EarthNews Radio: Spices

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Do you know where common spices such as allspice and vanilla come from? Organic versions of these popular spices have an interesting genesis.

Do you know where common spices such as allspice and vanilla come from? Organic versions of these popular spices have an interesting genesis.


ENN's Jerry Kay and Katrina Rill spoke to Sylvia Blanchet, president of ForesTrade, who with her husband Thomas Fricke in 1996 founded the wholesaler of organic and fair trade products:



Listen to EarthNews Radio: Spices



Blanchet says that allspice is actually a single spice that grows on a tree, with beautiful white flowers. Workers must actually climb the tree and pick the berries by hand.


Vanilla comes from the bean, which is a seed pod to an orchid that takes months to grow. Each bean must be hand-pollinated, boiled in water, and stored in a tight box, in order to create just the right conditions for fermenting.


To learn more about ForesTrade and its line of organic bulk products and coffees, visit its website at www.forestrade.com.


Be sure to listen to EarthNews Radio regularly to hear Jerry Kay's interviews with many compelling scientists, activists, and environmentalists. And be sure to visit EarthNews Radio's home here at ENN; you can find it at www.enn.com/enn_radio_main.html.