Kerala's Black Gold Market.
Black Pepper was the black gold which brought the European traders and seafarers to the shores of Kerala, and over time Kochi became the hub of the spice markets.The Bazaar Road leading up to the Mattancherry Palace and Jew Town is lined on both sides with spice, antique, curio, perfume and tea trading shops. The shops are swarming with tourists, both foreign and Indian trying to get the best bargains.
We entered into a spice shop called the ‘All Spices Market’ which was housed in an old dilapidated building. We climbed up a narrow and steep staircase to the first floor where the shop was located. They had a wide array of spices including many qualities of whole black and white peppers, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, dried red chillies, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, bay-leaf, star anise, herbs, tea and coffee powders and different dry fruits, as well as ready to eat fried banana and tapioca chips.
While we were looking at our shopping list the lady attendants kept giving us samples of various herbal teas and coffee to taste. In a sense they were distracting our attention from the spices and by accepting their samples they were making us obligated to buy something. Ultimately we did buy many items which were not even on our list.
My suggestion if you visit the spice market is to go with a shopping list and a rough idea of it’s price, so that you know beforehand whether you are getting your value for money or are being conned into buying.
We entered into a spice shop called the ‘All Spices Market’ which was housed in an old dilapidated building. We climbed up a narrow and steep staircase to the first floor where the shop was located. They had a wide array of spices including many qualities of whole black and white peppers, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, dried red chillies, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, bay-leaf, star anise, herbs, tea and coffee powders and different dry fruits, as well as ready to eat fried banana and tapioca chips.
While we were looking at our shopping list the lady attendants kept giving us samples of various herbal teas and coffee to taste. In a sense they were distracting our attention from the spices and by accepting their samples they were making us obligated to buy something. Ultimately we did buy many items which were not even on our list.
My suggestion if you visit the spice market is to go with a shopping list and a rough idea of it’s price, so that you know beforehand whether you are getting your value for money or are being conned into buying.
Date of experience: December 2019
Ask EkMusafir about Cochin Spice Market
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
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