FUN THINGS ABOUT SPICES!

According to Merriam-Webster: The meaning of SPICE is any of various aromatic vegetable products (such as pepper or nutmeg) used to season or flavour foods.  

CINNAMON has been traded around the entire world since before the 1500s. Indonesian sailors began trading cinnamon to Madagascar and the east coast of Africa in the first century AD. 

SAFFRON (Crocus sativa) is a spice that is worth more than its weight in gold. Over the past three decades there has been renewed global interest in saffron cultivation for use in cosmetics, the food industry and for its health benefits, which is why this spice has been coined “Red Gold”. 

BLACK PEPPER: For many centuries the world's most expensive spice was black pepper. As cultivation increased and black pepper became a household staple around the world its price subsequently dropped. Today, black pepper is one of the world's most affordable spices. 

CARDAMOM or Elettaria Cardamomum Maton is one of the most highly prized and exotic spices and rightly deserves the name “queen of spices”. It is also commonly referred to as the “green cardamom” or the “true cardamom”, and belongs to the family of ginger. The use of this spice dates back to at least 4000 years. 

INDIA: Based on a comparison of 135 countries in 2018, India ranked the highest in spice consumption with 4,471 kt followed by Bangladesh and Indonesia. On the other end of the scale was Gambia with 1.00 kt, Fiji with 1.00 kt and Paraguay with 1.00 kt. 

In Canada, commercial mustard production began with 40 hectares planted in southern Alberta in 1936. Since then, the crop has become a valuable option in the brown and dark brown soil zones. Today, Saskatchewan producers are the world's largest mustard exporters.