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Herbs and Spices of Teyvat: Sumeru

The lush jungles of Sumeru harbor an incredible diversity of plants, animals and fungi, and the people of this region have naturally made use of all this diversity for their cooking, known for its variety of flavors and spices.

Some of the most commonly known plants that used as spices are the Harra Fruit, the Sumeru Rose, and the Padisarah.

The Harra Fruit is one of the, if not the most, commonly used spice across sumeru, obtained from the Harra Plant (Aromatosquama dracovum). This plant is a strange cactus with broad, lobed leaves that grows in forests clearings and other more open areas of the rainforest. Its fruits exude a spicy aroma that is meant to dissuade mammalian frugivores , as this fruit is dispersed by dusk birds. To use this spice, one must dry the fruit, and then ground it to a powder, so all the different parts of the fruits, with different flavor compounds, can mix to create an incredibly complex mixture.

The Sumeru Rose (Rosoides communis) is a bulbous amaryllid widespread across the rainforests, and that is more often used as an ornamental plant for its beautiful, fragrant flowers; but that can, and is, also used in cooking because of those same flowers, which are edible, and provide the food with that same pleasant aroma. The bulbs and leaves can also be used, as they are technically edible, but they are poisonous if eaten in enough amounts.

The Padisarah (Padisarah paradoxicus) is a rare, underbrush magnoliid whose flower buds are ground and used to make a very valuable spice. It is a plant with extremely demanding growing conditions, and only grows in a select few places, exclusively in gardens. This is because the natural habitat of this plant, alongside a host of other flowers, no longer exists, but this plant has been able to survive by being cultivated artificially by humans.