1. Tea The tea we are drinking isn't coming straight away from the Assam fields. How to spot fake: In order to check whether the tea powder is pure, put a teaspoon of it in cold water; if the cold water turns brown then your tea is adulterated!
2. Frozen peas We stock frozen peas in our refrigerators because they come in handy. However, some packets consist a dye compound called 'malachite green', which can trigger stomach related ailments. How to spot fake: Take water in a vessel and put some peas and stir. If the water turns green, then immediately discard the packet as they are unsafe to consume.
3. Cinnamon sticks You can find out if you have bought authentic cinnamon sticks. How to spot fake: Smash the sticks with your hands, if your hands get coloured then they are authentic, if not then they are adulterated.
4. Turmeric root Even if you're crushing the turmeric roots and consuming it, the roots can be fake.How to spot fake: Take a turmeric root on paper and pour cold water over it. If the root leaves colour, it's a polished one and is impure.
5. Apples A polished apple will not keep you away from the doctor, but will take you to one. Did you know that apples are polished with wax to give them a 'fresh' look? How to spot fake: To see if your apple isn't wax covered, take a knife and slowly scrape the skin of your apple. If the knife extracts white, then that's wax!
6. Black Pepper Even pepper can be adulterated with mineral oil! How to spot fake: An adulterated pepper would shine and emit kerosene smell.
7. Cumin seeds Cumin seeds (jeera) are very essential part of cooking as we use it in our curries daily. They can be coloured with charcoal dust. How to spot fake: Crush the seeds in your palm, if your palm turns black then they contain charcoal.
8. Milk Our milkman not only fools by adding water to it. Milk can be adulterated with detergent and synthetic milk too and can contain oxytocin and urea.How to spot fake: Mix 10 ml of water and milk in the same proportion. If you notice foam or lather, then the milk contains detergent. To detect synthetic milk, boil the milk. If a yellowish lather forms, then the milk is synthetic milk.
9. Coriander powder There could be sawdust in your coriander powder.How to spot fake: Put some coriander powder in the water, the flakes of sawdust will float on water.
10. Coconut oil Coconut oil can be adulterated with other cheap oils.How to spot fake: Put the coconut oil bottle in refrigerator, the solidified layer is coconut oil, even at room temperature coconut oil gets solidified, whereas the liquid oil is an adulterant.
11. Honey To find granules of sugar is not a foolproof way to check the purity of honey.How to spot fake: Take a cotton wick and dip it in honey. Then try to burn it. If the wick burns readily then the honey is pure, and if it crackles then it's not pure.
12. Paneer (tofu made from cow / buffalo milk)
