Single-Origin Spices
A region, a harvest window, and a named grade — not a country printed on the back of a packet.
Single-origin means the spice can be traced to one defined growing area, harvested in one season, and sold under a stated grade. Not a country. Not a blend of lots pooled at a warehouse. A place you could point to on a map.
It matters because the land does most of the work. Move a Lakadong rhizome a few hundred kilometres and the curcumin falls. Cure large cardamom over the wrong fire and the colour goes. Region, season and handling are not romance — they are the reason two turmerics that look alike taste nothing alike.
Every spice, with an address.
Lakadong Turmeric
A cluster of villages in the West Jaintia Hills. The cultivar assays 7–12% curcumin; we pack only lots testing 10% or above. Geographical Indication tagged.
See the spice →TGSEB Black Pepper
Tellicherry Garbled Special Extra Bold — the top sieve grade. Only matured berries above 4.75 millimetres qualify, roughly the top 10% of the harvest.
See the spice →Kashmir Saffron, Mongra
Grown on the karewas at 1,600–1,800 metres. Mongra keeps only the red stigma tips; the pale style is discarded. Geographical Indication tagged.
See the spice →Seremna Black Cardamom
A cultivar identified in 1982 by the late Sukh Ram Subba. Roughly nine of every ten Seremna pods still come from this valley.
See the spice →Ceylon Cinnamon, Alba
True cinnamon, hand-peeled. The finest of the four Ceylon grades. Not Indian — and we say so on the pack.
See the spice →Saurashtra Coriander
Black cotton soil, a dry winter, and sun-drying on the threshing floor rather than a kiln — which is what keeps the seed pale and the citrus note intact.
See the spice →Unjha Fennel
About 2.20% volatile oil against roughly 1.35% in the Rajasthan crop. Registered as a Geographical Indication on 28 March 2026.
See the spice →Vanilla Beans
Grown up the shade trees of coffee estates, hand-pollinated flower by flower, and cured over roughly six months. 18 centimetres and over.
See the spice →We use the word narrowly.
The phrase is not regulated, which is why so much of the market uses it loosely. Our bar: we only print single-origin when we can name the district, the harvest month and the grade, and show a batch number on the pack.
Two honest exceptions. Our Ceylon cinnamon is not Indian — it comes from the Galle and Matara belt of Sri Lanka, and we say so on the pack rather than blurring it. And Unjha fennel's Geographical Indication has been accepted and advertised, not yet finally registered, so that is exactly how we describe it.
If we cannot name the place, we do not use the word.
With the harvest month, packing date and FSSAI licence details.
Lakadong turmeric, Kashmir saffron, Sikkim large cardamom and Unjha fennel all carry registered Geographical Indications.
Curcumin, tested per lot — against 2–3% for ordinary commercial turmeric.
Packed by hand, in quantities we can actually trace back to a season.
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Sold OutWhat does single-origin mean for spices?
That the spice comes from one defined growing region, harvested in one season, and sold under a stated grade — rather than blended from multiple sources or labelled only by country.
Is single-origin the same as organic?
No. Single-origin describes where a spice comes from; organic describes how it was grown and certified. A spice can be either, both or neither.
Does single-origin mean one farm?
Not necessarily. It means one defined origin — which may be a cluster of smallholdings in the same valley, as with our cardamom from Hee Gaon in West Sikkim.
Why do single-origin spices cost more?
Smaller lots, stricter grading, and buying from a named region rather than the cheapest available source. The premium is in what is left out as much as what goes in.
How can I check a spice is really single-origin?
Ask for the district, the harvest month and the grade. A seller who cannot give all three is selling a country, not an origin.