Green Cardamom
Idukki, Kerala
Shade-grown under cardamom hills forest, picked over eight rounds so only ripe capsules come off.
- Altitude 900 – 1200m
- Harvest Aug – Feb
- We Buy From 4 estates
- Home
- Our Sourcing
Our Sourcing
Six regions, two hundred and fourteen growers, and one rule — we buy at the gate or we do not buy at all.
Farm To Jar
We Would Rather Miss A Season Than Buy Blind
Most spice changes hands four or five times between the field and a retail shelf. Every one of those hands takes a margin and none of them can tell you when it was picked. We cut the chain down to one step.
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Two Buying Trips A Year
Six weeks on the road each season, across four states, with the same two buyers who have done it since 2011.
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Thirty Eight Percent Rejected
More than a third of everything we are offered fails on moisture, grade or smell before a price is discussed.
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Paid Against Their Scale
No commission agent, no deferred settlement. The grower is paid at the gate on the weight they measured.
Where It Grows
Six Regions We Go Back To Every Season
Turmeric
Lakadong, Meghalaya
The curcumin here runs above seven percent, which is roughly double the national average.
- Altitude 1100 – 1400m
- Harvest Nov – Jan
- We Buy From 2 co-ops
Tellicherry Pepper
Wayanad, Kerala
Berries left to ripen on the vine, then graded by size - only the largest carry the Tellicherry name.
- Altitude 700 – 950m
- Harvest Dec – Mar
- We Buy From 6 smallholders
Kashmiri Chilli
Kashmir Valley
Thin-skinned, deep red and almost sweet. Sun dried on the roof rather than in a kiln.
- Altitude 1500 – 1800m
- Harvest Sep – Oct
- We Buy From 3 villages
Black Cardamom
Sikkim Hills
Smoked over hardwood in traditional bhattis, which is where the resin note comes from.
- Altitude 1200 – 2000m
- Harvest Oct – Dec
- We Buy From 2 estates
Ceylon Cinnamon
Matale, Sri Lanka
Peeled by hand, shade dried and rolled into quills within a day of cutting.
- Altitude 440 – 520m
- Harvest Feb – May
- We Buy From 1 estate
The Route
Five Steps From The Field To The Cool Room
Every lot takes the same path and carries the same docket number, so we can tell you the village a jar came from three years after you bought it.
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Harvest week
At The Auction Floor
Our buyers sit through the lot auction with a moisture meter and a notebook. Anything above nine percent goes back.
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Within 48 hours
Weighed At The Farm Gate
We pay the grower directly against the same scale they use, and the docket number follows the lot all the way to the label.
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Week one
Cleaned And Graded
Stalk, husk and stone come out on the air table. The lot is graded by size before anything is bagged.
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Week one to three
Dried To Target
Turmeric goes to full sun, cardamom to shade. Both are turned by hand until the moisture reading holds steady.
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Until you order
Held Whole In Delhi
Nothing is milled on arrival. The lot sits whole in the cool room behind the counter until an order calls for it.
They were the first buyers who ever asked what altitude the field sat at.
Suresh Menon
Cardamom Grower, Idukki — with us since 2011