When on Zanzibar I guess a spice tour is a must, with the islands’ centuries-old spice trade history and all. Turned out the spice farm is not cultivating spices only, but fruit, herbs, berries/coffee beans as well. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, maybe just to show the tourists…? Still it was fun to walk around among the plants and see the spices you have heard of and used, in their original form. At the end of the tour we were sat down on a log and given a lot of different fruits to try – a nice, tasty ending! This is also when the “unlucky” of us had to open up their wallets. You see, in addition to the tour guides there was a group of local boys who decided to tag along. They made figures and small baskets out of banana leaves, which they then handed out, as gifts some of us thought. Those who innocently accepted were faced with the “bill” later on. The oldest trick 🙂
This spice farm visit was part of a day tour. After lunch at the farm, consumed sitting on the floor around a pot of some local dish, while the others in the group headed for a cave/slave chamber and swimming, I was informed I was gonna go on a local bus back to Stone Town. A bit surprised as I had not been told this on booking, I thought I was going back by myself, think that also was the plan, but it turned out one of the guides was heading back as well. Relieved, as I had no idea where I was or how to get back! And I’d say I had a lot more fun on the daladala with the locals, practicing my Kiswahili, Jambo!
PS! Upper photo is of nutmeg
Wow, I’ve not seen nutmeg like that before. I think I’d find a spice tour like this really interesting. Thanks for sharing on #FarawayFiles
Me neither, just see the ones in the store. I liked it a lot!
Spice farms can be quite fun to visit, I went to one in Malaysia and loved seeing what they really look like before they get to the supermarket! #FarawayFiles
I enjoyed it, and found it a lot more interesting than I thought it was going to be. And true, it’s fun to see them in their “natural” form.
Can you eat the “fruit” around the nutmeg seed? I’ve never seen that, but LOVE nutmeg – so happy to learn what it looks like before I sprinkle it on my risengrød at Christmas in Copehagen. (Shhhh – don’t tell the Danes, they don’t agree and think it should ONLY be cinnamon.) #FarawayFiles, Erin
I don’t know, but I don’t think so, because it is dried, and then opened up to take out the seed. The fruit looked like an unripe peach when it was opened. I have never tried nutmeg on risengrynsgrøt, cinnamon only 😀