The only form of spice you can actually inspect

Once a spice is powder, you cannot see what is in it. That is exactly why adulteration happens at the grinding stage — and why buying whole and grinding at home has always been the safer habit.

Whole spices also keep far longer. The aromatic oils sit inside an intact seed or pod instead of evaporating from the surface of a powder, which is why freshly ground jeera smells like something and month-old jeera powder does not.

What we sell whole

• Jeera and ajwain from Rajasthan, cleaned and sorted, never polished.
• Dhaniya from Madhya Pradesh — plump, pale-green and aromatic.
• Idukki elaichi, bold 8mm+ green pods from Kerala.
• Kerala black pepper, hand-sorted, never bulked out with light berries.
• White pepper, retted and sun-dried.
• Kerala cloves with the oil still in them.
• Badi elaichi from the Northeast, slow-smoked over wood.
• Rai and methi dana from Rajasthan.
• Kasuri methi, sun-dried whole and never powdered.
• Garam masala as whole spices, to grind as you cook.

What to look for when buying whole spices

• Black pepper: papaya seeds are the common substitute. They are lighter, more wrinkled, and they float in water where real peppercorns sink.
• Cumin: grass seed dyed and polished with charcoal is sold as jeera. Rub a pinch between your palms — if your hands go black, it is not cumin.
• Cloves: spent cloves, already stripped of their oil, are sold on cheaply. They look shrunken and the head is often missing.
• Cardamom: pods bleached to look uniform have lost most of their aroma. Real pods vary in shade.

Every one of these tests works because the spice is still whole. That is the argument for buying it this way.

Storing them

Keep whole spices in airtight glass away from heat and light, and grind small quantities as you need them. Whole, they hold their aroma for a year or more. Ground, you have about two months.