The Spice Box

October 12, 2020

7 things you need to know about your Spice Box

Have you ever wondered what’s inside a spice Box in Indian Cooking?

You will be fascinated to know that not having that spice box in your kitchen can speak volumes of how good a cook you are, and I leave it to your imagination

Everybody has a way to store their spices and it comes as no surprise to using an Indian spice box in a typical Indian Kitchen and their Cookware.

From the land of spices was discovered and traded along the silk route they play a significant role in every hold and in various cuisines in India.

Having a Spice box in the kitchen holds that connectivity medium of expression cutting across various cultures and regions.

Using a traditional brass container in ancient times was to preserve the rich antioxidants properties of the predominant spices used in cooking Indian kitchen

It was to concoct a special mixture of spices used in tempering the Dhal and a favourite grandma’s recipe.

It usually contained 5 important spices and now you can customise it as well to your preference. One for whole spices and one for ground spices. Check out info on whole spices and Ground spices.

So lets get down to the real deal about knowing what’s in the magic box.

What is a spice Box?

A spice box is considered as an integral part of Indian cuisine and every household has a special one for which is considered the most treasured, a secret element in the kitchen which signs ownership of the chef creating his masterpieces in his creative space the kitchen.

They were usually stored in a brass container, beautifully crafted by specialist and they preferred alloy for many centuries.
It was also a tradition where the Turks and Mughals who invaded India carried these special spices in these special boxes to preserve them from heat and other elements.
Brass was preferred special as Zinc, which is a metal part of the alloy had immense antioxidant properties and helps to preserve the antioxidant benefits of all the spices we most often use. In the most modern conclusions, antioxidant helps to fight many illnesses such as Cancer cells in our body. Spices can be stored in Brass containers for as long as you want and would stay fresh.
WE have now many variations of the spice box in wooden, steel and glass containers which are visible, in the pantry or making it handy for people to find them.
The traditional age-old spices boxes started with 5 compartments (was referred to as ‘Anjaraipetti’ in a local language) usually used in Grandma’s kitchen to temper the most used spices in everyday cooking such us Dhal and! Vegetables. There was even a secret compartment in between the box to hold saffron or dry red chillies!
Well you get revised and updated versions of spice containers now as we have more special and add owns to our spice collection. Boxes were shaped in rectangle or round and the width and depth was all crafted according to the cook’s preferences.
The contents in the spice box varies with region and geographical requirements but the essence stays the same, to provide quick and easy access to what we can make using those essential ingredients in our cooking.

So grab that magic box links Shop CTA and read more about the 5 magical spices you need to restore health and wellbeing!

Make a simple curry using the five spices- recipes Tadka Dhal/ Potato and peas.

Liked the recipe? leave a comment or let me know.