Paramin Seasoning

What is it in the soil of these lush mountains that feeds the crops like nothing else? Could it be that the plants spend their growing days feeling the cool, mountaintop breeze and looking down on some of the most spectacular views that the country has to offer? If plants do in fact feel, these are happy plants and it shows in the plumpness of the chive and the fatness of the cabbages.
It is at table like this that the seasoning bundles are wrapped and prepared. I thought a chive (or sive as we say) was a chive was a chive. Not so. There are many different types. There is the "Big Blue" which is big anf fat and has that blueygreen tinge that you sometimes get on the head of fresh broccolli. When seen on the hillside, they are beautiful. Then there is the"cobra" which is the most common (I believe) and it's the one that most people know. It has a distinctive flavour that is what gives most of our creole seasoning that recognizable smell and taste.
Cobra and Big Blue
This chive process takes place all over this mountain top. In almost every house that you pass there is this quiet sense of industry and good will. This was so refreshing to see because it's good to remind ourselves that Trinidadians are still good people. Yes, there's crime but what we have here is very special.The view looking down through the Maraval hills and into Port of Spain.