- The Intention
- The Ingredients
- The Ritual
- The Diaspora Story
A different, yet highly delightful variety of sumac, this wild spice boasts notes of black tea, jujube, and cranberry, but with the same tart, lemon zestiness of sumac that we all know and love. Grown wild and foraged by the Ningthi village in the Ukhrul hills of India, this sundried and hand-pounded Heimang or Chinese Sumac is sourced for Diaspora by their friends at Hillwild. A tangy, flavorful souring agent when fresh lemons aren't in season, this delicious sumac is a welcome addition to any dish craving some fruit-spice...we especially love it sprinkled on top of fried eggs, tossed into salad dressings, pinched into baked goods, and alchemized into soups and stews.
1.41 oz
Wild Heimang Sumac
Use in dishes, tonics, recipes as desired.
The original intent of colonial conquest of the Indian subcontinent was a desire for domination of the spice trade. 400ish years later, as a young woman born and raised in postcolonial Mumbai, working at the intersection of food and culture, Sana Javeri Kadri was slowly discovering that not much about that system had changed. Farmers made no money, spices changed hands upwards of 10 times before reaching the consumer, and the final spice on your shelf was usually an old, dusty shadow of what it once was.
So in 2016, Sana booked a one way ticket home to Mumbai and signed herself up for 7 months of highly unpaid market research, 40+ farm visits, endless un-answered phone calls, a squishy motorbike ride through rice paddy, and one life-changing meeting with the good folks at the Indian Institute of Spices Research.
A lot of processing of doubts and fears later, 23 year old Sana founded Diaspora Co. in the fall of 2017 with just one spice - Pragati Turmeric - sourced from an equally young and idealistic farm partner - a now dear friend Mr. Prabhu Kasaraneni. But from their very first day, the big, audacious dream was to grow a radically new, decidedly delicious and truly equitable spice trade, to push a broken system into an equal exchange, and to have a lot of fun doing it.
Today, the Diaspora team sources 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. They're proud to pay their farm partners an average of 6x above the commodity price. In a system where fair trade is a mere 15% premium, they pay what they believe to be a living wage - an investment in the kind of leadership and land stewardship that will build climate resilience and more delicious food systems.
The Intention
A different, yet highly delightful variety of sumac, this wild spice boasts notes of black tea, jujube, and cranberry, but with the same tart, lemon zestiness of sumac that we all know and love. Grown wild and foraged by the Ningthi village in the Ukhrul hills of India, this sundried and hand-pounded Heimang or Chinese Sumac is sourced for Diaspora by their friends at Hillwild. A tangy, flavorful souring agent when fresh lemons aren't in season, this delicious sumac is a welcome addition to any dish craving some fruit-spice...we especially love it sprinkled on top of fried eggs, tossed into salad dressings, pinched into baked goods, and alchemized into soups and stews.
1.41 oz
The Ingredients
Wild Heimang Sumac
The Ritual
Use in dishes, tonics, recipes as desired.
The Diaspora Story
The original intent of colonial conquest of the Indian subcontinent was a desire for domination of the spice trade. 400ish years later, as a young woman born and raised in postcolonial Mumbai, working at the intersection of food and culture, Sana Javeri Kadri was slowly discovering that not much about that system had changed. Farmers made no money, spices changed hands upwards of 10 times before reaching the consumer, and the final spice on your shelf was usually an old, dusty shadow of what it once was.
So in 2016, Sana booked a one way ticket home to Mumbai and signed herself up for 7 months of highly unpaid market research, 40+ farm visits, endless un-answered phone calls, a squishy motorbike ride through rice paddy, and one life-changing meeting with the good folks at the Indian Institute of Spices Research.
A lot of processing of doubts and fears later, 23 year old Sana founded Diaspora Co. in the fall of 2017 with just one spice - Pragati Turmeric - sourced from an equally young and idealistic farm partner - a now dear friend Mr. Prabhu Kasaraneni. But from their very first day, the big, audacious dream was to grow a radically new, decidedly delicious and truly equitable spice trade, to push a broken system into an equal exchange, and to have a lot of fun doing it.
Today, the Diaspora team sources 30 single-origin spices from 150 farms across India and Sri Lanka. They're proud to pay their farm partners an average of 6x above the commodity price. In a system where fair trade is a mere 15% premium, they pay what they believe to be a living wage - an investment in the kind of leadership and land stewardship that will build climate resilience and more delicious food systems.