The Spice Trail (2011) s01e01 Episode Script
Pepper and Cinnamon
'The world loves spice.
'The exotic ingredients in so many of our favourite dishes 'have revolutionised the way we eat.
'But the search for these amazing tastes, now found 'in every kitchen cupboard, changed the course of history.
' This is a journey to find out how spices shaped our modern world.
I'm going to be visiting some of their exotic birthplaces 'and travelling the globe to discover just how these spices made it to our tables.
'I'll be meeting the people whose lives depend on them 'and following the trail of the first spice explorers.
' Empires built and destroyed, immense fortunes made and countless lives lost - during one of the most exciting periods of discovery in the history of the western world.
And all in the name of spice.
Come on! Go for it! 'Like most people, I have a cupboard full of spices - 'dried seeds and bark that we all think of as commonplace.
'But back in the 15th century, two spices in particular 'led the Europeans to travel beyond the known world.
'I've followed them to India, looking for pepper, before heading to Sri Lanka, to find cinnamon.
'This is known as the Spice Coast - '300 miles of shoreline with lush tropical forests and a labyrinth of waterways.
'And, more often than not, hot weather and blue skies.
'But thisis monsoon season.
' Our story begins with a spice that every single one of us will have in our cupboards or on our tables.
It's so ordinary and everyday, that we utterly take it for granted.
And it's this Black pepper.
But this was once so valuable, it was known as black gold, and in medieval times, if you stole a handful of peppercorns like this, it was as lucrative as doing a successful bank raid today.
Serving black pepper to your guests was undeniable proof of your wealth and power.
This was once the world's most sought-after spice, and it comes from here - Kerala, in Southern India.
'Our love affair with pepper dates back to the Romans.
'They couldn't get enough of the stuff.
'And it wasn't just roads and plumbing they brought to Europe - 'they left us with a taste for what they called "piper nigrum".
'But what do we really know about this spice? 'To find out, I'm travelling high into the hills of Idukki, 'one of Kerala's premier pepper-growing areas.
'This is sacred and protected land, 'home to an ancient tribal people.
'The Manan have been cultivating pepper for centuries.
'Karan Bakshi, a former chef, understands this spice, 'and now works with the tribe growing and selling it.
' Now, I'm going to just have a closer look at what's going on here.
I can't believe these are the ladders.
Yeah, these are the bamboo poles they use to climb up I mean, it A very traditional practice.
It is very traditional, but it looks terrifying.
The vine is not that strong, so it creates a very good balance.
So you don't want a great heavy thing up above it.
I mean, you make it look very easy and very comfortable Can I have a go? So, let's see.
Right.
And then I Oooh! SHE LAUGHS It's quite wobbly! So how Oh, my goodness, I'm not sure this is a good idea.
Oooh! It's twisting! So, pepper is basically a creeper, isn't it? Yes.
It's a creeper and it's attached to a tree called the coral tree.
And these are the berries, the pepper berries.
So you stand up and you pluck? This is how it's plucked.
So you pluck the whole thing, and you put it in your sarong like that? I'm going to come down.
Whoop I'm going to leave you to be the expert.
Thank you very much.
Please carry on! So, pepper is probably THE most familiar spice to us - it's good old black pepper.
Is white pepper something quite different? That's a very common question - does white pepper come from a different creeper? But it's not.
The white pepper, the black pepper and the green pepper come from the same vine.
What happens with black pepper, you're drying it in the sun, and it's holding up all the flavours, and it becomes roasted black colour.
But what happens with white pepper is you soak them in water, to remove the outer skin, the green skin.
And that's what makes it much milder, and it's white in colour and of course not that pungent.
Not that pungent.
So that, dried, would become a black peppercorn - that, soaked, would become a white peppercorn.
White pepper.
A-ha But it's all the same thing.
It's all the same thing.
'Pepper has been harvested like this in India for thousands of years.
'And for centuries, the people who sold it to the rest of the world were Arab traders.
'They knew where to find it, and they weren't about to let anyone else in on the secret.
'Back in the 15th century, Europeans had no idea how pepper was produced.
'And, to be honest, neither do I.
' So do you just"whoosh" like that? No No? No way! You trample it?! Yes.
Can I try? Yeah.
OK SHE LAUGHS Like this? It's like a little pepper dance! What do you think, girls? Good? What's extraordinary when you're doing this - as badly as I clearly am - is that you get the smell of pepper coming up from your feet! Go on, you do it.
'This is how it SHOULD be done.
' So next time you're grinding peppercorns onto your scrambled eggs of a morning, you can remember how those peppercorns started life.
Look at that One little dance - and whole fistfuls of pepper.
'So - pick the berries, dance on them, and leave 'them out in the sun for three days, and hey presto, you've got the black peppercorns we know and love.
'It really is as simple as that.
' THEY SING 'But for centuries in the West, pepper was a luxury item, and came with an air of mystique.
'The European map of the world still had plenty of blank spaces, and 'pepper's unknown origins gave rise to all sorts of fantastic stories.
' One such tale was that pepper forests were guarded by highly venomous flying serpents.
Once the berries were ripe, people would come along and set fire to the forests, driving away the snakes and engulfing the plants in flames.
Those flames would turn the berries black, and give them their fiery taste.
The berries then had to be harvested at breakneck speed, before furious serpents returned to wreak their revenge.
'These tall tales suited the Arab traders, who were making a fortune while protecting their source.
'The spice was sent on a marathon journey, travelling from here to the tables of the rich in the West.
'And along the way were plenty of merchants charging a hefty mark-up.
'Today, in Kerala, there are still plenty of spice traders doing very nicely out of pepper.
' How much for 100 grams of black pepper? 50 rupees.
Five-zero.
50 rupees? Should I bargain? Should I be saying, "No, no, no! 40! 40!" No! Bargaining, no! 55(!) No! I say 40.
OK.
You're going to win this one.
Thank you very much.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF It's the singing spice man! LADY LAUGHS HE GOES ON SINGING Do you think he only sings when he's making money(?) THEY LAUGH Sir, it has been a pleasure.
Dance Dance? Well, you have to sing.
OK, wait HE STARTS TO SING AGAIN 'Pepper may have been expensive, but there was no shortage of people willing to pay the price.
'In the 15th century, these little dried berries not only spiced up the food of the rich, 'they were also believed to be a cure for the plague - the Black Death - 'ravaging Europe.
'The Arabs had total control of the pepper trade and the vast income it produced.
'But that was all about to change.
'On the 8th of July, 1497, 'Portugal sent their finest navigator, Vasco da Gama, 'in search of pepper.
'Da Gama was 37 years old, and the son of a nobleman, with a reputation 'for steely determination.
He was going to need it.
'Da Gama's flotilla headed for the coast of Africa, 'using the monsoon winds to propel them around the Cape of Good Hope 'and into the Indian Ocean.
'Finally, in May of 1498, Da Gama's crew landed on the Malabar coast, 'making them the first Europeans to find the sea route to India.
' It's reported that Da Gama's little fleet landed here.
And legend has it that Da Gama and his men marched up the beach shouting "For Christ and spices!" Although more likely, some poor soul was sent ahead and only when he came back in one piece did Da Gama go ashore.
Although obviously that version isn't QUITE so good for posterity.
But whatever the truth, there is no denying the fact that the Portuguese had hit the jackpot.
They had landed here in Kerala, the birthplace of pepper.
When da Gama first arrived on India's Malabar coast, he expected to find a few godless savages who would happily trade their black gold for a few worthless European fripperies.
But what he was actually met by was a cosmopolitan melting pot of enormous wealth and sophistication.
'This is Cochin, Spice City central.
