Where can our spices be traced back to? Aswin Prasannakumar and Yathi Kumar—co-founders of Nilgiri Marten Spices—talk to Yashvi Shah about good spices, sourcing their produce, and how sweetening their tea with Marayoor jaggery has become a habit.
We’ve always found comfort in spices,” reveals Aswin Prasannakumar, the co-founder of Nilgiri Marten Spices as his partner—and longtime friend—Yathi Kumar nods along in silent agreement. And who could blame them? After all, they grew up in Kerala, their backyards teeming with fresh spices.
Aswin, who is now based in Bengaluru, recalls growing all kinds of produce in small quantities at his parents’ home in Thiruvalla—be it spices like nutmeg, mace, and ginger, or tubers like koorka (Chinese potato) and, of course, bananas. “My parents would say to me: ‘there is land available, grow something there. At least, you can eat it,’” he shares.
Both Aswin and Yathi are no strangers to eating what they grow, and knowing the value of where their food comes from. They established Nilgiri Marten Spices in 2022 with the goal to bring the best of spices from across India back to our plates. Their first product was the earthy Tellicherry peppercorn, straight from Yathi’s family farm in Wayanad. They quickly realised there’s an abundance of produce in India that is readily available and, more importantly, of high quality.
My parents would say to me: "there is land available, grow something there. At least, you can eat it."
When asked what good spices mean to them, Aswin simply says, “Good spice is good food!” He insists that you can definitely tell the difference in quality from their taste. Take the GI-tagged Marayoor jaggery, for instance. Procured from the sugarcane cultivated in Marayoor and Kanthalloor, bordering the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, it contains a high amount of sucrose, making it a decadent sweetener. Aswin, who drinks about four cups of tea in a day, swears by it: “It’s become a habit to use Marayoor jaggery in my tea,” he confesses. “I don’t like how the other types of jaggery taste now.” He also takes his chai masala very seriously—breaking out spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves every once in a while to create a special blend just for his tea.
For each spice Nilgiri Marten Spices sources, they define and measure quality differently—a high safranal content for saffron, a high gingerol content for ginger, and a high amount of curcumin for turmeric.
It was on a sourcing trip to the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya that Aswin and Yathi met Trinity Saioo, a teacher and farmer who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020 for her contribution to turmeric farming. It was Trinity’s confidence and resilience to put Lakadong turmeric on the spice map that inspired them to continue bringing high-quality products to people.
Each sourcing trip is a memorable experience for Aswin and Yathi. Back when the duo studied together in college, they would regularly travel with a group of friends to places within Kerala, and nearby states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. “We didn’t have much attendance [in class],” jokes Aswin. They remember taking their bikes to Idukki, and being in awe of cardamom plants that lined both sides of the road: “We thought it was grass!” Incidentally, their brand is named after the Nilgiri marten, an elusive mammal native to the Western Ghats, which acts as a pollinator in plantations like the ones in Idukki.
Aswin and Yathi noticed that people, especially those in bustling metropolises, do not typically have access to these farm-fresh spices, even if they want to make better food choices. “We strongly believe that people in the city need two or three days of calmness of being on a farmland and eating good food from there,” says Aswin. “And while we cannot give them the comfort of being there and living there, we can give them the comfort of the products from these places.”
Aswin and Yathi noticed that people, especially those in bustling metropolises, do not typically have access to these farm-fresh spices, even if they want to make better food choices.
Our conversation with Aswin and Yathi spanned ecology, history, and government policy, but it all came back to single-origin and traceability. Aswin observed the use of these terms in the media—on television, in food magazines and publications, and even in random YouTube videos—but never in an Indian context. With Nilgiri Marten Spices, he wanted to bring attention to produce that is close to our homes. All the spices they retail can be traced back to the region where they were cultivated, harvested, and processed. This is also how Nilgiri Marten Spices ensures quality.
With the recent controversy surrounding adulteration in spice mixes from major spice producers in India and across the globe, people are now more cautious about what they consume than ever before. They want to know what they’re eating, and where it comes from—and according to Nilgiri Marten Spices, when customers are asking for more information, they’re usually right in doing so.
Today, Nilgiri Marten Spices sources and retails 11 of the 52 spices recognised by the Spice Board of India—including the Lakadong turmeric from the Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, Malabar vanilla beans and green cardamom from the Idukki district in Kerala, and Kanniyakumari cloves from Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu. All these spices are entirely traceable to the respective regions they’re grown in.
As the years have passed, both Aswin and Yathi have spent time rigorously researching and learning more about spices. They now know that the GI-tagged Kanniyakumari cloves from Nagercoil contain a higher amount of aromatic oil (about 21 percent) than usual (around 18 percent), and vanilla beans from the Malabar region maintain an optimal moisture level of about 25-33 percent.
However, sourcing spices—and ensuring their quality—is no easy task. Their price points are highly unpredictable, and they rely on external factors like inflation and wars. “When we first started, we bought cardamom at the price of rupees 1,300 [per kilogram],” Aswin states. “Now, the cost has climbed up to rupees 2,300 [per kilogram].”
Once the green cloves are plucked and separated, they are laid out in the sun to completely dry, for about two days. Photos by Aswin Prasannakumar.
Quality checks and getting certifications like the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) are also expensive, especially because Nilgiri Marten Spices sources produce in small batches. But this hasn’t deterred Aswin and Yathi. In the future, they hope to start sourcing in big batches, and also add more spices to their repository. For instance, the sumac berry is typically imported from the Mediterranean region, but to our surprise, it also grows in Manipur.
“Our priority will always lie in single-origin.”
They are also keen on expanding beyond spices, and have already started sourcing and supplying varieties of heritage rice to restaurants in Bangkok, Bengaluru, Delhi, Manali, and Mumbai. Even with the growing produce, they reassure us: “Our priority will always lie in single-origin.”
Terms like single-origin, terroir, traceability, and GI tags haven’t necessarily found their way into our everyday vocabulary, but that doesn’t mean we don’t constantly think about the food we eat. Our brains might not have gotten the memo yet, but our palates know—and understand—taste, fragrance, and quality.
“At the end of the day, you need to eat,” says Aswin. So, why not eat the best of what’s out there?
To read more about Nilgiri Marten Spices and their practices and efforts, check out our producer page here. This is a paid partnership with Nilgiri Marten Spices. We strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
Yashvi Shah is the Partnerships Copywriter at The Locavore. In her free time, she likes creating playlists for her friends, and going on runs.
