Go for a spice tour and see how Zanzibar island’s soils gives best fruits and spices.
What to expect?
While walking through the forest and the fields, you will be able to taste and smell Zanzibar’s treasures and learn more on how they grow and are cooked. You will also have the chance to discover about medical uses of some plants and trees, and feel the magical atmosphere of the wild and green part of the island. Some tours offer traditional lunch or cooking class.
Where to buy spices Zanzibar?
Best place to buy spice in Zanzibar is DARAJANI MARKET BAZAAR
Spice tours are quite famous here. In case you’re planning to join one, make sure that you don’t buy spices directly from the farm, for they are usually more expensive than if you were to buy them at the market. You can also haggle/bargain in the market, something you cannot do on the farms. Give a small tip at spice farms but it is not compulsory.
Zanzibar spice history
Zanzibar is known as the The Spice Island of Africa. This island’s spice heritage harks back more than four centuries ago. In fact, it was previously an ancient trading hub of seafaring routes that circled between India, mainland East Africa, Malaysia and Portugal. During this period, spices from Western Asia made their way to Zanzibar thanks to the useful drift of the monsoon winds that made sailing across the expansive Indian Ocean (using a dhow) easy, practical and relatively fast.
That aside, Zanzibar gained massive popularity as a convenient spice trading bay in the 16th and 17th centuries after Portuguese explorers and traders set up base on the island in preparation of their plan to control the larger East African land block. During this time, the traders imported a collection of foreign plants and spices, which included aromatics from as far as India and South America. Soon enough, the Omani Arabs took over the Indian Ocean island and introduced widespread spice farming on it, thanks to its all-year-round regular rainfall and hot climate. In just a matter of a few decades, Zanzibar was a collection of clove trees interspersed with coconut trunks.
Today, the legendary spices of Zanzibar have made their mark on island’s tasty cuisine. So much so that food served in Zanzibar has a remarkable and distinctive taste that is almost impossible to find anywhere else in the world. What’s more, every visitor who lands in Zanzibar is offered what is now customary known as a ‘mandatory’ spice tour around the island. Among these are turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, chilies, nutmeg, black pepper, and vanilla. You can also take this opportunity to interact with the local population as you stroll through the array of Swahili villages that dot the island just outside Stone Town.
Zanzibar also offers an unforgettable cultural experience that is punctuated by a mouthwatering collection of fruits such as mangoes, lychees, papaya, bananas, jackfruit and the notoriously smelly Durian fruit. The island’s cooking includes full-bodied curries using available seafood such as octopus and meat such as goat. Fragrant spices and traditional Malaysian biryanis (a rice dish) complement the Middle-Eastern style kebabs and bhajias; a filled pastry fritter.