Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

Now playing
1h
Feb 17, 2011

The first episode sees Kate Humble retraces the steps of fifteenth century explorers as she heads for India and Sri Lanka, the birthplaces of pepper and cinnamon. On India’s spice coast, she tells the story of pepper, the most consumed spice in the world. She does the pepper dance to shake the berries from their stalks and meets farmers fighting a disease that is destroying crops. In Sri Lanka, the story moves to cinnamon and she learns how the spice is harvested and cinnamon quills are made. She also witnesses the negotiations of local farmers trying to sell the crops they rely on to make their living.

Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

1h
Feb 24, 2011

Indonesia is the setting for the second episode and the spices covered are nutmeg and cloves. These two spices, grown on an archipelago of volcanic islands, drew European explorers in search of wealth but also led to massacres of local people and the decimation of their culture. Kate Humble meets the people who rebuilt their lives and communities around nutmeg and cloves and discovers how the battle for these spices led to the beginning of the British Empire in North America.

Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

1h
Mar 3, 2011

The final episode takes in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and the plains of Spain for the world’s most expensive spice, saffron, before crossing the Atlantic to Mexico in search of vanilla. In the Atlas Mountains, she joins a local saffron farmer and his family to harvest their crop. In Spain, she joins a blind tasting to sort out the genuine from the fakes and meets the man who tests the DNA of saffron. In Papantla, the birthplace of vanilla, she meets the Totonac, the original guardians of the spice. She witnesses a fertility dance and comes face to face with the people determined to keep Mexican vanilla alive in the face of competition from other producers

Episodes

Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

The Spice Trail

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Episodes

Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

Episodes

E1 Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

E2 Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

E3 Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

Overview

Fun facts

Details

Network

Production

Cast

More like this

Episodes

E1 Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

E2 Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

E3 Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron

Episode 1: Pepper and Cinnamon

Episode 2: Nutmeg and Cloves

Episode 3: Vanilla and Saffron