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    You are Here: Masala Herb » TRAVEL

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India

    Feb 13, 2023 by Helene Dsouza

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    When visiting Goa, India, you will certainly end up touring the state and taxi drivers will take you to a spice garden Goa.

    The visit to a spice garden is for all those who enjoy learning something new and for those who like to learn about the food, culture, and history of a place.

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    A while back I had the chance to visit the spice garden Goa in the sunny Indian coastline state. Goa has a rich history, with Vasco Da Gama, the famous discoverer of the Renaissance has been to Goa in his lifetime and with the establishment of the spice route through the former Portuguese colony, Goa.

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    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    I remember in my second year of secondary school a history lesson about the early sea travels and trades. You surely know some famous discoverer such as Christoph Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Amerigo Vespucci and Vasco da Gama.

    The later had traveled on behest of the Portuguese king to Calicut in 1498 and later on to Cochin and Goa, which they called Golden Goa. I was so mesmerized as a kid by the discoveries of our fore fathers. These must have been exciting times.

     
    portugues map goa renaissance
    Credit Source
     

    Anyways, the Portuguese's aim at the time was to establish a spice trading route, to gain the overhand of this wanton market in Europe. Those were great important times in Europe, with great kings governing their lands, this was the time of Renaissance - The rebirth.

    You have the choice to visit several different spice plantations in Central Goa - Ponda. We had visited one of the major Spice Plantations. Certain particular plantations are surrounded by lakes & rivers and are situated in the jungle.

    The entry for visitors is somewhere around 500 INR (~7€) with food buffet included and they even provide a separate option where visitors can bath an elephant. To reach the spice garden Goa you just need to grab a taxi and the taxi driver ll be happy to take you there.

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

     

    Every visitor receives a homemade aromatic lemongrass ginger tea as welcoming drink before the tour starts. The Guides are quite friendly and they can answer basic questions about spices. It depends on the guide and his/her experience in the spice field.

    What some might find helpful in the spice garden Goa, is that there are special tours for certain languages. You can get Hindi, English and Russian language tours. Some might even provide different language tours, which I didn't mention here,

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Once you are ready to go, you just need to join a group with a guide to start the spice garden tour.

     

    The guide explains and teaches you how to make an Indian Aphrodisiac with spices.


     

    Small wisdom about Cardamon.


     

    Have you heard of Piri Piri?


     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Fresh from the tree, scraped & aromatic Nutmeg.


     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    The making of good old Bidi! (Indian "Cigarettes")


     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Cinnamon bark


    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Bay leafs

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Pretty looking tropical Plant


    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
     
    Pepper Corn Plant

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
     
    Climbing up a betel tree

     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
     
    Traditional Cashew Fruit Distillation to Cashew Fenni

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
     
    Vanilla creeper (pods had been removed)

     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
     

    Entertainment is provided too for the visitors


     
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Plates made of betel tree natural material


    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    Food Buffet after the Tour

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    My Organic Food plate

    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com
    Spice Garden Goa - Spice Plantation & Farm in India www.Masalaherb.com

    They have a shop at the end of the tour where you get to buy spices and other novelties


    food served in the spice garden Goa has very basic flavors and isn't too much spiced, however, it's not Goan Portuguese food but rather Maharashtra Konkani food.

    The place is well situated and your kind of place if you are with your family and friends. A must see for anyone who visits Goa and who likes to learn about food and culture of the region.

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    I am Helene, and I created Masala Herb in 2011. Here you will learn to cook with spices and herbs. I share from scratch, international food recipes and my mission is to teach you to cook flavorful food at home. Read More…

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    1. Akash Kachhiya says

      November 18, 2022 at 12:45 pm

      5 stars
      Best spices and Fenni ,visited last week but forget to buy cashew Fenni hopefully they can delivery by online payment

      Reply
    2. Rajinder says

      April 09, 2019 at 4:38 am

      I would like to order garam masala from this garden. Can someone kindly guide me. I was in Goa in January and I purchase some really like it. Want to get more

      Reply
    3. Peeyush Raghuvanshi says

      November 18, 2018 at 11:30 am

      One of the worst food served by this garden. I suggest no body travel to this place.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        November 20, 2018 at 7:58 am

        Hi Peeyush, I think so most of the spice gardens there serve poorly flavored food. It's more plain and bland (ironically in a spice garden). This might be to accommodate the taste preference of all the visitors from around the world.

        Reply
        • J.m.sehgal says

          March 11, 2022 at 8:50 am

          I fully agree with peeyush. The food is of very poor quality. Charging Rs 400 is absolutely nonsense. No one would ever visit this place.

