Jaljeera is a drink rather than a cooking spice, and it is one of the great hot-weather inventions. Cumin, mint, black salt and amchur, mixed into cold water.

It is sour, salty and cooling all at once, and it does more for a hot afternoon than anything sweet.

Stir a teaspoon into a glass of chilled water, taste, adjust. Serve it before a meal to sharpen the appetite, or over ice with a squeeze of lemon. The same powder also goes into pani puri water.

Available at Curry Corner in North Melbourne.