'And for centuries, traders came here from far and wide in search of pepper - 'Muslims, Jews, Arabs and Chinese.
'In the 1400s, this was a boom town.
'Pepper was to Cochin what oil is to the Gulf States today.
'In trading halls throughout Cochin, spice deals are going on every day.
'The spice on sale today is ginger.
'What's fascinating is how these deals are being conducted in silence, and in secret.
' So, what you're doing is you're trying to agree a price, and you do it in secret? In secret.
Under here? Can you show me the hand signals? He's asking 200.
200 is two fingers? Yeah And then I say two? Six.
Six Five plus one.
Five plus one.
So that That's incredibly complicated! Seven, is this? Eight is that one Two times.
Ah, two times? Four, and four.
'These hand signals evolved over centuries from the need 'to have a common language among traders from all over the world.
' Six.
Six Ah! Five How do you know that's not ten though, it's the same as ten I think I would be a very bad trader.
This one eight That's eight? 208.
208 'In theory, all this secrecy means a better deal for the seller.
'It's like a game of poker '.
.
and the buyers are trying to call the sellers' bluff.
'But I'M not fooling anyone.
' So, now we have agreed the deal.
Do you shake hands under here? How do you say, "I agree"? Agree Up.
That goes up.
And the deal is finished.
A-ha.
I will say, "You take it.
" 'In the Middle Ages, pepper was so valuable that to prevent theft, 'workers handling the spice were forbidden from wearing 'trousers with cuffs or pockets.
'And when coins were scarce, pepper was used as currency - 'hence the term "peppercorn rent".
'Today, pepper is the only spice that's quoted on the stock market.
' Everything's done in secret under this towel And these guys have just walked in - they made an offer to the seller, who just SHE CLICKS HER FINGERS So clearly there are some big deals going on.
THEY CONVERSE IN HINDI But it's just an amazing way of selling stuff.
And this scene could be a thousand years ago Apart from the shiny sandals and the mobile phones, of course.
'Da Gama may have found an established business community in Cochin, 'but the sea route opened by the Portuguese 'introduced new European traders to the Indian pepper market.
'And today, as then, it's all about supply and demand.
' Do you sell pepper? Yes.
Short, short.
Pepper's short.
Why? Less crop.
Crop is down Really?! Less crop.
This is the home of pepper.
Demand is good.
Demand is high.
But Commercial crop is less.
Ah 'But why is there a shortage of the spice here in India? 'To find out, I need to head north 'to the traditional heartland 'of pepper production in Kerala - Wayanad.
'A place the traders of Da Gama's time knew as the Pepper Mountains.
'This 400-acre pepper plantation has been run by Victor Dey for the last 17 years.
'There should be a fabulous spread here of vines and berries - 'but that's far from the case.
' This is unexpected I was expecting to see lushness andplants everywhere and this looks like a scene of devastation.
It is.
It is.
Every single tree that you see here had pepper growing up it as you can see.
So that was a pepper vine? A pepper vine, yeah.
It's all wilt.
Wilt? Yeah.
It's a fungal attack which has hit the pepper.
Not only mine, but the entire district.
But I thought that Wayanad was the absolute epitome of pepper production in the whole of Kerala? Exactly.
That's what made Wayanad famous.
Pepper was a natural crop here, it just took off.
You planted the slips, and the next thing you know, three years later, you've got a luxuriant pepper vine.
How much pepper did you produce on the whole estate? 25 tonnes.
25 tonnes? 25 tonnes.
And now? And now With difficulty, a little over a tonne last year.
That explains then - because I met these guys in Cochin who said people desperately want pepper, the pepper market is really strong.
Apparently local demand is going up as well, but they simply can't get it, and I couldn't understand it.
I thought, "This is the home of pepper!" It's all because of the wilt.
So you've lost an enormous amount.
A huge amount.
It is definitely spreading.
Without doubt.
This was a beautiful area at one time.
It's sad when you see it like this.
Isn't it.
'The spice that drew the world to India's shores 'and grew in abundance all over this landscape is now under threat.
'At risk are the livelihoods of the tribespeople, 'whose small pepper farms are scattered in the mountains.
'It's harvest time in Kerala 'and festivals like this, deep in the heart of Wayanad, 'are rooted in traditions that are thousands of years old.
'These isolated communities depend on pepper 'and the disease that has ravaged the crop 'has touched the lives of everyone here.
'And none more so than local farmer Jinesh Joseph.
'Jinesh and his brother, Suresh, 'were raised on this farm, where their father grew pepper.
'When the plants were ravaged by the disease, tragedy struck.
' So the pepper crop failed? The pepper is destroyed due to the disease.
Everything on the farmdestroyed? Destroyed.
Your entire family income disappeared? Disappeared.
That is the main problem.
'In the last five years, 'there have been as many as 200 suicides among pepper farmers.
'But the brothers refused to give up.
'They left their studies to help rescue the farm 'and repay the debts their father left behind.
'And by introducing soil nutrients and a new strain of plant, 'they're growing pepper on their farm once again.
' 'To celebrate the harvest, 'the twins have invited me to a family meal, 'prepared by their mother, Elyama.
' Smells delicious.
'And naturally, pepper is very much on the menu.
' Pepper.
From here? From your farm? OK.
Look at this.
It's a pickle! Ah! So these are pickle made out of the pepper berries.
How amazing.
This looks delicious.
I think it might be potato Yam.
Yam! It's not potato, it's yam.
So you're putting pepper in here.
Wow - pepper in everything! The lovely thing that I'm beginning to discover about Indian cooking is that you never have to do anything on your own.
You have a whole team.
This is our pepper feast.
Peppered yams, peppered beef, peppered beetroot, pepper pickle and pepper soup.
Don't laugh at me! You try saying "pepper pickle" at this time of day! This is for you.
OK, small, small.
Perfect.
OK.
Delicious! What is so wonderful about this food is the taste of the pepper is incredibly strong.
You absolutely know that you're eating a pepper-based dish.
And the pepper tastes completely different from the pepper we have at home.
Maybe because it literally is grown on the doorstep.
It's delicious, Elyama.
Thank you.
Delicious! 'But in India, pepper isn't just used for seasoning food' '.
.
it's used for something even more fundamental.
'For over 5,000 years, 'Indians have been turning to a traditional system of medicine 'to treat their ailments.
'It's called Ayurveda and it means "science of life".
'It originated here in Kerala 'and pepper is one of its main ingredients.
'Dr Mary Smitha is a renowned practitioner of this ancient medicine.
' My goodness, this is like a treasure trove! It's amazing.
Like a sort of wizard's workshop.
So everything you use in Ayurvedic medicine - all these wonderful barks and seeds - is all natural.
You use no chemicals at all? Yes, it's completely natural.
Actually, plants have their energy from nature.
Plants are deep-rooted in nature, so we are using that energy for our body.
We are trying to blend the energy of nature and trying to bring about an equilibrium in the human body.
Ayurveda comes from Kerala, pepper, as I now have discovered, also comes from Kerala.
So in Ayurvedic medicine, what would you use pepper for? Pepper is a decongestant.
It's a very good decongestant.
It can be used in all the respiratory ailments.
Even asthma? Would it help with that? Definitely, this can help.
It can bring down cholesterol levels It's a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-viral medicine.
So, this little berry has not just made a lot of people very, very rich over the years, it's made a lot of people very healthy.
That's true.
It's a little wonder berry.
'So I wonder, what could it do for me?' I can detect a little bit of fatigue, probably Fatigue.
Yeah.
Is there anything in Ayurvedic medicine that can give me a bit of an energy boost? There is this wonder drug that is the long pepper.
Long pepper? Yeah.
Where is it? Piper longum.
Wow.
Look at that.
