Located in the historic Speicherstadt warehouse district is a truly unique museum in Hamburg, Spicy’s Spice Museum. The museum is located in an authentic warehouse in Hamburg’s Speicherstadt. As a non-customer of a shop, you hardly ever get such inside access to the buildings – which is definitely a highlight for every tourist in Hamburg. The exhibition at the Spice Museum provides information about the origin and use of various individual spices and spice plants, such as pepper, chilli, savory, cinnamon and tarragon, to name just a few examples. Of course, historical facts are also included, such as how spices from “the New World” came to Europe after the first discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Chillies, paprika and pimento were the first to arrive on the continent of Europe. A few years later, in 1510, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought vanilla from Mexico – the queen of spices. At the museum in Hamburg, you can either just smell the different spices at various stations or even taste them directly. The aroma in the air at Spicy’s Spice Museum Hamburg is truly beguiling – after all, it is the full world of spices. One of the exhibits is a sieving machine from around 1920, formerly used by HELA Gewürzwerk. The sieving machine was used to sieve herbs and spices into two fractions – coarse and fine. Lastly, cardamom was sieved on it.
A visit to Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum Hamburg is not only recommendable for visitors to immerse themselves in the aromatic world of spices but with each ticket, you will also receive a small pack of peppercorns, as well as a small recipe booklet, as a nice complimentary souvenir. One of the recipes is for an oriental carrot soup with cinnamon – sounds delicious!
The following video gives you a short insight into the museum, as well as the following pictures, of course.
Address Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum: Am Sandtorkai 34, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
Opening times: daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission price: 5 € for adults aged 15 and up, 2 € for children aged between 4 and 14
Website: spicys.de/museum (german only)
