What and Where Were the Spices?
Pepper (black, white, green are all the same). Native to Kerala State in India and still found wild there today. Today grown many places in the tropics including Vietnam, Brazil, Indonesia, China, and Thailand.
Nutmeg and Mace (both derrived from the same plant...nutmeg is the seed and mace is the redish covering of the seed). Originally native to the Banda Islands, part of the Moluccas (modern day Maluku Islands). Keep in mind that Indonesia has between 17,500 and 18,500 islands, of which 8,844 are named and 922 are permanently inhabited. Today grown in Indonesia, Grenada (major producer) , India, Malaysia.
Cloves are the unopened flowerbud of a tropical evergreen and are native to the island of Amboina. Indonesia is still the major producer, followed by Madagascar, Zanzibar (Tanzania), India, and Sri Lanka.
