Spice Gardens in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is world
famous for high quality spices. In ancient times Arabs, Chinese, Greeks and
Romans engaged in a very lucrative spice trade with Sri Lanka. Later the
Portuguese, Dutch and the British followed and commenced large scale commercial
spice gardens in the island. A wide variety of spices such as cinnamon,
cardamom, cloves, pepper, ginger, coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, cumin, sweet-
cumin, gamboge, nutmeg, fennel, tamarind, saffron, mace, citronella, almond, curry leaves etc.
grow in Sri Lanka . It is a well known fact that spices possess natural healing
properties. There are many Sri Lankan spice gardens that welcome visitors and
provide facilities to learn about spices and even conduct demonstrations as to
how to use spices to make delicious mouth watering dishes. There
is also an increasing demand for natural cosmetics and medicinal oils
manufactured from spices and herbs as against artificial cosmetics that are
harmful to health. Spice gardens in Matale,
Kandy and Kegalla districts are
some of the best in Sri Lanka and can be easily accessed by tourists in order
to gain a valuable insight into the fabulous world of spices. You can learn how
different spices are cultivated and processed and also purchase your
requirements from these gardens. You can stroll through these refreshingly cool
and shady gardens leisurely and also partake in a sumptuous Sri Lankan lunch
with delicious spiced curries. Ayurvedhic massages using spices, herbs and
natural oils are also provided by some Spice Gardens.
Spices grow best in the
mid and low country regions of Sri Lanka. Cinnamon is grown extensively in the Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts and also in Matale district. Kandy and Matale
districts are well known for pepper. Cloves are grown in Kandy, Matale and Kegalla
districts in home and mixed gardens. Nutmeg is found mostly in Kandy, and also Kurunegala and Kegalla districts.
Cardamom is grown mostly in Kandy district and also Matale, Kurunegala, Kegalla
and Ratnapura districts.
