a few open sacks of spices - chillies, fennel seeds and sumac

some of the the ingredients for a batch of ras el hanout before grinding

 

this is a shot of a delivery of saffron i recieved from India. The parcel is taken to a post office and weighed at one counter, customs forms filled in at another and then at yet another has to get completely sewn up in white cotton sheets by a tailor. The parcel is then sealed with wax and gets covered in the most beautiful colourful stamps before finally being despatched, probably after visits to another couple of counters - only in India!

cinnamon quills from Sri Lanka - they arrive in 20kg bundles wrapped in jute sacks. The quills are all 1m long and are each made of several pieces of very thin cinnamon 'sheets' all rolled together in a similar way to a cigarette which is a process of great skill only performed by very experienced workers in the cinnamon plantations or gardens as they're called in the area.

 

the ingredients for chai before being tied into a muslin bundle ready for brewing at the market

a small tray of ingredients ready for roasting for a test batch of colombo powder - the tray contains the usual ingredients for curry - cumin, coriander, mustard, fenugreek and pepper but also dry rice which turned out to give a really interesting nutty, toasty character.