INFOTOM — Indian spices, agri exports and imports, sourced at origin

Grown around Ashiv in Latur's Ausa taluka; prized locally for an unusually strong, lasting aroma.

Harvest

January – March

India's historic turmeric market. Hard, dense fingers that polish to a clean gold and grind without caking.

Harvest

January – March

Elevation

550 m

India's first GI turmeric; a deep-coloured, high-curcumin variety from the Waigaon area of Wardha.

Harvest

February – March

Erode Manjal — the turmeric city's golden, fine-textured rhizome, traded across the south for generations.

Harvest

January – March

Tribal-grown turmeric from the Kandhamal hills, raised largely without chemical inputs.

Harvest

January – March

From the Lakadong area of the Jaintia Hills, famed for exceptionally high curcumin content.

Harvest

December – February

The reference point for Indian heat. Sannam chilli from the black cotton soil of the Krishna delta, sun-dried on the field floor.

Harvest

February – May

Elevation

33 m

Wrinkled, deep crimson and gentle. Chosen when a dish needs colour and depth rather than heat.

Harvest

January – April

Elevation

640 m

A round, plump dry chilli from the rain-fed plains of Ramanathapuram, used whole in southern cooking.

Harvest

February – April

Berries left on the vine longer to swell, then graded by size. The largest are the ones that carry the perfume.

Harvest

December – February

Elevation

900 m

The Cardamom Hills, under shade trees in monsoon mist. Picked over many rounds, because pods do not ripen together.

Harvest

August – February

Elevation

1,200 m

Plump, bold pods grown under forest shade in Kodagu and the neighbouring Karnataka hills.

Harvest

August – January

Elevation

1,000 m

Long-grain aromatic rice from the Himalayan foothills and the plains below them.

Harvest

October – November

A short-grain, fragrant rice of Bengal, traditionally used for payesh, khichuri and festival cooking.

Harvest

November – December

Fox nut from the ponds and wetlands of Mithila, popped by hand into light, crunchy makhana.

Harvest

August – October

Cashew grown along the Konkan coast since the Portuguese era, known for creamy, well-formed kernels.

Harvest

February – May

India's first GI — a delicate, muscatel tea from the Himalayan slopes of Darjeeling.

Harvest

March – November

Elevation

600 – 2,000 m

Full-bodied, malty tea from the Brahmaputra valley, the heartland of Indian black tea.

Harvest

March – November

Bright, fragrant tea from the Blue Mountains of the Western Ghats.

Harvest

All year

Elevation

1,000 – 2,500 m

Shade-grown Arabica from the district regarded as the birthplace of coffee in India.

Harvest

November – February

Elevation

1,000 – 1,500 m

Arabica grown by tribal farmers in the Eastern Ghats around Araku, with a bright, fruity cup.

Harvest

November – February

Elevation

900 – 1,100 m

Black chana from the Gangetic plains, roasted in hot sand and stone-ground into sattu — Bihar’s summer drink and the filling of its litti.

Harvest

Chana harvest: March – April

Koderma’s milk sweet, slowly reduced from fresh milk until it sets in soft, grainy, saffron-tinged squares — Jharkhand’s first GI-tagged food.

Thin-skinned, small-seeded litchi from the orchards of north Bihar, sweet and fragrant in a short early-summer season.

Harvest

May – June