Kerala Spices: The Spices of India's Malabar Coast and How to Use Them

Why Kerala Is Called the Land of Spices

Kerala sits on the Malabar Coast, between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats mountains. Black pepper is native to this coast (Britannica), and cardamom grows in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats (Spices Board of India). The region has traded spices for more than two thousand years.

In Roman times, the port of Muziris near the mouth of the Periyar River shipped pepper west. Pliny the Elder called it "the first emporium of India," and a 2nd-century Greek papyrus records a cargo of pepper and spices shipped from there to Alexandria. Much later, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama reached Kozhikode (Calicut) by sea in 1498 (Britannica), and in 1683 the British founded Tellicherry, now Thalassery, to trade pepper and cardamom (Britannica). Kerala Tourism still calls the state the "Land of Spices."

One honest update: Kerala is no longer India's biggest pepper grower. Spices Board figures for 2024 to 2025 show neighboring Karnataka produced about 66,000 tonnes of black pepper to Kerala's 29,500. Kerala still leads by a wide margin in cardamom and nutmeg.

The Main Kerala Spices

Black pepper. Malabar Pepper is a registered Geographical Indication, and "Malabar Garbled" and "Tellicherry Extra Bold" are two Indian grades in strong export demand (Kerala Tourism). In the hill district of Wayanad, pepper vines are grown in coffee plantations. Our black pepper guide explains black, white and green pepper, plus pepper oil and oleoresin.

Green cardamom. Widely nicknamed the queen of spices, cardamom is the dried fruit capsule of a tall, leafy plant in the ginger family. Indian cardamom is graded for export as Alleppey Green Extra Bold, Alleppey Green Bold and Alleppey Green Superior, and Alleppey Green Cardamom is a registered Geographical Indication (Spices Board of India). Kerala grew about 18,300 of India's 20,700 tonnes of small cardamom in 2024 to 2025, close to 90 percent (Spices Board).

Ginger and turmeric. Both are rhizomes in the ginger family and both are everyday Kerala ingredients, though India's largest ginger and turmeric harvests now come from other states (Spices Board). See our ginger guide and turmeric guide for more.

Nutmeg and mace. One fruit gives two spices: nutmeg is the seed kernel and mace is the bright red, lacy covering around it (Spices Board of India). Kerala produced about 18,400 of India's 19,300 tonnes of nutmeg in 2024 to 2025, roughly 95 percent (Spices Board).

Cloves, cinnamon and vanilla. These are smaller crops in Kerala today. Cloves, called grambu in Malayalam (Kerala Tourism), are mostly grown in neighboring Tamil Nadu, but the Thalanadan clove from Kottayam district earned its own Geographical Indication in 2025. True cinnamon grows in only one or two places in Kerala, and vanilla has been planted in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu since the early 1990s (Spices Board of India).

How Kerala Spices Are Used in Kerala Cooking

Kerala cooking pairs spices with coconut in every form: grated, as coconut milk and as coconut oil. Tamarind and kokum add sourness to fish curries (Kerala Tourism). The official Kerala Tourism recipes show how the classic dishes use these spices:

• Sambar: a lentil and vegetable stew soured with tamarind. Its spice powder is made by roasting red chilies, coriander seed, fenugreek and asafoetida, with turmeric in the pot and mustard seeds and curry leaves for the final tempering.
• Avial: mixed vegetables simmered with turmeric, then folded with a paste of coconut, cumin and green chili, finished with yogurt, coconut oil and curry leaves.
• Kerala fish curry: fish cooked in coconut oil with ginger, garlic, shallots, curry leaves and mustard seeds, then a paste of Kashmiri chili, fenugreek and turmeric.
• Stew: whole cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black peppercorns sautéed with ginger and green chili, then simmered in coconut milk.
• Payasam: Kerala's sweet puddings. Ada pradhaman, made with rice flakes, jaggery and coconut milk, is finished with crushed cardamom.
• Chai: Kerala Tourism calls cardamom a chief flavoring for tea, cool drinks and sweets.

Buying and Storing Whole Spices

A whole seed or pod is its own storage jar: the fragrant oils stay locked in until you crack it open, and once ground they begin drifting off into the air. The Spice House, a long-running spice merchant, estimates whole spices like peppercorns and cardamom pods keep their best flavor for up to three years, while ground spices start to fade after about six months. A whole nutmeg can last far longer.

• Peppercorns: look for large, evenly dark berries and few broken bits. Grind as you cook.
• Cardamom: choose green, plump, unsplit pods. Crack them open and grind the black seeds just before use, or drop whole pods into rice and stews.
• Nutmeg: buy whole and grate on a fine grater. Use kitchen amounts only: the Spices Board cautions that nutmeg taken in very large quantities acts as a narcotic.
• Storage: airtight glass jars, away from the stove, sunlight and moisture. Buy amounts you will use within a year or so.

Find It at William's

We sell the core Kerala spices whole and by weight, so you can buy just what a recipe needs:

• Organic whole black pepper, sold by weight: for grinding fresh over stews, eggs and fish.
• Green cardamom pods, whole, sold by weight: for payasam, rice, chai and baking.
• Organic whole cloves, sold by weight: for stews, biryani and homemade garam masala.
• Organic whole nutmeg, sold by weight: grate fresh into sweets and sauces.
• Organic ginger root, sliced, and organic ginger root powder, sold by weight: for curries and tea.
• Organic turmeric root powder, sold by weight: for avial, sambar and fish curry.

We don't currently list the growing region for these spices online. If you want Kerala-grown spices specifically, call the store to check what's on the shelf.

Frequently Asked Questions