Garam masala is made by cleaning a set of whole spices, often dry-roasting some or all of them, then grinding, sieving and blending to a fixed recipe. Brands differ in which spices they use, in what proportions, whether they roast, and how much of the cheaper base spices they include.
There is no single legal recipe. That gives you freedom to specify your own, and it means two products with the same name can taste very different.
Typical ingredients
Most versions draw on the same family of spices:
- Coriander seed and cumin, which usually form the bulk.
- Black pepper.
- Green cardamom, and sometimes black cardamom for a smoky note.
- Cinnamon or cassia.
- Cloves.
- Indian bay leaf (tejpat).
- Nutmeg and mace.
- Sometimes fennel, star anise, dry ginger or chilli.
How it is made in a typical plant
- Intake: each whole spice is checked against its own specification for moisture, purity and foreign matter.
- Cleaning: sieving, de-stoning and, for some spices, colour sorting.
- Roasting, if the recipe calls for it. Gentle dry roasting deepens the aroma but must be controlled to avoid scorching.
- Cooling, so warm spices do not sweat or lose volatile oil in the mill.
- Grinding: spices may be ground separately and then blended, or premixed and ground together.
- Sieving to the agreed mesh, followed by magnets and metal detection.
- Microbial reduction, if your market needs it, usually steam treatment of the whole spices before grinding.
- Blending, packing and lot coding.
What varies between brands
- The ratio of costly spices, such as cardamom, cloves and mace, to base spices such as coriander and cumin. This drives both flavour and cost.
- Cinnamon or cassia. Many blends use cassia, which is stronger and usually cheaper.
- Roasted or raw. Roasted blends are darker and toastier. Raw blends are brighter and sharper.
- Regional style. Some styles lean on pepper and cloves. Others lean on cardamom, fennel or mace.
- Particle size. A finer powder releases aroma faster but also loses it faster.
- Grinding heat. A hot mill drives off volatile oil. Some plants use cold grinding to reduce this.
- Added ingredients such as salt, chilli or garlic, which change labelling and allergen checks.
How to specify yours
Ask for the recipe in percentages, even if the supplier keeps exact figures confidential. Agree the origin and grade of each spice, the roast level, the mesh size and, if you test it, a volatile oil range. Fix an approved reference sample and compare every lot against it. Our guide on protecting your blend recipe covers confidentiality.
Watch the costly components most closely. Cardamom husk, exhausted spice and extra base spice are known ways to cut cost unseen in a powder. A volatile oil test and a side-by-side tasting against your reference sample will catch most of it.
How we help
We audit the grinding unit, agree the recipe bands and reference sample with you, and have production lots tested at an NABL-accredited lab before they ship. To develop or switch a garam masala supplier, start with a free sourcing review.