5 reasons to avoid store-bought masalas

Masalas or spices play an integral role in shaping the food’s taste. It would not be wrong to say that Indian cuisine is incomplete without masalas. They are not just spices but add aroma along with life to a dish. However, it is always best to make your own masalas for all the dishes and the store-bought ones must be avoided at all costs. According to an investigation made on as many as 126 spices by Consumer Reports, “Roughly 1/3 of the total products tested had high levels of lead, arsenic and cadmium which can pose a serious threat to a human being.” From behavioural problems to reproductive issues and a threat to kidney and immune function, these store-bought masalas can do a lot of damage, which is not easily controllable. Not just that, but even if a person is buying the organic spices by paying a bomb, the nutrition value of these spices is also worrisome. It is not just these reasons, but plenty of things that one must know while avoiding the store-bought masalas. (Images courtesy: iStock)

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Remember the taste of food when you used to visit your grandma’s place, when she would be using the freshly ground spices that she used to grind after drying them in the sun? Well, the ancient practice of grinding one's own spices was for this very reason. The store-bought masalas do not have that taste or flavour in them that the homemade spices have and this is one of the reasons, why homemade food tastes much better than the food made outside. When the spies are processed in large plants, they lose their flavour and when you get them they are probably aged and once opened, the flavour is lost in a few days.

The store-bought spices tend to attract a lot of moisture which in turn makes them lose their taste and value. The process of making powdered spices is tedious during which they lose their oils and are packaged. When those packages are opened and the spices are added in a container, they attract a lot of moisture which can make them lose their taste. Sometimes the spices also get spoilt because of this reason.

As said earlier, most of the store-bought spices are adulterated with God knows how many metals, chemicals and preservatives, which when ingested can cause some serious issues in the human body. And the funny part is, most of the time we don’t even know what we are consuming in the form of spices! Some time ago, even the Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) gave some simple tips on how to test the adulteration in spices at home.

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Most of the store-bought spices have less aroma as compared to the homemade ones, which can impact the quality of food being consumed in a daily basis. When whole spices are ground at home, they have the natural oil as well as aroma which increases the flavour of a dish.

Most of the store-bought spices come in a packaging of plastics, which is not at all environment-friendly.

It is for this reason, it is always best to make your own powdered spices at home by first sun-drying them and then powdering them in a mortar-pestle or a grinding jar.

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