Organic Spices
Spices are used for garnishing, flavoring as well as in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics and perfumes. All the spices are enriched with antimicrobial properties. The spices grown in Galaboda Estates are 100% original and organically grown among the tea trees. The process of making spices for exports includes cleaning, drying, grading and grinding. Sometimes, spices are delivered whole without grinding as well.
Cleaning
All the spices need to be cleaned with fresh water for better quality of the product. There are spices which are roots or bulbs of plants and shrubs; therefore, thorough cleaning is essential. First, the dust and dirt should be removed from the spices by winnowing. Then the spices are washed with fresh water by hands or through machines. Then spices are sent for drying for drying after thorough cleaning.
Drying
In traditional method, spices are dried under the sun, with continuous mixing for even drying. It is essential that the spices are dried properly, until the final water has dried up, to stop mold growth that affects the reduction of the quality. Drying is two folds; sun drying and machine drying. When the climate affects the sun drying in wet seasons, machines are used to drying the spices according to the different percentages of moisture content.
Grading and Grinding
Spices can be graded by size, density, color, shape and flavor. Once they are graded, they are sent for grinding. The Grinding is done through machines, until the spices come as fine powder. Then they are sifted for the grading of fine powder. Sometimes, the spices are delivered without grinding as they might lose their taste and flavor with time as powder. There are some spices that are demanded in full form such as cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg as their quality reduces in powder form with time.
