How homemade spice mixtures have held their own against branded masalas

Home cooks who follow traditional spice-making methods, emphasising quality and freshness over convenience.

The past few weeks have been worrisome for home cooks and caterers alike with at least 11 Indian companies getting pulled up by health regulators for selling spices contaminated with the carcinogenic pesticide, ethylene oxide. Earlier in July, over 50 pani puri stalls in Chennai were raided following an alert raised by Food Safety Department officials in Karnataka, over the presence of cancer-causing chemicals in the street food’s ingredients.

Lovers of ready-mixes and spice blends have had to recalibrate their affections and remember the days when dishes and seasoning did not come out of a jar or packet.

“If you do not know how to cook, you will not understand the role played by spices. That is why cooking is a useful skill, for tasty food and a healthy life,” says Raji Ramprasad, 63, who runs a home-based business in food mixes and spices in Chennai.

“I learned how to cook from my mother and grandmother. Having meals together was a common practice in our joint family. I remember being assigned the ‘dosa duty’ often at breakfast, and though I used to make 40 to 45 dosas for the family, it never felt like a chore,” she recalls.

Grinding spices and making pickles in bulk was a regular practice in many homes.

“As our families shrank, homemakers continued to prepare spice mixes, but in smaller quantities. The spice mill in the neighbourhood would grind our sun-dried chillies, or dry-roasted masalas as per our requirement. My mother would store them in large steel containers, and keep airing them periodically to ensure that they were free of mites, because they didn’t contain preservatives,” says Raji.

Over time, Raji adapted and developed some of the heirloom spice recipes for her own use. When the devastating floods of 2015 sunk her garments exports business in Chennai, she chose to strike out with Spiceroot India, an online venture selling customised orders for traditional condiments such as pulikachal, vathal kozhambu podi, and mango pickle.