In Reply to: Vanilla pods posted by Chibi on Friday, 26. November 2004 at 15:56 Bali Time:
Hi Chibi,
Don't know where injapan got hers, but I bought some fantastic vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices in the market at Ubud.
Also a really good mortar & pestle - flattish & approx 35cm diameter for 35,000Rp. The vanilla was SO fresh, very pliable and cost almost nothing (can't remember exactly how much - bought a bunch of stuff for very little). I'm in Sydney & it's v.expensive here, too. There are lots of interesting spices at that market. I'm sure they are in lots of others, too. I just happened to go there as part of the Casa Luna cooking course, which was really good as our guide was able to show us the "good, bad & the ugly" in spices etc.
By the way, apparently they don't have saffron in Bali - but pass something else off as it.
Cheers,