Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure is a new series for ITV that sees Dame Joanna travel through Indonesia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Jordan and her birthplace, India, to discover the story behind some of our most popular spices.
"The idea is to tell the history of these amazing spices," says Dame Joanna, 77. "It’s now so normal for us to cook with spices but in the old days in Europe, we had salt, pepper, mustard and that was about it!
"I must admit I always put nutmeg on my green vegetables. But I now treat spices with such respect, knowing what goes into growing, harvesting and caring for them. It’s pure magic!"
Here we tell you everything you need to know...
Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure release date
The series will begin on Wednesday 5 July on ITV1 at 9 pm and is four episodes in total.
Is there a trailer for Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure?
Yes, we now have a clip from the series as "Joanna sets off on one of her most epic voyages yet, a journey through the world’s greatest spice continents to discover the rich tapestry of flavours and cultures which have shaped our world. Touring Indonesia, Zanzibar, India and Madagascar, Joanna explores the centuries-old spice trade in this brand new four-part series of discovery".
Which country features in the first episode of Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure?
Joanna's first destination is Indonesia where she learns about the history of nutmeg.
Here in an interview with What to Watch Joanna talks us through each episode of Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure
Episode one — Indonesia
The opening episode sees Joanna heading to a collection of remote Indonesian islands, The Banda Islands, which were once the only place on earth where nutmeg grew. Joanna meets a family who make their living from harvesting them, she uncovers the dark history of Banda’s past
"We took a 12-hour ferry to the remote but beautiful Banda Islands in Indonesia, where the only nutmeg trees in the world were once grown," says Dame Joanna. "In the Middle Ages, nutmeg was the most valuable commodity on Earth, and it could only be found on these islands in the extreme east of Indonesia.
"The Dutch, Portuguese and the English were all desperate to get hold of this incredibly valuable spice, which at the time was even believed to be able to cure the plague, so was truly fought over and sailors crossed entire seas to reach it. They say that from one sack of nutmeg you were set up for about 10 years, it was so valuable."
Episode two — India
Joanna returns to her birthplace, India, in search of a kitchen cupboard staple once known as "black gold". Starting in the ancient city of Hampi, she’s invited to a Hindu festival by a local rock climber and later explores the lush backwaters of Kerala.
Joanna says, "India has got every spice under the sun, so we traveled to Kerala, Karnataka and Goa and concentrated on the story of ginger, black pepper and turmeric."
"In Goa, we tried extraordinary spice-flavored drinks, which were delicious. I even bought home bottles of this liquor called feni, which is pale and looks a bit like gin. It’s lovely, although it tastes better in India!"
"We also visited a place in Karnataka called Hampi, which was once the second-largest city in the world. It has fabulous temples, arenas, palaces and colonnades, and is utterly stunning. I’d never heard of it before, and I was born in India!"
Episode three — Madagascar
Joanna ventures to the African island of Madagascar. Travelling overland on the country’s notorious pot-holed roads, she discovers the secrets of the world’s second most expensive spice, vanilla. From the unique way it’s grown to how it’s dealt on the streets. She searches for gold with a gold-mining community and finds out how cacao is used to make some of the world’s best chocolate.
Joanna says, "Madagascar is, of course, known for vanilla, which incredibly we learned is pollinated by hand because the only bees that can pollinate vanilla orchids naturally are wild bees found in Mexico."
"Vanilla was originally taken to Madagascar by the Mexicans, and they also took a hive of Mexican bees out, too. But all the bees died and there was nothing to pollinate the vanilla orchids. So now the vanilla pods that we buy and put into our sugar or our milk to make custards is all pollinated by hand. And we wonder why it's so expensive!"
Episode four — Zanzibar and Jordan
The last leg of Joanna Lumley’s journey takes her to Zanzibar, the spice island of Africa where merchants from around the world have left their mark on the architecture, religion and music.
"Zanzibar became the great trading station of the spice trade where everything was loaded up onto dhows [a type of sailing vessel] and ships and transported to Jordan, our final destination of the series, where they’d then be traded", says Joanna.
"Zanzibar is a mythical place, filled with the darkest, saddest history of the slave dungeons where they kept people who’d been rounded up in Africa to be sold on to people who wanted slave labour. It was shocking to learn how widespread the slave trade was."
Joanna Lumley's Spice Trail Adventure begins on Wednesday 5 July on ITV1
