Since forever, different kinds of spices and herbs have been used in cooking for flavours and medicine purposes due to the health benefits they provide us. In a culturally diverse country like India, where you get to experience multiple cuisines, there are some specific spices and herbs that can be found in abundance. While most people use no more than 30 kinds of spices in the kitchen, there are hundreds of different spices and herbs found all around the world. Most spices that we use are clean and in powdered form, but did you know how they look before they make into your grocery store? Here is a list of common spices used in India and what they look like before they are ready to be used for cooking

Black pepper, also known as Peppercorn, is a flowering vine that belongs to the Piperaceae family. This spice grows in high humidity and looks like round green fruits.

Cardamom is often called the 'Queen of spices'. It is one of the expensive spices in the market and these unripe fruits have a very strong aroma. This spice is used as a flavouring agent in many of our traditional Indian desserts.

Cloves, also known as 'laung' in Hindi, is an aromatic spice derived from dried flower buds from a clove tree. Only the closed buds are used to prepare this spice.

Cumin is a flowering plant that is very similar to parsley. Its seeds are contained within the fruits which are dried and is used for culinary purposes in many cuisines.

Mustard, also known as Sarson in Hindi, is a plant that grows in vast fields. this plant has a yellow colour because of its beautiful flowers. Mustard seeds are used for culinary purposes as well as in medicine.

The white seeds that we often use to sprinkle on dishes and add to Indian sweet dishes grow in pods. Sesame is a flowering plant with lilac or white flowers. A pod is very small and can be 3 to 5 cm in size, can contain up to a 100 sesame seeds.

It is an aromatic spice that is derived from the flower of 'Saffron crocus'. The most important parts of the flower are its styles and stigma. Saffron is an exquisite spice and is generally expensive because the flowers die fast and so their pestle needs to be collected quickly.

Nutmeg is a ground spice derived from 'Myristica fragrans'. This evergreen tree provides us with two of the important spices that we use; Nutmeg, from the fruit's seed, and mace which is the seed's covering. And the surprising thing is, both have different flavours!

Rosemary is a fragrant herb used in different cuisines all around the world. Native to the Mediterranean, rosemary is a plant with white, pink, purple flowers and needle-like leaves.