Spices Of Kerala

Down in Kattappana, specifically at No. 812 in the Mangalasseril Building, you’ll find our little operation, Spices Of Kerala. We’re in Ward VI of the Vellayamkudy post office area. The air around here usually smells like cardamom or pepper, depending on what’s being moved that day. It’s a practical workspace, filled with sacks and scales for weighing things out. We aren't a big factory or anything. It's mostly manual work, sorting through the spices and making sure they’re clean. The floors are concrete and the walls are plain, which makes it easier to keep everything tidy. We’ve lived in this part of Kerala all our lives, so we know the local growers pretty well. We spend a lot of time talking to people and checking the quality of the harvests. It’s a lot of physical labor, lifting bags and moving crates around. We have a small desk in the corner where we keep the ledger and handle the mail. Sometimes the rain gets so heavy you can’t hear yourself think under the tin roof, but we just keep working. It’s a simple business based on what grows in the hills around us. We don't have a website or anything like that; we just focus on the product sitting in front of us. It’s a steady way to make a living, and we’re happy to be doing it right here in Kattappana. It feels right.