Can I taste it? Yeah, of course you can.
Is it going to blow my head off? Let's see 'Back in medieval Europe, 'this close relative to black pepper was every bit as popular.
'Today, though, it's most commonly used as an Ayurvedic cure.
' It sort of explodes.
It's on the tip of your tongue, the taste, isn't it? I put six grams of powder in one glass of milk.
My tongue is on fire! 'Pepper flavours the cuisine, the economy, the medicine, 'and the traditions of this part of India.
'An offering worthy of the gods themselves.
' 'On the banks of the Pampa river in central Kerala, 'pepper is being offered to honour the local Hindu deity.
' 'These men - many of them local farmers - 'are about to take to the water 'in the most important contest 'of a harvest festival that lasts ten whole days.
'It's known as Onam.
'This team, from Mallappuzhassery, are hot favourites to win.
' 'And since I'm hitching a lift upriver with their supporters, 'I've decided to adopt them as my team.
' This is the start of the most traditional boat race in all of India.
It's kind of intrinsic to the Onam festival, one of the most important parts.
'The spectacular Snake Boat Race is a 2,000-year-old event 'featuring the largest teams of any sport in the world.
' These incredible-looking boats have got 100 oarsmen apiece, and each boat represents a local village.
'40 villages, many located in pepper country, are taking part.
' What a spectacle! 'The Mallappuzhassery team have been victorious for the last two years, 'and I'm hoping they'll make it a hat-trick.
' Good luck, guys! Come on, guys! It's going to be neck and neck, this one! Three boats together, and there's hardly a whisker in it.
Go! They're paddling their hearts out.
Come on! Go, guys! Whoo! 'It was a close-run thing, but my boys didn't get their hat-trick.
'They couldn't have tried harder.
' They look absolutely exhausted.
'I think it might be time for a traditional pick-me-up, 'Ayurvedic style.
' Can I have some chai? Chai.
Tea, for me? Please.
I have this spice.
You know this? Pippali.
Grippali? Pippali.
Pippali.
In English - long pepper.
An Ayurvedic doctor told me it's very good for lots of energy.
It makes you bounce.
Ayurvedic.
Ayurvedic.
So can I use this? And pound it up? Grind? Grind - exactly! Is that OK? OK.
It's quite hard, isn't it? Let me try.
This is a woman who knows how to grind! It will make you very strong.
Yes, yes.
Good? Yes, yes.
Do you feel very That's enough.
A little bit of pepper in OK, what do you think? Good? You can't really taste the pepper.
But Sudha likes it.
So, despite winning all their heats decisively, and it was an incredibly exciting competition, sadly, my adopted team didn't win.
They came second, so they're a fairly dejected lot of boys today.
So I know what's going to pep them up and give them strength to win next year's race.
Good morning, good morning.
I'm sorry you didn't win, but you were magnificent.
We thought you were great.
So try this.
It'll give you energy after all your work.
'The climax of the ten-day Onam festival 'is a procession of all the boats to the main temple.
' THEY SING 'And it certainly looks as if my team may have benefited 'from the pepper pick-me-up.
' 'Women are not allowed in the boats, 'so I'm making my way by foot, to meet up with the team at the temple 'where everyone is giving thanks for the harvest 'to the all-bestowing god, Parthasarathy.
' 'And despite their earlier disappointment, 'my team's spirits seem high.
' Come on, boys! These are my boys and they will win next year without any doubt.
'By the turn of the 16th century, 'the Portuguese were at the forefront of the spice race.
'And with Western appetites for exotic tastes running high, 'what they couldn't obtain through trade, they took by force.
' 'In the name of pepper, 'the Portuguese laid siege to the Spice Coast of India.
' Eight years after Da Gama first landed in Kerala, the Portuguese had established a fairly firm foothold here.
They built this fort, and in it, put their first viceroy in India.
Then, pretty confident that they had control over the pepper trade, their quest for spices turned south.
'They set forth in search of another rare taste, 'highly desired amongst the rich in 16th-century Europe.
'A spice for which they were prepared to pay exorbitant prices - 'Cinnamon.
' 'Even rarer and more expensive than pepper, 'its source was a mystery.
'The Portuguese were constantly raiding Arab ships along the Indian coast 'and often found cinnamon among the cargo.
'They suspected the source for the spice was nearby, 'but the ocean beyond Kerala was - 'as far as the Portuguese were concerned - 'uncharted waters.
'But in 1506, Portuguese sailors pursuing an Arab merchant ship 'found themselves adrift in rough seas in the Indian Ocean 'and sought shelter on an unfamiliar coast.
' The Portuguese landed here, on the shores of Sri Lanka - or Ceylon as it was then known - little realising that the bad weather had brought them to exactly the place they were looking for.
Now, as was customary in those days Shall I give you a hand? .
.
They asked the locals to take them to their king.
Now, the Portuguese had pitched up in the Kingdom of Kotte - not a very big kingdom - and the locals wanted to impress these exotic foreigners.
So, instead of taking them by the direct route to the king, which only would have taken a couple of hours and given the impression that the kingdom was tiny, they took them on a circuitous route that took about three days.
And the phrase, "taking the Portuguese to Kotte," has now entered local parlance and it's kind of the Sri Lankan equivalent of being led on a wild-goose chase.
'Back then, Kotte was one of several kingdoms 'that made up the exotic island of Ceylon.
'The rival rulers were constantly at each others throats, 'a situation that the Portuguese were able to exploit 'in their attempts to control the cinnamon trade.
' 'This is the coastal town of Galle 'and I haven't had to look far 'to find the spice that was once so coveted.
' Cinnamon? From Sri Lanka? Yes, from Sri Lanka.
Number one quality cinnamon in Sri Lanka.
Number one quality.
Good morning.
'But to see where cinnamon actually grows, 'I need to head into the dense jungles of nearby Hikkaduwa.
'This is cinnamon country 'and I'm here to meet local farmer Premal Wickramasinghe.
' Are you Premal? How are you? Very well.
What a beautiful, beautiful place.
It's amazing.
It's like a mythical jungle.
Come.
'This farm has been in Premal's family for more than three generations.
'He took it over 20 years ago and transformed it into an organic farm producing high-quality cinnamon.
' I'll show you cinnamon.
Well, that would be wonderful because I have no idea how the cinnamon that we see in those funny little sticks gets from a real living plant.
I can't even imagine what the plant looks like.
This is cinnamon.
The cinnamon plant.
This is organic cinnamon.
They are harvesting.
I'm going to try and get close without getting my arm chopped off.
It doesn't smell.
Do the leaves smell of cinnamon? You can smell this.
Oh, yeah! You can bite it and taste it.
It's an incredible taste.
And this is called cinnamon ceylonica.
Of course, Sri Lankan cinnamon.
It's the bark of these branches that cinnamon is made from.
I'm looking at these guys doing all this work - can I have a go? Yeah.
Cut like this, towards the root.
OK.
The trick to harvesting is to cut with strength and accuracy.
So, all I have to do is make two well-aimed incisions.
Oh, I'm making a right mess! Really hard.
Really hard? Well, that's the theory.
I think a career in forestry doesn't await! Don't laugh at me, I'm trying! There.
OK.
It's easier if you hold it like this - look.
OK.
And then cut down.
20 years' practice, I reckon I could be quite good at this.
'It's hard to believe that from this ordinary-looking branch 'comes a spice adored since ancient times.
'Back then, they may have loved it, but, like me, they had no idea 'of the origins of cinnamon.
'5th-century BC historian Herodotus came up with his own colourful version of the cinnamon story.
' Do you know the Herodotus story? No.
You don't? He said that cinnamon was gathered from the nests of birds, and there were these giant birds who would make nests out of cinnamon sticks.
