11 Essential Indian Spices You Need to Know

Divided by flavors united by taste, Indian food spices are well known across the world for the richness and taste they bring to Indian cuisine. The array of Indian spices accentuates the warmth and smokiness of Indian food, especially curries, making our taste buds crave that tantalizing rich flavor of Indian culinary.

Here are some incredible Indian spices listed to help you identify each of them while picking them from the rack of your kitchenette.

• Cardamom

Green cardamom imparts a distinctive aroma and flavor to Indian dishes. Preferably used to top desserts like lassi, green cardamom has a light & sweet flavor with an enticing aroma.

• Clove

Clove is a strong, flavorful Indian spice whose anise notes are easily recognizable in Indian delicacies. With a strong, medicinal flavor and refreshing aroma, cloves are used in moderate amounts in many Indian delectables!

• Black Pepper

The most common Indian spices are used in whole as well as grounded form. Black pepper accentuates the savory taste of Indian curries, adding to their smoky flavor.

• Cumin

Distinctive ridged brown seeds with an intense fragrance, Cumin elevates the smoky flavor of Indian curries. Its aroma and tanginess add to the dish and are used in a whole and grounded form.

• Fennel Seeds

 Used as an after-dinner palate cleanser, fennel seed’s sweet, and anise flavor comes along with numerous health benefits. It aids in digestion, and fennel tea is widely known to reduce bloating.

• Coriander Seeds

One of the oldest and most commonly used ground spices in the base of Indian spice mixes, coriander seeds with their aromatic citrus notes impart a distinctive flavor to Indian cuisine.

• Fenugreek Seeds

Fenugreek seeds have a very characteristic, earthy, musky “curry” flavor and fragrance. They are yellowish and appear like tiny wheat kernels. Mostly used in Indian curries, especially ‘butter chicken, ’ fenugreek seeds can be roasted and grounded for other medicinal use.

• Turmeric

Used in whole and dried grounded form, turmeric has an earthy and prudent aroma, giving Indian curries a beautiful ‘golden color.’ They possess a host of health benefits and are used in many homemade remedies for various healing purposes.

• Saffron

One of the most expensive spices in the world extracted from the stigma of the crocus flower, making saffron involves a heavy process raising its prices. Its pungent honey-like flavor imparts a rich aromatic taste to Indian desserts and Biriyanis.

• Nutmeg and Mace

Serving a warm and delicate flavor to Indian curries, Mace is the dark-red outer covering of the nutmeg. These spices used commonly in Indian cooking are used in the making of Indian curries to add to their rich flavor.

• Cassia Bark

Also known as ‘Chinese Cinamon,’ cassia bark, a genus of the cinnamon tree, imparts a milder flavor and is used in large quantities for improving the rich, authentic taste of Indian curries. Used both as whole and ground in spice mixes, cassia bark has a rough tree-like texture with a mild sweet fragrance.

Now that you are familiar with the taste and aroma each of these spices brings to your dishes, time to order some real taste of India to enhance the taste of your Indian food  with their rich flavor and enticing aroma.