Authentic Spices - Tickling Your Taste Buds While Giving Health a Boost
Spices, the treasure trove of cooking, are the X-factor that ‘light up’ the food and bring allure and appeal to the cuisine. They add the zing of aroma, flavour, and taste, which takes over the senses. The food, from being merely a way of subsistence, becomes an experience to be relished. Authentic spices enhance the experience even more so.
The reaction to the above statement could be - Spices are spices, why bring in complexities like ‘Authentic’ and ‘Pure’?
Well, the more authentic and pure a spice, the more flavourful and tasty is the food, while also being safe and healthy to use.
Authentic means being what it is claiming to be. Genuine.
Authentic spices are precisely that - full of nature’s goodness. The unique essence, taste, and character of each spice can be relished.
Cardamon, with all the nature’s goodness intact; cumin, just as the way nature intends it to be.
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Valley Spice range of pure and authentic spices are processed in a state-of-the-art facility, using the latest technology. 100% natural, the spices retain their essential oils for full flavour and health benefits. |
How does Valley Spice ensure the authenticity of its spices?
1. The Jain Model of Contract Farming - A Complete Value Chain Model
Valley Spice works closely with over 6000+ farmers, as of 2019, and provides them with the best quality disease-free saplings and seeds.
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We firmly believe the value of the end product does not come from the factories, but from the fields and therefore farmers are the most crucial link in the value chain. |
Also, we continually train the farmers to follow good agricultural practices through Jain GAP and use the latest planting techniques.
Jain GAP is an initiative to train small and marginal farmers in good agricultural practices to increase their productivity and grow a high-quality crop.
We train the farmers to use natural resources optimally, thus ensuring a viable future for all.
This helps in growing the highest grade of authentic spices by using sustainable farming practices.
To further help the farmers, Valley Spice buys back their produce at fair and predetermined prices.
2. Zero Pesticide Residue
Our specially appointed agronomists advise the farmers, right from sowing to harvesting.
They guide the farmers and inspect the fields on a routine basis to keep a stringent check on pesticide usage and aflatoxin content in the produce.
Pesticides start to dissipate after spraying but need a prescribed waiting period before the crop is safe for harvesting. Spices harvested before the completion of the waiting period are likely to have higher levels of residues, which are hazardous to health.
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We harvest the whole spices only once the waiting period after spraying the pesticides has been completed. It ensures zero pesticide residue in them. |
3. Retain the Natural Oils, Oleoresins
At Valley Spice, we do not remove the natural oils called the oleoresins while processing the whole spice.
Some manufacturers extract the inherent natural oils, oleoresins from the whole spice. They later add the spice residue, also known as SPENT, after removing the essential oils to get the colour of the spice.
These spices do have vibrant colours but do not have any flavour as the essential oils have been removed from them.
In short, these spices give no value to the consumer - in taste, flavour or health.
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The presence of oleoresins in Spices ensures they are just like home ground spices - fresh, intense and aromatic. One needs to use very little to get the same taste and flavour. |
4. Processed in a Chilled Grinding Facility
Grinding spices at high temperatures lead to loss of natural oils in spices.
At Valley Spice, we grind the spices at low temperatures in our chilled air grinding facility.
It ensures the essential oils in the authentic spices are not lost and helps in retaining the original colour, taste and aroma of the spice.
5. High Percentage of Bioactive Compounds
Two prime factors can dilute the percentage of bioactive compounds present in the spice, and therefore lessen the good they do for our health.
One is the presence of adulterants, and the other is the quality of whole spices used for processing.
Pure and authentic spices are naturally rich in bioactive compounds, which brings a lot of medicinal benefits to us.
The antioxidant properties of the spices help in fighting off various diseases and improve the health of the consumer.
