Türkiye's Gaziantep is now home to a spice museum, showcasing 150 varieties of spices, including the extinct silphium and popular saffron, which were commonly used in Ottoman cuisine.
The museum, which was opened by the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality on Sept. 15, offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of spices and see, touch and smell the spices on display.
Besides learning about the plants from which spices are derived, visitors also have the chance to see and taste their culinary uses. Visitors can also experience the aromas of the spices they are curious about and gain information about the countries where they are grown, the climate conditions and the dishes in which they are used.
The museum also conducts academic studies on the exhibited spices. Researchers can access the DNA of the relevant spice, and the remaining residue is recycled after the experiments.
The chairperson of GaziBel, the operator of the museum, Fikret Murat Tural, stated that the Rayiha Spice Museum is not only to showcase the spices exhibited periodically but also to narrate their historical background, culinary uses, and academic studies conducted on them.
"What we want to do is introduce spices to people. We exhibit the spices and inform them about their characteristics and the vitamins they contain. On the top floor of our three-story museum, we offer tastings of dishes made with spices. Inspired by Gaziantep's historical position on the Spice and Silk routes and its long tradition of the spice trade, we established the museum. Another purpose was to explore how the spice trade conducted through Gaziantep influenced the city's cuisine and culture, and the contributions it brought to the city," he explained.
Tural expressed that the Rayiha Spice Museum receives significant interest from visitors. He mentioned that throughout history, people have always had an interest in spices, and the museum exhibits extinct and rarely found spices and plants that were commonly used in the past.
"Our museum is a living museum. There are a few examples of this worldwide, but they are not living museums like this. From ancient times, people have had an interest in spices. They were used in medicine, by healers as remedies. Our mothers used them in cooking, and they were even sent as gifts to kings and rulers of the time. Spices are present in every aspect of life," he added.