Jackpot!

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. I hate math. I really really don’t like it at all. I carry around a calculator whenever possible. It’s not good. However, the one area in which I’m fairly competent in it is food, of course. Whether it’s converting a recipe from imperial to metric or figuring out how much of what ingredients to buy at whatever cost, it’s the one area where I actually enjoy a little bit of math. It makes the world feel a bit more orderly.

Which is why I was so excited with the little bit of spice pricing that I did this week. Did you know that 86% of the world’s spices are grown in India? That’s a lot. Because so many of them grow here, they’re very cheap. In the states, if you want good spices, you either have to go to a well-reputed spice shop and sift through the hundreds of pre-ground mixes or go online. With the first option, you’re likely to buy something you don’t need. With the second, it’s hard to tell what’s good, because you can’t see it. Penzey’s is one place you can go, and I like it, but still, I wish there was a better, cheaper way to get spices.

I thought that India might have the answer, so I made a list of spices that I would want to purchase and use back in the states. I went online to three different distributors to find the price for a half kilo of each of these spices. I also went to the website for the Indian post to see how much it would cost to mail a heavy package to the states. After converting my findings to rupees, I went to a good spice store here to see how the prices would compare. Before all of that, of course, I made sure to check out the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol regulations on mailing spices into the states, and they have no problem with it.

Here’s what I found. Make fun of the table if you want, but I’m okay with being a nerd.

Spice	Approx U.S. cost (rupees)	Approx India cost (rupees)
Cinnamon (Dalchini) – 500 g	400-700	110
Black Cardamom (Bari Elaichi) – 500 g	800-1300	550
Cumin (Jeera) – 500 g	550	200
Ajwain – 500 g	360-850	140
Fennel (Saunf)– 500 g	360-550	95
Coriander (Dhania) – 500 g	360-400	65
Turmeric (Haldi) – 500 g	400-600	120
Fenugreek seeds (Methi Daane) – 500 g	275-550	38
Cloves (Laung) – 500 g	950-110	250
Anise (Choti Saunf) – 500 g	550-600	115
Star Anise (Chakraphool) – 500 g	750-1200	150
Nutmeg (Jaifal) – 20 pods	350-600	70
Saffron (Kesar) – 1g	500-800	225
Total	6605-12970	2128

Score! That’s a huge savings. At worst, spice here cost a third of what they do in the states. At best, a sixth. Some spices, like black cardamom and cloves, aren’t very common in Indian cuisine or are rare, so they’re more expensive than the rest, but that’s still all relative and much cheaper than their American prices. I wanted to get a lot of everything, which is okay in terms of freshness, because whole spices will last two years if kept dry, cool and away from light. I can even get whole turmeric, which is, impossible to find in the U.S., and Kashmiri saffron, which is incredibly hard to find even when you look online.

Now, for shipping. One can go to the Indian Post website and enter all the information about a hypothetical package they want to send, and they can find the cost of mailing it to whatever country. For a 5-6 kg package, which is how much this will weigh, it will cost about 2500 rupees to mail it to the states. Add that to about another 2500 rupees for the spices (rounding up), and it will still cost about 1500 less than the lowest estimate for buying in the states. If I go for the high estimate, it will cost 8000 less.

For those of you who want it in good ol’ American cash money, one dollar is 46.6 rupees as of today.

So, you tell me. Is it worth it?