Where do I buy spices safely (not tourist blends)?

The honest truth is that the most photographed spice stalls — the perfect cones of coloured powder near the tourist routes — are often the ones to avoid for actually buying. The better move is to find a working spice shop or herbalist, an attar, where Moroccan cooks do their own shopping, frequently a little off the main drag. These places sell loose spices by weight from sacks and jars, smell intensely of the real thing, and the owner can tell you exactly what each one is. That is where you get freshness and honesty rather than a pretty blend of who-knows-what.

My core advice is to buy single, recognisable spices rather than mystery mixes. Cumin, sweet paprika, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and whole spices are easy to judge by smell and colour. The famous ras el hanout — "top of the shop," a house blend that can contain dozens of ingredients — is wonderful, but the tourist versions are wildly variable and sometimes bulked out with cheap filler. If you want it, buy it from a serious attar who will tell you what is in their blend, ideally freshly ground in front of you, not from a sealed tourist packet.

Saffron deserves its own warning, because it is the most faked spice you will encounter. Real Moroccan saffron — much of it from the Taliouine region in the south — is sold as whole dark-red threads and is genuinely expensive; if someone offers you a big, cheap bag of "saffron," it is almost certainly safflower (so-called "false saffron") or dyed, worthless threads. Buy small quantities of whole threads from a reputable herbalist, and be deeply suspicious of saffron powder, which is the easiest form to adulterate.

My practical guidance: shop where locals shop, ask to see and smell each spice loose before buying, buy whole spices where you can (they keep better and are harder to fake), and weigh up prices across a couple of shops. Avoid the "Berber Viagra" and miracle-cure powders pushed at tourists. Spices pack light and travel well, but seal them in zip bags so your luggage does not come home smelling of cumin — though, honestly, that is a smell I never mind.