Unveiling the Tranquil Oasis: A Journey through Fort Canning Spice Garden

In last blog post, I have reviewed about Fort Canning Park- the only park in Singapore that allows visitors to learn about both nature and history. Now, I decide to spend this post for Spice Garden, which is, according to my opinion, the most interesting one in the park.

Fort Canning Spice Garden was constructed in 1819, not long after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles- the founder of modern Singapore- arrived in this country. In this garden, Sir Raffles conducted some experiment about the various spices he had collected from Bencoolen. Visiting this garden brings me back the feeling of returning to my mom's kitchen, where various types of spices and herbs have been used to make tasty dishes. I was inspired by the wonderful smell of mints and a mixture of different herbs planted in the garden, which makes it become a good place for healing. Inside the garden, there is also a spice gallery, with sample of different spices are on display, together with its history and usage. There are also boards to provide visitors with information about the difference between spices and herbs, the steps in processing spices, and spice mania. Besides some popular spices and herbs that is used daily for my culinary process such as chillies, ginger and pepper, there are also some spices whose names I have never heard of before, there are some spices that I have used for long, but this was the first time I saw it in real life, including cinnamon, cocoa trees, coffee trees and vanilla.

Because of that, visiting Fort Canning Spice Garden must be a worth-trying experience, especially for the one who is running a restaurant, in order to learn more about different spices that can bring special taste to your dishes, and also for the one who is interested in exploring the world of spice. For me, culinary is definitely an art. Therefore, spices are considered the fundamental tool that decide the success of the art work. Without them, the dishes can not be considered as completed.