Spices from Egypt

It must be four, perhaps five years ago that my friend Paul went on a grand tour of Egypt with his family. He brought back for me a string of spices that he purchased at an open market; I imagine that the spices were all stacked up in aromatic pyramids and from there the vendor scooped a bit into each of these little packets for the tourists from the West.

I could never break open the spices because they were so beautiful in their packets, and the handwritten labels exotically accented in their idiomatic spelling that you can almost hear the vendor calling out the names: Rose Marry, seZam, Lora...

Of course, I wanted to preserve these spices as they were forever, but the writing is now starting to fade, and with the exception of the indigo, the spices don't appear as vibrant as they once were. So, before the black marker fades completely, and the plastic bags begin to crumble, I held a photographic preservation session with the spice packets.

The very top packet is filled with hibiscus flowers, the only packet that wasn't labeled.

And then followed by the Saffrons:

Indian Saffron powder

Egyptian Saffron powder

Indian Saffron flowers

Egyptian Saffron flowers

Cinnimon Powder

Cinnimon Stakes

InDigo

Indigo as a spice?  Not to be consumed, but used as a brightener for whites in the laundry, I am told.

SeZAM

Rose Marry

Lora

Black Cumin

Ginger

Organo

Chily

Anis