Hello everyone,
just spent a fortune on spices at Tesco and thought may be it is possible to grow some of them on my allotment. Cinnamon, Cloves, ginger, allspice berries?
What do you think?
Everything is posible - but, given the amount of space or effort/cost needed to produce 100gm of spices, which you don't use every day, I would buy in.
But certainly not at the supermarkets. Delicatessens & people like Julian Graves will post it to you more cheaply??
I think the difficulty you will have is that spices are from hot countries and we're cool, man.
Cinnamon is a tree bark and gawd knows how big it grows.
Thank you Tim, I'll use these people next time.
I remember seeing cinnamon growing in the hot houses at Oxford University Botanical Gardens, along with many other spices.
Ginger... yes. Though not as an allotment crop! http://www.plantcultures.org/plants/ginger_grow_it.html
But as for the rest... you'll need a LARGE, tropically heated conservatory!
Cinnamon... from Sri Lanka...
Cinnamomum zeylanicum grows 20-40 feet high and wants a tropical (or subtropical) climate
Allspice is another tree, the Pimento dioica (from Central America). You'll need up to 45 feet head-height for this one! (Allspice are its dried berries.)
Cloves are unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum... yet another tree...
You'll find this one in the Philippines, growing from 15 to 50 feet tall (it's also, BTW, from the same family as allspice, the myrtles).
But seriously... have you any Eastern groceries near you? Big fat packets of spices, double the size of the supermarket jars and for something like half the price...
Yes - forgot the Asian shops for most things!
There's also the Spice Shop - & Spice Box - but postage is not funny.
I haven't tried them, but this site looks as if it would be worthwhile.
http://www.spiceworld.uk.com/
I buy packets of 'Rajah' spices from my local Asda - I believe Morrisons do something similar - they are a fraction of the price of the jars & tiny containers.
I get mine from a local market and there a fraction of the cost of buying things from a shop
Mum being on the edge or sowf London picks spices up for me from her small Asian supermarket. Grrrrrrreat big bags of the stuff for next to nothing!
That's how I get it, but I'm tempted by the selection on that site. Things like Black Cumin which are hard to find and need a special trip to a shop that does them.
I agree with "Rajah". They're very good and their chutneys are particularly marvelous.
Also try www.steenbergs.co.uk .
They are a British company that deals in Organic (wherever possible) herbs and spices. We stock their whole spices and have rave reviews from customers about them paricularly the cardamom and coriander seeds.
I recommend that if you have the space, buy your spices whole as they will retain their flavours/scent etc for much longer than the ready ground. Ready ground tends to need chucking out after - if not before - 6 months.
I have access to asian supermarkets too, they are a boon for getting the 'edge' on good spices, they tend to be reasonably fresh as well because there is sufficient trade. And the prices are excellent.
We might have a go at growing cumin ;)
Get mine from the Curry Mile in Rusholme, better quantities than the supermarket
There's a great spice stall on the market in Peterborough, though it's bad for Morale to visit in bean podding season - they also sell sacks of beans very cheap :-\ ;)