It was the first morning in Zanzibar and we headed to the rooftop for breakfast. The view was breathtaking, all the dilapidated buildings bathed in gold and the water a gorgeous turquoise. This was the best time of the day as there was a cool breeze and it was not so humid.
I started breakfast with a cup of steaming Zanzibar spiced coffee - it is a very strong coffee with the fabulous aroma of cloves, cinnamon and cardamom. I chose a scone and a pastry from the basket along with some passion fruit jam. The scone had currents and was fantastic with this golden home made jam with the crunch of the passion fruit seeds. The pastry was not anything I had ever tasted before. It was shaped like a star, flaky but hollow, I could taste the egg but best of all it had a little honey on the inside...mmm...heaven!
We were spending the day at Nungwi beach in northern Zanzibar and I had decided against the spice tour as we needed to to Pemba, another island. After trying the spiced coffee and the pilaf the previous day though I decided we needed at least get to the spice market. On the way back from the beach, I asked the taxi driver to take us to the market where I could buy some spices and he suggested that he could take us to a family farm if I preferred. I immediately took him up on that and we landed at a farm that was 10 acres or so. It was so lush, green and filled with every spice and fruit imaginable!
Spices included cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, lipstick fruit, ginger, galangal, turmeric, lemongrass, curry leaves, vanilla, pepper, bay leaves, coffee, kaffir and cacao. To see how they grow and harvest these spices was truly educational. They also cultivated wide variety of tropical fruits like pineapple, oranges, limes, jackfruit, breadfruit, passion fruit, mangoes, bananas, coconut, cashew fruit, kiwis, starfruit and the stinkiest of all dorian.
Cardamom is known as the "queen of spices" here. The fruit pods are dried and the tiny, brown, aromatic seeds which are slightly pungent to taste are very popular in South Asian and middle eastern cuisine.
This is what a fresh cardamom pod looks like with the unmistakable aroma. I was a little surprised to see the pods at the bottom of the plant...kinda expected it to be a vine!
Cloves are most popular spice export from Zanzibar, particularly the island of Pemba. These unopened buds of the flower and have a strong flavour and a sweetness to them. They are picked when the buds are pink and dried. They are known as the "king of spices" here.
Nutmeg and
mace are two spices from the same fruit! The fruits have a smooth yellow exterior and cut open to reveal the bright red fibres (mace) covering the seed (nutmeg).
Bay leaves is a staple in most cuisines and used in most curries, soups and stews is pungent and bitter. They used this here in most of the curries, biriyani and pilaus.
Green peppercorns one of my favorite spices and they are great pickled whole if you can find these fresh! Black, red, white and green peppercorns come from the same plant using different harvesting techniques.
Vanilla pods are the fruit of orchids. Here there are grown on vines supported on a trellis and artificially pollinated by hand - now you know why they are so expensive! The pods when green are odourless and need to be cured to get the flavour.
Lipstick fruit are small, fuzzy and crimson. When cut open, the seeds are bright reddish orange and are crushed to a powder easily. This is used here to get the reddish colour of tandoori masala when mixed with turmeric.
Arabica
coffee is grown here in Zanzibar unlike the mainland Tanzania and Kenya where the robusta is more popular. These are much taller trees while the robusta are smaller shrubs.
This coffee with the spices here makes this the most incredible coffee with a distinct Arab flavour!
Large bumpy green
limes are grown here with aromatic leaves known a kaffir which is very popular in south east Asian cooking.
Bread fruit looks almost like small jackfruit but less spiny. It can only be eaten after it is cooked and is very popular in south east Asian cuisine. Here, in east Africa, they make some wonderful stews and side dishes.
Starfruit is also known as the carambola and is very popular in south east Asia. It has a very complex taste ...a little citrusy, sweet and juicy. They have a wonderful star shape when cut.
Papaya trees look very unique with slender trunk with a very large leaf attached on a long stalk directly to the trunk. They are very popular ripe but unripe papayas can also be cooked in curries and stews. They are also used for tenderizing meat.
Jackfruit is a very large fruit with spiny exterior and large fleshy pods embedded in inedible fibres. The fleshy pods have large seeds in them which are wonderful when roasted or cooked with vegetables. The flesh itself is has a very distinct taste and is incredibly sweet.
They are great drizzled with a bit of honey (this only works when the fruit is not cloyingly sweet which they can be). Raw jackfruit can also be used as a vegetable and very popular in Asian cooking.
Passion fruit was in abundance here in November and at it's sweetest best. They are used in so many different recipes here both sweet and savoury but the passion fruit jam was an absolute standout!