But their nests were right up on inaccessible cliffs so you couldn't get to them, so the way that the cinnamon had to be gathered was that the people of the villages where these nests were built would kill an animal and leave huge chunks of meat underneath the nest, the birds would come down, gather the meat, take it up to their nests, the meat was so heavy the nests would collapse, there were your cinnamon sticks.
What a palaver! Mind you, that might have been easier than me cutting it! The myth may be far-fetched, but it seems that what I'm witnessing here can't have changed too much since the time of Herodotus.
The skills of the cinnamon peelers have been passed down from generation to generation and go back thousands of years.
The first part of the process is to strip the outer bark of the branch to reveal the golden inner bark which is the cinnamon.
It's like peeling a big carrot.
You have to remove every little bit, but really finely so you don't dig in to the stuff underneath.
No, no.
This rubbing process that he's doing now, that's loosening this bark.
Next comes the most intricate operation - making a series of incisions to separate the cinnamon from the branch.
The workers here are paid by how much cinnamon they cut.
So it pays to be fast and skilful like Babynuna, one of the most experienced of Premal's workers.
You do that very, very expertly.
Have you been doing this for a very long time? Could you show me how to do the peeling? And then you put it through your toe.
And go down like that? Ooh, it's like skinning something alive.
Then down again? Oh, I'm making a terrible mess.
I'm driving you mad.
You can't believe how slow I am.
If I have no finger left.
I'm blaming you.
I can deal with nine? Is that what you're saying? OK.
'I've managed to keep hold of all my fingers 'but I've made a right mess of the cinnamon.
'There's clearly a knack to this that might just take 'more than a day for me to master! 'My cinnamon tutor Babynuna belongs to a caste of people, the Salagama, who have been the enduring guardians of cinnamon throughout all the chapters of Sri Lanka's colonial past.
'Exploiting their skills was crucial to Portugal's plan to monopolise the spice trade here.
' You are from a special caste of people that are totally connected with cinnamon.
Can you tell me about the Salagama? It was the Salagama's skills with cinnamon that saved them, even if it meant they lived as virtual slaves.
'Those skills include the final part of the process - 'the building of the cinnamon quills.
' OK, Babynuna's going to show me how to make a quill.
She's looking a little doubtful.
I don't think she has much faith after the peeling episode.
But let's try.
So these are the bits I peeled.
So this becomes like the outer casing and everything gets packed beautifully into it.
So then you carry on.
OK.
OK So you really pack it in, yeah? You did make it look easy, and it really isn't.
There's a lot more to a cinnamon stick than meets the eye.
And that will sit drying but every night you'll roll it a bit, won't you? So that then tightens it up, and that will happen for two weeks, and you will finally get your beautiful, regulation-length cinnamon stick.
That's a lot of work.
You're amazing.
You know you're amazing.
Cinnamon requires a lot more effort and skill to prepare than pepper.
It is literally a hand-made product.
'But the knowledge possessed by people like Babynuna is gradually dying out.
' Really pack it in.
And what about today? You're still working in cinnamon.
You said that your father taught you how to be a cinnamon peeler.
Are you worried that other young Salagama - like your daughter and your son - will not go into the cinnamon industry? If I practice a little more, shall I come and work with you? The Portuguese weren't just after Sri Lankan spices - they'd also come to claim souls for Christ.
They were determined that if the cinnamon trade was to be theirs, they would have to convert as well as conquer.
But in some parts of the country they met determined resistance.
I'm heading inland and up to the hills of Kandy for a unique festival that celebrates an important victory over the Portuguese.
This is amazing.
I can't imagine that there could be any more people.
It's like the whole of Kandy have piled out on to the streets.
OK, ready? Yes! Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Have a lovely day.
It's so exciting.
Look at everybody's faces! This festival, known as Perahara, not only celebrates the Buddhist faith, but also the defiance shown by the local people to the foreign cinnamon hunters.
When the Portuguese realised that this little island was home to their precious cinnamon, they wanted to take over the whole place.
And where they met the most resistance was here, the Kingdom of Kandy.
Those 16th-century rebels harassed and attacked the Portuguese everywhere they tried to establish cinnamon plantations.
Kandy is home to the holiest of holy sites if you are a Buddhist.
The Temple of the Tooth wherein lies one of Buddha's teeth.
So the Portuguese thought, "If we steal that tooth, we'll break the spirit of the people "of Kandy and we will take them over no problem at all.
" So that's exactly what they did.
FIRE CRACKERS CRACKLE Except that the tooth they stole was a fake .
.
and the people of Kandy were never subjugated by the Portuguese.
So, this is the moment that this whole crowd has been waiting for.
This festival is all about that tooth that the Portuguese tried to steal.
And in that casket on that huge elephant, flanked by two almost-as-big male elephants, is the real tooth of Buddha.
And the whole of Kandy has turned out to see it.
I have a little tip for you.
If you go to Perahara, and I thoroughly recommend it, it's fantastic, don't book yourself on a 6am train the following morning because you'll feel very bleary-eyed indeed.
Now where were we? The Portuguese.
They never did take Kandy but they did continue to wreak havoc in the rest of the country, as did the Dutch who followed 100 or so years later, and then, in 1796, it was the turn of the British.
The people of Sri Lanka resisted, as best they could, all these foreign interventions.
But they couldn't ignore foreign appetites.
Cinnamon was, and still is, an important part of the economic survival of many small farmers.
And that includes the cinnamon grower I've come to know, Premal.
Today's the day that Premal hopes to sell the cinnamon he's been growing for the last few months.
He has no idea where in the world his cinnamon will end up, and his business deals are confined to local middlemen like this one.
I've witnessed how much painstaking work goes into making cinnamon, so I'm hoping Premal gets the price he wants.
The negotiations aren't going well.
Premal's choices are limited.
Does he accept a low price or hold his nerve? There's no sale and this dealer won't return.
These four bundles of Premal's beautiful, organic cinnamon represent hours of skilled labour and years of experience.
Premal didn't sell them today because he was hoping for a price that equates to roughly ã4.
80 per kilo in English money, and the man wouldn't give it to him.
This is cinnamon bought in an English supermarket.
It's not organic and it's not as high-grade as Premal's and it cost ã1.
47 for 13 grams.
There's something not quite right about that, isn't there? That's a 2,000% mark up.
Someone's doing very well out of this trade but it certainly isn't Premal or any of the other spice farmers around here.
It's not only market forces that play a part in cinnamon's fortunes but the forces of nature.
The devastating tsunami of 2004 killed 4,200 people and wiped out 300 cinnamon farms in this area.
And in the face of this destruction, Premal and the other survivors turned to their religion.
The Day Of The Full Moon is considered holy in the Buddhist tradition and I've joined Premal and a procession of local farmers to make an offering of cinnamon to the god Deval.
Now, this is the deity that people turn to in their hour of need.
And it's also the god that people around here believe saved the temple from destruction during the tsunami.
So Premal is hoping that this offering today will ensure him and the other farmers a successful cinnamon crop this year.
In Sri Lanka, cinnamon is considered not only good for the body but sustenance for the soul.
A sample from Premal's harvest is a welcome offering at the temple and will be distributed among the poor of his local community.
I came to Asia to explore the exotic origins of two staples in every British kitchen cupboard.
Cinnamon and pepper.
Two ordinary spices, with an extraordinary past.
The search for their source opened up the world and the Europeans who sailed to the ends of the earth for spice made fortunes, while the people who grew them never got their share of the spoils.
But the vibrant cultures in India and Sri Lanka where spice plays a part in everything from sustenance to the sacred are still going strong.
