Spices have been considered aphrodisiacs by many cultures around the world. Their intense flavour is believed to heighten emotions and incite one's love life. When mulled over, the fact that the great epics and love stories take birth from the land rich in spices is not surprising at all! After all, India is a land of rich culture and heritage complemented by exotic spicy food.
India is known as "The Home of Spices". There are over 80 kinds of spices grown across the world but India alone grows about 50 types of them. The spices that India offers in abundance are pepper, ginger, turmeric, chilli, cardamom, celery, fenugreek, fennel, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, ajwain (bishop's weed), cassia, clove, nutmeg and mace. Interestingly, each of the spice has its own flavour, medicinal value and other interesting facts to go with it. In fact, the very commonly used word 'AROMA' is the ancient Greek word for spice.
Spices' being so versatile in their features are a necessity across the global culinary scene, especially in India. Indians are supposedly one of the warmest, most intense and cultured people. But the question is if we could attribute these qualities to the use of spices? Why not? If spices can influence one's mind and behaviour, then the populace of the "Home of Spices" can definitely be considered different from the rest.