Following are some of the commonly used spice mixtures from spice gardens of Sri Lanka and around the world for food flavouring:

• Chili powder
• Curry powder
• Five-spice powder or Chinese five-spice
• Saag
• Za'atar
Ras al hanout, a Moroccan spice blend which includes cinnamon and cumin among other spices People have used spices for centuries mainly to enhance food palatability. This appetite for precious spices led the Europeans to plant spice trees and develop spice plantations in their colonies. Sri Lanka then known as Ceylon was one such colony of the British where spices were planted in spice gardens of Sri Lanka for commercial purposes.

History reveals that it’s the Dutch who first created spice gardens for commercial purposes. Realizing that it’s a profitable trade French & British too entered the trade. Hence spice gardens and island multiplied all over their colonies In 1720s valuable spice trees such as nutmeg and clove were brought to Mauritius from Moluccas to establish a spice island by the French. Within a few years this island had 400 rooted nutmeg trees and 70 rooted clove trees. By the 1790 spice gardens were created in other French territories although some believed that most valuable spices should be restricted to the Mauritius. AS a result transplantations were done in islands off the coast of Africa, Madagascar, and West Indies where the climate was also suitable for growing spices.

In 1790s the British too realized it is profitable to take seedlings out of Banda for transplanting into their own colonies. As a result the British planted spice trees in Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, in Bencoolen and Penang, Hence this can be regarded as evolution of spice gardens of Sri Lanka.

Even before becoming a colony of the British Sri Lanka has attracted maritime merchants because of the spice gardens of Sri Lanka as Cloves, Cardamom, Pepper, Nutmeg, Mace, Ginger and Cinnamon are grown, processed and exported on a large scale from the earliest of times. While Sri Lanka’s most prominent export today might be tea, historically the most important has been spices from spice gardens of Sri Lanka , mainly Cinnamon. In fact, so strong is the connection between Cinnamon and Sri Lanka that its botanical name – Cinnamomum Zeylanicum is derived from the island’s former name, Ceylon.

During the 16th through to the 18th centuries, spices from spice gardens of Sri Lanka were the main trade over which may long and costly wars were fought. Today, Sri Lanka is a leading producer of spices and still remains the world’s leading source of Cinnamon, producing not only four–fifths of the world’s production but in choicest spice gardens of Sri Lanka as well. Although the spice trade from spice garden of Sri Lanka is not a profitable venture it once was, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and mace, black pepper and turmeric are still grown in spice gardens of Sri Lanka for export purposes. In addition to these spices, the tropical climate enables the home cultivation of many other spices, such as vanilla in spice gardens of Sri Lanka.

Vanilla a highly fragrant and aromatic spice, derives from a type of climbing orchid. This plant is indigenous to Mexico, where the Aztecs developed a technique of curing and drying its fruit, or pod, to obtain an intense flavouring which was used in their drink xocolatl. In the early 1500s Spanish conquistadors brought bags of the spice back to Europe along with gold and silver. Not only was its scent glorious, but vanilla was also deemed to have aphrodisiac and therapeutic properties. However, despite the increasing popularity of the spice, attempts to transplant the vanilla orchid outside Mexico failed. The problem was solved when a Belgian botanist, Charles Morren, established that only tiny Mexican bees and hummingbirds were able to pollinate the plant. He subsequently devised a method of pollination by hand, and shortly afterwards the French and the British began trying to cultivate the plant across their tropical colonies.