These lands are still suffused with the scent and taste of pepper and cinnamon.
'The exotic ingredients in so many of our favourite dishes 'have revolutionised the way we eat.
'But the search for these amazing tastes, now found 'in every kitchen cupboard, changed the course of history.
' This is a journey to find out how spices shaped our modern world.
I'm going to be visiting some of their exotic birthplaces 'and travelling the globe to discover just how these spices made it to our tables.
'I'll be meeting the people whose lives depend on them 'and following the trail of the first spice explorers.
' Empires built and destroyed, immense fortunes made and countless lives lost - during one of the most exciting periods of discovery in the history of the western world.
And all in the name of spice.
Come on! Go for it! 'Like most people, I have a cupboard full of spices - 'dried seeds and bark that we all think of as commonplace.
'But back in the 15th century, two spices in particular 'led the Europeans to travel beyond the known world.
'I've followed them to India, looking for pepper, before heading to Sri Lanka, to find cinnamon.
'This is known as the Spice Coast - '300 miles of shoreline with lush tropical forests and a labyrinth of waterways.
'And, more often than not, hot weather and blue skies.
'But thisis monsoon season.
' Our story begins with a spice that every single one of us will have in our cupboards or on our tables.
It's so ordinary and everyday, that we utterly take it for granted.
And it's this Black pepper.
But this was once so valuable, it was known as black gold, and in medieval times, if you stole a handful of peppercorns like this, it was as lucrative as doing a successful bank raid today.
Serving black pepper to your guests was undeniable proof of your wealth and power.
This was once the world's most sought-after spice, and it comes from here - Kerala, in Southern India.
'Our love affair with pepper dates back to the Romans.
'They couldn't get enough of the stuff.
'And it wasn't just roads and plumbing they brought to Europe - 'they left us with a taste for what they called "piper nigrum".
'But what do we really know about this spice? 'To find out, I'm travelling high into the hills of Idukki, 'one of Kerala's premier pepper-growing areas.
'This is sacred and protected land, 'home to an ancient tribal people.
'The Manan have been cultivating pepper for centuries.
'Karan Bakshi, a former chef, understands this spice, 'and now works with the tribe growing and selling it.
' Now, I'm going to just have a closer look at what's going on here.
I can't believe these are the ladders.
Yeah, these are the bamboo poles they use to climb up I mean, it A very traditional practice.
It is very traditional, but it looks terrifying.
The vine is not that strong, so it creates a very good balance.
So you don't want a great heavy thing up above it.
I mean, you make it look very easy and very comfortable Can I have a go? So, let's see.
Right.
And then I Oooh! SHE LAUGHS It's quite wobbly! So how Oh, my goodness, I'm not sure this is a good idea.
Oooh! It's twisting! So, pepper is basically a creeper, isn't it? Yes.
It's a creeper and it's attached to a tree called the coral tree.
And these are the berries, the pepper berries.
So you stand up and you pluck? This is how it's plucked.
So you pluck the whole thing, and you put it in your sarong like that? I'm going to come down.
Whoop I'm going to leave you to be the expert.
Thank you very much.
Please carry on! So, pepper is probably THE most familiar spice to us - it's good old black pepper.
Is white pepper something quite different? That's a very common question - does white pepper come from a different creeper? But it's not.
The white pepper, the black pepper and the green pepper come from the same vine.
What happens with black pepper, you're drying it in the sun, and it's holding up all the flavours, and it becomes roasted black colour.
But what happens with white pepper is you soak them in water, to remove the outer skin, the green skin.
And that's what makes it much milder, and it's white in colour and of course not that pungent.
Not that pungent.
So that, dried, would become a black peppercorn - that, soaked, would become a white peppercorn.
White pepper.
A-ha But it's all the same thing.
It's all the same thing.
'Pepper has been harvested like this in India for thousands of years.
'And for centuries, the people who sold it to the rest of the world were Arab traders.
'They knew where to find it, and they weren't about to let anyone else in on the secret.
'Back in the 15th century, Europeans had no idea how pepper was produced.
'And, to be honest, neither do I.
' So do you just"whoosh" like that? No No? No way! You trample it?! Yes.
Can I try? Yeah.
OK SHE LAUGHS Like this? It's like a little pepper dance! What do you think, girls? Good? What's extraordinary when you're doing this - as badly as I clearly am - is that you get the smell of pepper coming up from your feet! Go on, you do it.
'This is how it SHOULD be done.
' So next time you're grinding peppercorns onto your scrambled eggs of a morning, you can remember how those peppercorns started life.
Look at that One little dance - and whole fistfuls of pepper.
'So - pick the berries, dance on them, and leave 'them out in the sun for three days, and hey presto, you've got the black peppercorns we know and love.
'It really is as simple as that.
' THEY SING 'But for centuries in the West, pepper was a luxury item, and came with an air of mystique.
'The European map of the world still had plenty of blank spaces, and 'pepper's unknown origins gave rise to all sorts of fantastic stories.
' One such tale was that pepper forests were guarded by highly venomous flying serpents.
Once the berries were ripe, people would come along and set fire to the forests, driving away the snakes and engulfing the plants in flames.
Those flames would turn the berries black, and give them their fiery taste.
The berries then had to be harvested at breakneck speed, before furious serpents returned to wreak their revenge.
'These tall tales suited the Arab traders, who were making a fortune while protecting their source.
'The spice was sent on a marathon journey, travelling from here to the tables of the rich in the West.
'And along the way were plenty of merchants charging a hefty mark-up.
'Today, in Kerala, there are still plenty of spice traders doing very nicely out of pepper.
' How much for 100 grams of black pepper? 50 rupees.
Five-zero.
50 rupees? Should I bargain? Should I be saying, "No, no, no! 40! 40!" No! Bargaining, no! 55(!) No! I say 40.
OK.
You're going to win this one.
Thank you very much.
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF It's the singing spice man! LADY LAUGHS HE GOES ON SINGING Do you think he only sings when he's making money(?) THEY LAUGH Sir, it has been a pleasure.
Dance Dance? Well, you have to sing.
OK, wait HE STARTS TO SING AGAIN 'Pepper may have been expensive, but there was no shortage of people willing to pay the price.
'In the 15th century, these little dried berries not only spiced up the food of the rich, 'they were also believed to be a cure for the plague - the Black Death - 'ravaging Europe.
'The Arabs had total control of the pepper trade and the vast income it produced.
'But that was all about to change.
'On the 8th of July, 1497, 'Portugal sent their finest navigator, Vasco da Gama, 'in search of pepper.
'Da Gama was 37 years old, and the son of a nobleman, with a reputation 'for steely determination.
He was going to need it.
'Da Gama's flotilla headed for the coast of Africa, 'using the monsoon winds to propel them around the Cape of Good Hope 'and into the Indian Ocean.
'Finally, in May of 1498, Da Gama's crew landed on the Malabar coast, 'making them the first Europeans to find the sea route to India.
' It's reported that Da Gama's little fleet landed here.
And legend has it that Da Gama and his men marched up the beach shouting "For Christ and spices!" Although more likely, some poor soul was sent ahead and only when he came back in one piece did Da Gama go ashore.
Although obviously that version isn't QUITE so good for posterity.
But whatever the truth, there is no denying the fact that the Portuguese had hit the jackpot.
They had landed here in Kerala, the birthplace of pepper.
When da Gama first arrived on India's Malabar coast, he expected to find a few godless savages who would happily trade their black gold for a few worthless European fripperies.
But what he was actually met by was a cosmopolitan melting pot of enormous wealth and sophistication.
'This is Cochin, Spice City central.
'And for centuries, traders came here from far and wide in search of pepper - 'Muslims, Jews, Arabs and Chinese.
