I recently went searching for spice seeds. I needed them for pictures that could accompany my updated scribblings about herbs and spices, and also for some experimental cultivation in containers. I found more than I had bargained for, including such exotic stuff as dried butterfly pea flowers (clitoria ternatea), liquorice root, star anise and fenugreek. Not the everyday flavourings I am writing about today. But the foray reinforced my oft-stated belief that there is no end to the cornucopia of flavours we are lucky enough to savour in Thailand. Now acknowledged as one of the great cuisines of the world, it owes much of its status to the amazingly varied produce of the Kingdom.
That is where herbs and spices fulfil a key role. All this delectable produce needs seasoning to bring out and enhance those natural flavours. These aromatics have, moreover, the added benefit of acting as natural preservatives. In a world without fridges, they were indispensable.
Most of these plants did not originate in Thailand: pepper, cardamom and cinnamon come from India, cloves and nutmeg (incidentally from the same tree) from what is now Indonesia, star anise and cassia from China, chilies from Mexico. In fact, these highly prized and costly spices were introduced to this country first by traders and subsequently during the mass immigration of both Chinese and Indians to Southeast Asia in the 19th century. But as those of us who daily enjoy Thai cooking can testify, no nation has embraced this spicy culture more enthusiastically.
So where to begin? Most spices come from herbs and from different bits of these herbs ‒ leaves, roots, fruits and seeds. But that many derive from the seeds is logical enough; they were, in earlier times, that part of the plant that could be most readily preserved and used for future cultivation.
And where better than to start with the ubiquitous chilli. Thais consider a dish without chillies to be an insipid concoction. The seed pods are sold in many styles: green (unripe), red (ripe) and red-brown red (sun-dried), the latter often coarsely ground in a pestle and mortar to provide a condiment that can be sprinkled on food. Pungencies, measured on the Scoville scale, vary greatly. The main species are C. annuum, which includes the mild-flavoured capsicum or bell pepper, and C. chinense, which features the impossibly hot naga and Scotch bonnet. Most local varieties are based on C. frutescens, the principal ingredient in Tabasco sauce.
Though chillies are native to Mexico, the aromatic plants grow here everywhere. As with chives and garlic, most pests will not touch them. And all these small plants require are reasonable conditions for growth. Give them plenty of sun and adequate moisture and they will reward you with an eye-catching display of glossy red and green seed pods that you can pick and pick again. And if you want to cultivate less familiar varieties, they will grow readily from packeted seed. Water the growing medium well before sowing; then desist until germination. Unlike the pepper which takes an age to fruit, chilies need a mere 60 days to reach maturity.
Originally, the pepper was the main source of ‘hotness’ – as it still is in many Western dishes. Chillies from the New World came into the culinary picture later. Once so valuable it was sold by the gramme, pepper comes originally from the Malabar Coast, but it thrives readily enough in a Thai garden if it is given plenty of water. Since it is a woody vine, it appreciates support; thus encouraged it may climb to a height of three or four metres. At length ‒ and you may have to wait two years ‒ bunches of berries like tiny green grapes appear amid the lush, deeply ribbed foliage. Personally I prefer them fresh ‒ crunchy and not numbingly hot, but they are normally picked and then sun-dried to produce the familiar whole black peppers. Propagate from cuttings, preferably taken from a cultivar, to ensure consistent quality.
Cumin is another herbaceous annual that is cultivated in Asia for its fragrant seeds. Yet another example of plant migration, it was grown originally in the Levant. The plant has the merit of looking pretty in your herb garden with feathery leaves that resemble those of fennel, and attractive umbels of seeds. These have none of the ferocious kick of pepper or chilli; instead they possess a mild aniseed flavour. Used to the hot dry conditions of the Mediterranean, young plants may suffer in Thailand’s high humidity, but they are worth a gamble in a container.
Patrick Campbell’s book ‘The Tropic Gardener’, described in one Bangkok review as the best book on Thai gardening for 50 years, is available for B500 (half price) to personal callers from 59/84 Soi Saiyuan 13 in Rawai (Tel: 076-613227 or 085-7827551).