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Rajasthan spice fair
by Lokendra Singh

         Jaipur: A five-day Spice Fair here provided a glimpse of the variety of hot spices from across the country. Though the fair was primarily to promote the state as a major production centre of Indian spices, it also had the condiments from other parts of the country. Rajasthan is an important producer of spices including seed spices such as fenugreek, cumin and coriander among others. Various varieties of raw spices or grounded spices were available at the fair. The Rajasthani chilly varieties, especially from the State's Gondal and Jodhpur regions are popular not only in the country but also appeal to the taste buds of the Indian Diaspora abroad. The special quality and special flavour of Rajasthani spices are generally attributed to the favourable climatic conditions and natural production methods being used here for ages. Spice makers from across the State participated in the festival vouching for the purity of their products. "The spices are really very good. We bring pure spices. Our women clean the spices at home and we bring them here for sale," said Santlal Mehra, a spice trader. Be it cheap prices or the big variety of spices, the housewives and tourists visiting the venue looked enraptured with the grand display. "I have bought a lot of spices including garlic, fenugreek seeds... Here they get a variety of spices from different places and we have a lot of options to choose from. Even the prices are reasonable," said Mahaveer Prasad Sharma, one of the visitors at the Spice fair. Rajasthan has the distinction of producing 17 of the total 60 varieties of Indian spices. Annually India exports around 0.25 million tons of spices.
- April 13, 2007