'In the 1400s, this was a boom town.
'Pepper was to Cochin what oil is to the Gulf States today.
'In trading halls throughout Cochin, spice deals are going on every day.
'The spice on sale today is ginger.
'What's fascinating is how these deals are being conducted in silence, and in secret.
' So, what you're doing is you're trying to agree a price, and you do it in secret? In secret.
Under here? Can you show me the hand signals? He's asking 200.
200 is two fingers? Yeah And then I say two? Six.
Six Five plus one.
Five plus one.
So that That's incredibly complicated! Seven, is this? Eight is that one Two times.
Ah, two times? Four, and four.
'These hand signals evolved over centuries from the need 'to have a common language among traders from all over the world.
' Six.
Six Ah! Five How do you know that's not ten though, it's the same as ten I think I would be a very bad trader.
This one eight That's eight? 208.
208 'In theory, all this secrecy means a better deal for the seller.
'It's like a game of poker '.
.
and the buyers are trying to call the sellers' bluff.
'But I'M not fooling anyone.
' So, now we have agreed the deal.
Do you shake hands under here? How do you say, "I agree"? Agree Up.
That goes up.
And the deal is finished.
A-ha.
I will say, "You take it.
" 'In the Middle Ages, pepper was so valuable that to prevent theft, 'workers handling the spice were forbidden from wearing 'trousers with cuffs or pockets.
'And when coins were scarce, pepper was used as currency - 'hence the term "peppercorn rent".
'Today, pepper is the only spice that's quoted on the stock market.
' Everything's done in secret under this towel And these guys have just walked in - they made an offer to the seller, who just SHE CLICKS HER FINGERS So clearly there are some big deals going on.
THEY CONVERSE IN HINDI But it's just an amazing way of selling stuff.
And this scene could be a thousand years ago Apart from the shiny sandals and the mobile phones, of course.
'Da Gama may have found an established business community in Cochin, 'but the sea route opened by the Portuguese 'introduced new European traders to the Indian pepper market.
'And today, as then, it's all about supply and demand.
' Do you sell pepper? Yes.
Short, short.
Pepper's short.
Why? Less crop.
Crop is down Really?! Less crop.
This is the home of pepper.
Demand is good.
Demand is high.
But Commercial crop is less.
Ah 'But why is there a shortage of the spice here in India? 'To find out, I need to head north 'to the traditional heartland 'of pepper production in Kerala - Wayanad.
'A place the traders of Da Gama's time knew as the Pepper Mountains.
'This 400-acre pepper plantation has been run by Victor Dey for the last 17 years.
'There should be a fabulous spread here of vines and berries - 'but that's far from the case.
' This is unexpected I was expecting to see lushness andplants everywhere and this looks like a scene of devastation.
It is.
It is.
Every single tree that you see here had pepper growing up it as you can see.
So that was a pepper vine? A pepper vine, yeah.
It's all wilt.
Wilt? Yeah.
It's a fungal attack which has hit the pepper.
Not only mine, but the entire district.
But I thought that Wayanad was the absolute epitome of pepper production in the whole of Kerala? Exactly.
That's what made Wayanad famous.
Pepper was a natural crop here, it just took off.
You planted the slips, and the next thing you know, three years later, you've got a luxuriant pepper vine.
How much pepper did you produce on the whole estate? 25 tonnes.
25 tonnes? 25 tonnes.
And now? And now With difficulty, a little over a tonne last year.
That explains then - because I met these guys in Cochin who said people desperately want pepper, the pepper market is really strong.
Apparently local demand is going up as well, but they simply can't get it, and I couldn't understand it.
I thought, "This is the home of pepper!" It's all because of the wilt.
So you've lost an enormous amount.
A huge amount.
It is definitely spreading.
Without doubt.
This was a beautiful area at one time.
It's sad when you see it like this.
Isn't it.
'The spice that drew the world to India's shores 'and grew in abundance all over this landscape is now under threat.
'At risk are the livelihoods of the tribespeople, 'whose small pepper farms are scattered in the mountains.
'It's harvest time in Kerala 'and festivals like this, deep in the heart of Wayanad, 'are rooted in traditions that are thousands of years old.
'These isolated communities depend on pepper 'and the disease that has ravaged the crop 'has touched the lives of everyone here.
'And none more so than local farmer Jinesh Joseph.
'Jinesh and his brother, Suresh, 'were raised on this farm, where their father grew pepper.
'When the plants were ravaged by the disease, tragedy struck.
' So the pepper crop failed? The pepper is destroyed due to the disease.
Everything on the farmdestroyed? Destroyed.
Your entire family income disappeared? Disappeared.
That is the main problem.
'In the last five years, 'there have been as many as 200 suicides among pepper farmers.
'But the brothers refused to give up.
'They left their studies to help rescue the farm 'and repay the debts their father left behind.
'And by introducing soil nutrients and a new strain of plant, 'they're growing pepper on their farm once again.
' 'To celebrate the harvest, 'the twins have invited me to a family meal, 'prepared by their mother, Elyama.
' Smells delicious.
'And naturally, pepper is very much on the menu.
' Pepper.
From here? From your farm? OK.
Look at this.
It's a pickle! Ah! So these are pickle made out of the pepper berries.
How amazing.
This looks delicious.
I think it might be potato Yam.
Yam! It's not potato, it's yam.
So you're putting pepper in here.
Wow - pepper in everything! The lovely thing that I'm beginning to discover about Indian cooking is that you never have to do anything on your own.
You have a whole team.
This is our pepper feast.
Peppered yams, peppered beef, peppered beetroot, pepper pickle and pepper soup.
Don't laugh at me! You try saying "pepper pickle" at this time of day! This is for you.
OK, small, small.
Perfect.
OK.
Delicious! What is so wonderful about this food is the taste of the pepper is incredibly strong.
You absolutely know that you're eating a pepper-based dish.
And the pepper tastes completely different from the pepper we have at home.
Maybe because it literally is grown on the doorstep.
It's delicious, Elyama.
Thank you.
Delicious! 'But in India, pepper isn't just used for seasoning food' '.
.
it's used for something even more fundamental.
'For over 5,000 years, 'Indians have been turning to a traditional system of medicine 'to treat their ailments.
'It's called Ayurveda and it means "science of life".
'It originated here in Kerala 'and pepper is one of its main ingredients.
'Dr Mary Smitha is a renowned practitioner of this ancient medicine.
' My goodness, this is like a treasure trove! It's amazing.
Like a sort of wizard's workshop.
So everything you use in Ayurvedic medicine - all these wonderful barks and seeds - is all natural.
You use no chemicals at all? Yes, it's completely natural.
Actually, plants have their energy from nature.
Plants are deep-rooted in nature, so we are using that energy for our body.
We are trying to blend the energy of nature and trying to bring about an equilibrium in the human body.
Ayurveda comes from Kerala, pepper, as I now have discovered, also comes from Kerala.
So in Ayurvedic medicine, what would you use pepper for? Pepper is a decongestant.
It's a very good decongestant.
It can be used in all the respiratory ailments.
Even asthma? Would it help with that? Definitely, this can help.
It can bring down cholesterol levels It's a powerful anti-bacterial and anti-viral medicine.
So, this little berry has not just made a lot of people very, very rich over the years, it's made a lot of people very healthy.
That's true.
It's a little wonder berry.
'So I wonder, what could it do for me?' I can detect a little bit of fatigue, probably Fatigue.
Yeah.
Is there anything in Ayurvedic medicine that can give me a bit of an energy boost? There is this wonder drug that is the long pepper.
Long pepper? Yeah.
Where is it? Piper longum.
Wow.
Look at that.
Can I taste it? Yeah, of course you can.