For example, curcumin is a powerful bioactive compound in turmeric, which is known worldwide for its medicinal benefits.
| Spice | Major Bioactive Compound | Health Benefits |
| Turmeric | Curcumin | Fights cancer, Alzheimer’s. Controls Arthritis. Powerful antiseptic. |
| Red Chilli | Capsaicin | Weight management. Improves heart health. |
| Black Pepper | Piperine | Improves metabolic rate. Enhances the bioavailability of other compounds and therapeutic drugs. |
| Ginger | Gingerol | Stimulates blood circulation. Relieves allergies and upper tract infections. |
| Cinnamon | Cinnamaldehyde | Lowers cholesterol. Weight Management. Controls diabetes. |
| Coriander | Linalool | Reduces cholesterol. Excellent diuretic. |
| Cumin | Cuminaldehyde | Digestive stimulant. Maintains blood sugar levels. Controls Anaemia |
| Garlic | Allicin | Fights cancer, Purifies Blood, Lowers cholesterol, Boosts immunity |
| Green Chilli | Capsaicin | Improves digestion, Controls diabetes, Improves eye & skin health |
The effect of bioactive compounds present in the authentic spices is not compromised even a little bit as there are zero adulterants in our range of spices. Moreover, we use only high-quality whole spices for making the final product.
Valley Spice is 100% pure and authentic spice and nothing else.
6. Colour Sorting Technology to Remove All Foreign Matter
Foreign matters like stalk, leaf etc. that are a part of the spice plant but not required in the final processing are sorted and taken out.
This process ensures we use nothing but the spice for the final processing.
The colour sorting technology also helps in separating crops that tend to mix because they have been planted close together.
For example, it separates mustard seeds from cumin to ensure only cumin is processed. The two spices can get mixed in case both the crops are grown in adjoining fields, and the wind carries some parts of the plants from one field to another.
7. Just Spice and Nothing Else
At Valley Spice, we take utmost care to provide the consumer with exactly what we promise them.
For example, authentic spices like cumin and coriander powders use only whole cumin and coriander seeds.
Even the stalks of the cumin and coriander are separated and discarded before grinding.
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Valley Spice red chilli powder is just that - red chilli powder. No red or yellow bell peppers or green capsicum powders are added to it. |
Did you know that the most used spices in our kitchen are highly susceptible to adulteration?
Here is a table to highlight how these can play havoc with our health.
| Spice | Common Adulterants | Disease/Effect on Health |
| Black Pepper Powder | Papaya seeds, Light berries | Stomach disorders, Liver problems |
| Red Chilli Powder | Brick powder, Lead soluble salts, talc powder, artificial colours like Sudan red | Stomach disorder, Metal toxicity, Cancer, Lead poisoning, Damage to the liver, Heart disease |
| Turmeric | Yellow lead salts or Lead chromate, Metanil yellow dye, Chalk, Sawdust, Corn starch | Cancer, Metal toxicity, Indigestion, High blood pressure, Stomach disorder, Blurred vision |
| Cinnamon powder | Cassia bark, Sawdust | Indigestion, Stomach disorders |
| Coriander Powder | Common salt, Dung, coriander stalk | High blood pressure, Stomach disorders |
| Cumin Powder | Stone powder, Mud, Charcoal dust, Cheap dill & fennel seeds painted brown, cumin stalk | Stomach disorders, Allergies, Metal toxicity |
8. Complete Traceability of the Product
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There is complete traceability of the spices throughout the entire value chain, right from sowing, harvesting, processing to packaging, and transporting the final product. |
All Valley Spice products have a distinct code which helps in tracing them at any given time in the value chain. As a result, it makes it easy to track the source if required.
It further helps to build consumer confidence and ensure quality.
9. Complete Quality Control
At Valley Spice, quality and excellence are a way of life.
We do stringent quality checks on all raw products, whether bought from the contract farmers or other trusted sources.
We also test all finished products in NABL certified labs to ensure they comply with all prescribed global regulations.
At Valley Spice, we work towards achieving excellence in every aspect of our operations.
Each of our manufacturing plants is an ISO certified state-of-the-art facility in keeping with our commitment to quality.
Valley Spice is fuelled by its core ethos of creating a sustainable future for all. We uphold the ethical practice of quality and excellence in all our operations.
Valley Spice uses the best quality raw material and processes them in a state-of-the-art allergen-free facility, using the latest technologies like:
- Single belt tunnel dryer
- Colour sorting technology
- Steam sterilisation
- Cold air grinding
Valley Spice brings to the consumers natural and healthy spices that are pure and authentic while retaining their original taste, aroma, and flavours.
Spices are the soul of Indian cooking, and pure and authentic spices make the experience heavenly. So what are you waiting for? Grab a bottle of Valley Spice, available on Amazon, and cook up a delectable storm in your kitchen.
Have you faced a situation where you have questioned the authenticity of the spices you were using? How do you ensure that the spices you use are authentic? Do share your experience and views in the comments section.