          Reply
    4. Aditya Maheshwari says

      July 30, 2018 at 4:54 pm

      I had recently visited this spice garden and purchased cade oil and neem oil for eczema, but procedure to use it is written in some language other than English. Kindly guide as to how use these oils for eczema.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        July 30, 2018 at 8:25 pm

        Aditya this is a food and travel website. My post is about spices for food :/

        Reply
    5. Maureen says

      January 13, 2017 at 10:15 am

      I still want to visit this place and Goa in general. 🙂 The photos I've seen look so inviting.

      Reply
    6. mjskitchen says

      January 13, 2017 at 8:22 am

      Thanks so much for sharing this experience! I would love to be able to visit these gardens and experiences all of those awesome spices.

      Reply
    7. Eva Taylor says

      January 09, 2017 at 9:39 pm

      Thank you for that very in-depth tour, it is very helpful to anyone wanting to travel to Goa. I would love to visit a Spice Garden like this, it's so helpful to see the spices in their original state. The food looks quite interesting, was it tasty?

      Reply
    8. biswa ranjan datta says

      May 03, 2015 at 4:56 pm

      i had been in the team of tata chemicals ltd annual conference in the last march 2015 and visited your garden. i purchased some packets of spices with only 1 packet of masala tea . how could i get those,say 3 (three) packets if ordered by mail. kindly inform the procedure and the price thereof by courier or vpp. regards
      biswaranjan datta

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        May 14, 2015 at 7:45 pm

        Hi Biswan,
        I am sorry but you might have misunderstood. I am not associated in any way with the spice gardens in Goa. I just wrote about one spice garden trip, that; s it. Sorry again.

        Reply
    9. priti sahu says

      November 24, 2014 at 10:59 am

      I want to some spices so please contact me

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        November 24, 2014 at 2:07 pm

        oh but I don't sell spices, sorry. =)

        Reply
    10. Smita Chandra says

      October 16, 2014 at 8:34 pm

      Loved this post with it's beautiful pictures and story 🙂

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        October 16, 2014 at 8:44 pm

        Thank you Smita, glad to read that you enjoyed the post. 🙂

        Reply
    11. Fredee Waugh says

      November 27, 2013 at 7:34 am

      Looking forward to the newsletter. I just discovered you. I can't wait to learn more about spices, especially those that I can use with vegetables.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        November 28, 2013 at 9:02 pm

        =) Just a heads up, I am planning to post more veg dishes with spices in Jan. There will be surely something for you. Cheers!

        Reply
    12. linda @spiceboxtravels says

      April 14, 2013 at 7:15 pm

      What a wonderful tour! Thanks for sharing this. Since I am also a fan of spices, I'd really like to see this place one day.

      Reply
    13. Liz says

      March 07, 2013 at 7:26 pm

      Oh, I'd love to tour the Spice Garden, too! And so fun that you had your sweet sister join you!

      Reply
    14. Ginny McMeans says

      March 04, 2013 at 11:23 pm

      What a wonderful post. It makes me want to jump on a plane right now.

      Reply
    15. Dale says

      October 29, 2012 at 9:08 pm

      Hello, we shall be visiting Goa next March and feel a few outings instead of just lying on the beach for 3 weeks would be a good idea. We are staying in Sinquerim. Which would be the best way to get to this Spice Plantation, and how long would it take?

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        October 30, 2012 at 1:36 pm

        Hello Dale!

        Usually one would hire a taxi to take a tour, that means taxi drivers take you first to old goa then Mangesh temple and at the end to the Spice Garden, since everything is on the way and they only provide packages. I would suggest to do that, because the roads are pretty unknown if you don't know goa at all. The tour would cost about 1000 INR if you take a Taxi. But if you prefer to go by bike on your own, then you can take the road towards old goa and then towards ponda. Calculate at least 1 - 1 1/2 h drive. Hope that helps! =)

        Reply
    16. dassana says

      October 09, 2012 at 9:54 pm

      when we had the lunch, it was spicy. we were very few people except for one foreign couple family. plus there was no one selling paan or bidi... but it was a nice visit and so much learn to about the spices and their benefits. it seems you had a great time there.

      Reply
      • Helene Dsouza says

        October 10, 2012 at 11:44 am

        Was it the same Spice garden Dassana, because apparently there are a couple ones in the area and more are coming new every year. I loved it as well, its so informative and for me spices and herbs are very essential while cooking and even to treat minor health conditions.

        Reply
    17. Frieda says

      January 13, 2012 at 9:15 pm

      Thanks for sharing your spice tour! Beautiful photos and the video was so great! I really enjoyed it and seeing how the bidi is made reminded me of my college days- ha! Also, interesting fact that cinnamon and bay leaves are from the same tree! Who knew?

      Reply

    Welcome

    Hi there! I'm Helene and here you will learn how to cook with spices and herbs. Discover global food and learn to season your food like a pro. Read more about my work and mission or head over to my food ingredient space, Unknownbite.com, and our travel space, Paulmarina.com!

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