Is it going to blow my head off? Let's see 'Back in medieval Europe, 'this close relative to black pepper was every bit as popular.
'Today, though, it's most commonly used as an Ayurvedic cure.
' It sort of explodes.
It's on the tip of your tongue, the taste, isn't it? I put six grams of powder in one glass of milk.
My tongue is on fire! 'Pepper flavours the cuisine, the economy, the medicine, 'and the traditions of this part of India.
'An offering worthy of the gods themselves.
' 'On the banks of the Pampa river in central Kerala, 'pepper is being offered to honour the local Hindu deity.
' 'These men - many of them local farmers - 'are about to take to the water 'in the most important contest 'of a harvest festival that lasts ten whole days.
'It's known as Onam.
'This team, from Mallappuzhassery, are hot favourites to win.
' 'And since I'm hitching a lift upriver with their supporters, 'I've decided to adopt them as my team.
' This is the start of the most traditional boat race in all of India.
It's kind of intrinsic to the Onam festival, one of the most important parts.
'The spectacular Snake Boat Race is a 2,000-year-old event 'featuring the largest teams of any sport in the world.
' These incredible-looking boats have got 100 oarsmen apiece, and each boat represents a local village.
'40 villages, many located in pepper country, are taking part.
' What a spectacle! 'The Mallappuzhassery team have been victorious for the last two years, 'and I'm hoping they'll make it a hat-trick.
' Good luck, guys! Come on, guys! It's going to be neck and neck, this one! Three boats together, and there's hardly a whisker in it.
Go! They're paddling their hearts out.
Come on! Go, guys! Whoo! 'It was a close-run thing, but my boys didn't get their hat-trick.
'They couldn't have tried harder.
' They look absolutely exhausted.
'I think it might be time for a traditional pick-me-up, 'Ayurvedic style.
' Can I have some chai? Chai.
Tea, for me? Please.
I have this spice.
You know this? Pippali.
Grippali? Pippali.
Pippali.
In English - long pepper.
An Ayurvedic doctor told me it's very good for lots of energy.
It makes you bounce.
Ayurvedic.
Ayurvedic.
So can I use this? And pound it up? Grind? Grind - exactly! Is that OK? OK.
It's quite hard, isn't it? Let me try.
This is a woman who knows how to grind! It will make you very strong.
Yes, yes.
Good? Yes, yes.
Do you feel very That's enough.
A little bit of pepper in OK, what do you think? Good? You can't really taste the pepper.
But Sudha likes it.
So, despite winning all their heats decisively, and it was an incredibly exciting competition, sadly, my adopted team didn't win.
They came second, so they're a fairly dejected lot of boys today.
So I know what's going to pep them up and give them strength to win next year's race.
Good morning, good morning.
I'm sorry you didn't win, but you were magnificent.
We thought you were great.
So try this.
It'll give you energy after all your work.
'The climax of the ten-day Onam festival 'is a procession of all the boats to the main temple.
' THEY SING 'And it certainly looks as if my team may have benefited 'from the pepper pick-me-up.
' 'Women are not allowed in the boats, 'so I'm making my way by foot, to meet up with the team at the temple 'where everyone is giving thanks for the harvest 'to the all-bestowing god, Parthasarathy.
' 'And despite their earlier disappointment, 'my team's spirits seem high.
' Come on, boys! These are my boys and they will win next year without any doubt.
'By the turn of the 16th century, 'the Portuguese were at the forefront of the spice race.
'And with Western appetites for exotic tastes running high, 'what they couldn't obtain through trade, they took by force.
' 'In the name of pepper, 'the Portuguese laid siege to the Spice Coast of India.
' Eight years after Da Gama first landed in Kerala, the Portuguese had established a fairly firm foothold here.
They built this fort, and in it, put their first viceroy in India.
Then, pretty confident that they had control over the pepper trade, their quest for spices turned south.
'They set forth in search of another rare taste, 'highly desired amongst the rich in 16th-century Europe.
'A spice for which they were prepared to pay exorbitant prices - 'Cinnamon.
' 'Even rarer and more expensive than pepper, 'its source was a mystery.
'The Portuguese were constantly raiding Arab ships along the Indian coast 'and often found cinnamon among the cargo.
'They suspected the source for the spice was nearby, 'but the ocean beyond Kerala was - 'as far as the Portuguese were concerned - 'uncharted waters.
'But in 1506, Portuguese sailors pursuing an Arab merchant ship 'found themselves adrift in rough seas in the Indian Ocean 'and sought shelter on an unfamiliar coast.
' The Portuguese landed here, on the shores of Sri Lanka - or Ceylon as it was then known - little realising that the bad weather had brought them to exactly the place they were looking for.
Now, as was customary in those days Shall I give you a hand? .
.
They asked the locals to take them to their king.
Now, the Portuguese had pitched up in the Kingdom of Kotte - not a very big kingdom - and the locals wanted to impress these exotic foreigners.
So, instead of taking them by the direct route to the king, which only would have taken a couple of hours and given the impression that the kingdom was tiny, they took them on a circuitous route that took about three days.
And the phrase, "taking the Portuguese to Kotte," has now entered local parlance and it's kind of the Sri Lankan equivalent of being led on a wild-goose chase.
'Back then, Kotte was one of several kingdoms 'that made up the exotic island of Ceylon.
'The rival rulers were constantly at each others throats, 'a situation that the Portuguese were able to exploit 'in their attempts to control the cinnamon trade.
' 'This is the coastal town of Galle 'and I haven't had to look far 'to find the spice that was once so coveted.
' Cinnamon? From Sri Lanka? Yes, from Sri Lanka.
Number one quality cinnamon in Sri Lanka.
Number one quality.
Good morning.
'But to see where cinnamon actually grows, 'I need to head into the dense jungles of nearby Hikkaduwa.
'This is cinnamon country 'and I'm here to meet local farmer Premal Wickramasinghe.
' Are you Premal? How are you? Very well.
What a beautiful, beautiful place.
It's amazing.
It's like a mythical jungle.
Come.
'This farm has been in Premal's family for more than three generations.
'He took it over 20 years ago and transformed it into an organic farm producing high-quality cinnamon.
' I'll show you cinnamon.
Well, that would be wonderful because I have no idea how the cinnamon that we see in those funny little sticks gets from a real living plant.
I can't even imagine what the plant looks like.
This is cinnamon.
The cinnamon plant.
This is organic cinnamon.
They are harvesting.
I'm going to try and get close without getting my arm chopped off.
It doesn't smell.
Do the leaves smell of cinnamon? You can smell this.
Oh, yeah! You can bite it and taste it.
It's an incredible taste.
And this is called cinnamon ceylonica.
Of course, Sri Lankan cinnamon.
It's the bark of these branches that cinnamon is made from.
I'm looking at these guys doing all this work - can I have a go? Yeah.
Cut like this, towards the root.
OK.
The trick to harvesting is to cut with strength and accuracy.
So, all I have to do is make two well-aimed incisions.
Oh, I'm making a right mess! Really hard.
Really hard? Well, that's the theory.
I think a career in forestry doesn't await! Don't laugh at me, I'm trying! There.
OK.
It's easier if you hold it like this - look.
OK.
And then cut down.
20 years' practice, I reckon I could be quite good at this.
'It's hard to believe that from this ordinary-looking branch 'comes a spice adored since ancient times.
'Back then, they may have loved it, but, like me, they had no idea 'of the origins of cinnamon.
'5th-century BC historian Herodotus came up with his own colourful version of the cinnamon story.
' Do you know the Herodotus story? No.
You don't? He said that cinnamon was gathered from the nests of birds, and there were these giant birds who would make nests out of cinnamon sticks.
