Khadar Spices

Abdul's father opened the shop in 1984 with nine spices. Today the shelves hold sixty-two, from wild mountain thyme to Kashmiri saffron sourced through a cousin in Pampore.

Every blend is toasted in small batches over a wood fire at the back of the shop. The smell reaches three alleys away.

Tourists come for the saffron. Locals come for the everyday chilli and cumin — the same one their mothers bought here forty years ago.