Spice Island

Spices existed before the world began. So says an ancient Assyrian myth, according to which the gods drank sesame wine the night before they created the Earth. More reliable sources, dating from about 2,600BCE, inform us that the labourers who built the Great Pyramid of Cheops were fed spices to give them strength. And not very long after that, the ancient Syrians began using cloves – amazing when you consider that cloves then only grew in the spice islands of Indonesia. Later Egyptian embalmers also made frequent use of cinnamon, a Sri Lankan plant. Over a thousand years before Prince Vijaya, the legendary founder of the Sinhalese race, set foot in Lanka, our island was already part of a sophisticated international trading network!

We are very proud of the spices the island of Ceylon now known as Sri Lanka produces. They have played a part in the history of the world unbeknown to many. They are like no other and we would like to bring them forward for consumers all over the world to recognize and demand them from their retailers.