But their nests were right up on inaccessible cliffs so you couldn't get to them, so the way that the cinnamon had to be gathered was that the people of the villages where these nests were built would kill an animal and leave huge chunks of meat underneath the nest, the birds would come down, gather the meat, take it up to their nests, the meat was so heavy the nests would collapse, there were your cinnamon sticks.
What a palaver! Mind you, that might have been easier than me cutting it! The myth may be far-fetched, but it seems that what I'm witnessing here can't have changed too much since the time of Herodotus.
The skills of the cinnamon peelers have been passed down from generation to generation and go back thousands of years.
The first part of the process is to strip the outer bark of the branch to reveal the golden inner bark which is the cinnamon.
It's like peeling a big carrot.
You have to remove every little bit, but really finely so you don't dig in to the stuff underneath.
No, no.
This rubbing process that he's doing now, that's loosening this bark.
Next comes the most intricate operation - making a series of incisions to separate the cinnamon from the branch.
The workers here are paid by how much cinnamon they cut.
So it pays to be fast and skilful like Babynuna, one of the most experienced of Premal's workers.
You do that very, very expertly.
Have you been doing this for a very long time? Could you show me how to do the peeling? And then you put it through your toe.
And go down like that? Ooh, it's like skinning something alive.
Then down again? Oh, I'm making a terrible mess.
I'm driving you mad.
You can't believe how slow I am.
If I have no finger left.
I'm blaming you.
I can deal with nine? Is that what you're saying? OK.
'I've managed to keep hold of all my fingers 'but I've made a right mess of the cinnamon.
'There's clearly a knack to this that might just take 'more than a day for me to master! 'My cinnamon tutor Babynuna belongs to a caste of people, the Salagama, who have been the enduring guardians of cinnamon throughout all the chapters of Sri Lanka's colonial past.
'Exploiting their skills was crucial to Portugal's plan to monopolise the spice trade here.
' You are from a special caste of people that are totally connected with cinnamon.
Can you tell me about the Salagama? It was the Salagama's skills with cinnamon that saved them, even if it meant they lived as virtual slaves.
'Those skills include the final part of the process - 'the building of the cinnamon quills.
' OK, Babynuna's going to show me how to make a quill.
She's looking a little doubtful.
I don't think she has much faith after the peeling episode.
But let's try.
So these are the bits I peeled.
So this becomes like the outer casing and everything gets packed beautifully into it.
So then you carry on.
OK.
OK So you really pack it in, yeah? You did make it look easy, and it really isn't.
There's a lot more to a cinnamon stick than meets the eye.
And that will sit drying but every night you'll roll it a bit, won't you? So that then tightens it up, and that will happen for two weeks, and you will finally get your beautiful, regulation-length cinnamon stick.
That's a lot of work.
You're amazing.
You know you're amazing.
Cinnamon requires a lot more effort and skill to prepare than pepper.
It is literally a hand-made product.
'But the knowledge possessed by people like Babynuna is gradually dying out.
' Really pack it in.
And what about today? You're still working in cinnamon.
You said that your father taught you how to be a cinnamon peeler.
Are you worried that other young Salagama - like your daughter and your son - will not go into the cinnamon industry? If I practice a little more, shall I come and work with you? The Portuguese weren't just after Sri Lankan spices - they'd also come to claim souls for Christ.
They were determined that if the cinnamon trade was to be theirs, they would have to convert as well as conquer.
But in some parts of the country they met determined resistance.
I'm heading inland and up to the hills of Kandy for a unique festival that celebrates an important victory over the Portuguese.
This is amazing.
I can't imagine that there could be any more people.
It's like the whole of Kandy have piled out on to the streets.
OK, ready? Yes! Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Have a lovely day.
It's so exciting.
Look at everybody's faces! This festival, known as Perahara, not only celebrates the Buddhist faith, but also the defiance shown by the local people to the foreign cinnamon hunters.
When the Portuguese realised that this little island was home to their precious cinnamon, they wanted to take over the whole place.
And where they met the most resistance was here, the Kingdom of Kandy.
Those 16th-century rebels harassed and attacked the Portuguese everywhere they tried to establish cinnamon plantations.
Kandy is home to the holiest of holy sites if you are a Buddhist.
The Temple of the Tooth wherein lies one of Buddha's teeth.
So the Portuguese thought, "If we steal that tooth, we'll break the spirit of the people "of Kandy and we will take them over no problem at all.
" So that's exactly what they did.
FIRE CRACKERS CRACKLE Except that the tooth they stole was a fake .
.
and the people of Kandy were never subjugated by the Portuguese.
So, this is the moment that this whole crowd has been waiting for.
This festival is all about that tooth that the Portuguese tried to steal.
And in that casket on that huge elephant, flanked by two almost-as-big male elephants, is the real tooth of Buddha.
And the whole of Kandy has turned out to see it.
I have a little tip for you.
If you go to Perahara, and I thoroughly recommend it, it's fantastic, don't book yourself on a 6am train the following morning because you'll feel very bleary-eyed indeed.
Now where were we? The Portuguese.
They never did take Kandy but they did continue to wreak havoc in the rest of the country, as did the Dutch who followed 100 or so years later, and then, in 1796, it was the turn of the British.
The people of Sri Lanka resisted, as best they could, all these foreign interventions.
But they couldn't ignore foreign appetites.
Cinnamon was, and still is, an important part of the economic survival of many small farmers.
And that includes the cinnamon grower I've come to know, Premal.
Today's the day that Premal hopes to sell the cinnamon he's been growing for the last few months.
He has no idea where in the world his cinnamon will end up, and his business deals are confined to local middlemen like this one.
I've witnessed how much painstaking work goes into making cinnamon, so I'm hoping Premal gets the price he wants.
The negotiations aren't going well.
Premal's choices are limited.
Does he accept a low price or hold his nerve? There's no sale and this dealer won't return.
These four bundles of Premal's beautiful, organic cinnamon represent hours of skilled labour and years of experience.
Premal didn't sell them today because he was hoping for a price that equates to roughly ã4.
80 per kilo in English money, and the man wouldn't give it to him.
This is cinnamon bought in an English supermarket.
It's not organic and it's not as high-grade as Premal's and it cost ã1.
47 for 13 grams.
There's something not quite right about that, isn't there? That's a 2,000% mark up.
Someone's doing very well out of this trade but it certainly isn't Premal or any of the other spice farmers around here.
It's not only market forces that play a part in cinnamon's fortunes but the forces of nature.
The devastating tsunami of 2004 killed 4,200 people and wiped out 300 cinnamon farms in this area.
And in the face of this destruction, Premal and the other survivors turned to their religion.
The Day Of The Full Moon is considered holy in the Buddhist tradition and I've joined Premal and a procession of local farmers to make an offering of cinnamon to the god Deval.
Now, this is the deity that people turn to in their hour of need.
And it's also the god that people around here believe saved the temple from destruction during the tsunami.
So Premal is hoping that this offering today will ensure him and the other farmers a successful cinnamon crop this year.
In Sri Lanka, cinnamon is considered not only good for the body but sustenance for the soul.
A sample from Premal's harvest is a welcome offering at the temple and will be distributed among the poor of his local community.
I came to Asia to explore the exotic origins of two staples in every British kitchen cupboard.
Cinnamon and pepper.
Two ordinary spices, with an extraordinary past.
The search for their source opened up the world and the Europeans who sailed to the ends of the earth for spice made fortunes, while the people who grew them never got their share of the spoils.
But the vibrant cultures in India and Sri Lanka where spice plays a part in everything from sustenance to the sacred are still going strong.
These lands are still suffused with the scent and taste of pepper and cinnamon.