Kerala
The Spice Coast of Asia — where 60% of the world's cardamom grows under forest canopy, and coconut oil has been the cooking medium for 3,000 years.
Kerala is the original source of Asia's spice trade that shaped world history. The Western Ghats — a UNESCO World Heritage biodiversity hotspot — produce green cardamom (GI 2011), black pepper (GI 2004), and vanilla in the forest-shade estates of Idukki and Wayanad. Kuttanad, in the backwaters of central Kerala, is one of the world's few regions farmed below sea level — an extraordinary feat of water management maintained by centuries of continuous agricultural practice. The coconut palm is central to every dimension of Kerala life: virgin coconut oil (VCO) is the primary cooking fat, coconut shell is fuel, coir is fibre, toddy is fermented from the sap. Ayurvedic medicine's pharmacological tradition — the Ashtanga Hridayam — was composed in Kerala and remains the most complete classical Ayurvedic text.
Global cardamom supply
60% — sourced from Kerala's Idukki district
GI tags
4 major agricultural products
Western Ghats endemic species
5,000+ plant species — 36% endemic
Kuttanad elevation
2m below sea level — world's lowest farmland
— Climate
Tropical — two monsoons (southwest June–September, northeast October–November), 2,000–4,000mm rainfall, high humidity year-round
— Soil Type
Laterite in the hills; alluvial in the coastal strip; reclaimed waterlogged soil in Kuttanad
— What Grows Here —
Key ingredients from Kerala.
— Farming Communities
- Idukki cardamom estate farmers (forest-shade cultivation)
- Wayanad Adivasi community farmers (Kurichiya, Paniya tribes)
- Kuttanad paddy farmers (below-sea-level farming)
- Coastal coconut farmers and toddy tappers
— GI Protected Products
Green Cardamom (Kerala)
GI Tag 2011
Black Pepper (Malabar)
GI Tag 2004
Navara Rice
GI Tag 2007
Wayanad Jeerakasala Rice
GI Tag 2010
— Traditional Farming Systems
- Kuttanad below-sea-level paddy farming (unique globally)
- Ayurvedic Panchakarma using local VCO and medicinal oils
- Forest-shade cardamom cultivation (no deforestation model)
- Toddy tapping and fermentation culture
- Kayal (lake bed) cultivation in reclaimed backwaters
— Challenges Facing This Region
Climate change disrupting the predictable monsoon pattern critical for cardamom flowering; Kuttanad flooding worsening with sea level rise; loss of Navara and other medicinal rice varieties to commercial paddy; forest encroachment threatening shade-grown spice estates.
Meet our growers here.
All Farmers
Explore all origins.
13 regions, 60+ farming communities, and counting.