamon.

Colombo

Bharuch

Delhi

NEPAL

BHUTAN

INDIA

SRI LANKA

Chennai

Yangon

BANGLADESH

MUSTARD

Mustard seeds and oil

are key to traditional

Bengali cooking.

Spice hub

Calcutta (now called

Kolkata) was one of the

cities that grew out of

the colonial trading posts

set up where the overland

Silk Road and maritime

Spice Route met. Spice

merchants from all over

the world traded here.

BLACK CARDAMOM

Black cardamom

flourishes on the cool

foothills of the Himalayas.

AMCHOOR

Amchoor is a popular

flavouring in central

India’s vegetarian dishes.

FENNEL

Rajasthan is a major

producer of fennel.

CINNAMON

Eight cinnamon species

are native to Sri Lanka;

all but one grow wild.

CARDAMOM

Around 75% of India’s

cardamom is grown in

the state of Kerala.

038-039_Map_south_asia.indd 39 04/06/2018 17:07