Adulterants are mixed into almost everything these days, and ground spices are on the list. Many people feel uneasy buying chilli powder, but once it goes into a curry there is no way of telling the real thing from the fake.

Besides brick dust, talcum powder, soap powder or dyed sand are also used to adulterate chilli powder.

You can make sure whether chilli powder bought from the market is adulterated by testing it before use. Here is how.

Gently pour a teaspoon of chilli powder into a glass of clean water. Lift the thin layer floating on top with a spoon, put it on your palm and rub it slowly. If you feel something rough, hard and gritty, it has brick dust or sand mixed in.

If it foams a little, something like soap or powder has been added.

If the water turns red after you pour in the powder, even before stirring, it contains artificial colour.

And if sawdust or something similar has been mixed in, that too will float to the top.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.