Spice Route

Found in high altitude forests, lichens are an important ingredient of almost all spice mixes of India

- Shalini Dhyani

A COUPLE OF years ago, I went to Narayan Bagar, a small hamlet in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand to look for a vehicle to take me to Ghesh village, one of the last villages that lead to the alpine pastures of Bagji. It was a pleasant cold evening in western Himalayas and I saw residents returning back from forests with fuelwood, fodder and leaf litter. They also had sacks full of something that they were very possessive about. Responding to my curious enquiries, one resident said, “jhula hai madam ji”. Jhula is the local name for lichens that grow profusely in the area. Over the next few days I tried to find out more about the extraction and trade of lichens from small mountain hamlets of Garhwal. Lichens are sold in the market under various trade names including jhula, mukku, makku, chadila and dagadphool. In local village haats (small shops), these are sold by spice traders. Lichens are also sold in big grocery stores of small cities as these are an important ingredient of garam masala and other spice mixes. Even spice mandis, including the biggest one in Khari Baoli in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, stock them. Lichens are collected from oak forests from September to March every year.