Guntur Kitchen

Hi, 

Welcome to all my readers. I started this post to let you know every small information regarding the spices around the world. This post will give you a closer look and the information which you have never known about the spices. Where does the word “SPICE” come from?, who introduced the spices in India?, what is the medicinal value of these spices, etc.. and much more.

The word “spice” didn’t appear until the end of the 12th century (a derivative of the Latin word “species,” which denoted a wide variety of products), the use of herbs dates back to early humans. Primitive peoples wrapped meat in the leaves of bushes, accidentally discovering that this enhanced the taste of the meat, as did certain nuts, seeds, berries–and even bark. In ancient times, spices and herbs were used as a way to mask the often unpleasant taste and odor of food, and later, to keep food fresh.

INTRODUCTION 

Let me first start with the word SPICE, what is ’spice’?  A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for the purpose of flavouring, and sometimes as a preservsative by killing the growth of harmful bacteria.

Many of these substances are also used for other puposes, such as medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumes or eating as vegetables.

HISTORY OF SPICES

The spice trade developed throughout the Middle East in around 2000 BC with cinnamon, Indonesian cinnamon and  pepper.

In the story of Genesis, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants. Generally, Egyptian, Chinese, Indian and Mesopotamian sources do not refer to known spices.

The ancient Indian epic of Ramayana mentions cloves. In any case, it is known that the Romans had cloves in the 1st century AD because Pliny the Elder spoke of them in his writings.

Indonesian merchants went around China, India, the Middle East and the east coast of Africa. Arab merchants controlled the routes through the Middle East and India until Roman times with the discovery of new sea routes. This made the city of Alexandria in Egypt the main trading centre for spices because of its port.

HISTORY OF SPICES IN INDIA

The story of Indian Spices is more than 7000 years old.Long before Christian era, the Greek merchants thronged the markets of South India, buying many expensive items amongst which spices were one. Epicurean Rome was spending a fortune on Indian spices, silks, brocades, Dhaka Muslin and cloth of gold, etc.It is believed that  the Parthian wars were being fought by Rome largely to keep open the trade route to India. It is also said that Indian spices and her famed products  were the main lure for  crusades and  expeditions to the East .

Today when spices cost so little, it seems unbelievable that they were once a royal luxury and that men were willing to risk their lives in quest of them. Though it were the Dark Ages, but there were rich people who had gold to exchange for pepper and cinnamon.

It was in the year 1492 A.D., that Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. Five years later, four tiny ships sailed southward from the port of Lisbon, Portugal, under the guidance of Captain Vasco Da Gama. Like Columbus, Vasco Da Gama too was searching for a new route to the spice lands of Asia. While Columbus failed to achieve the goal, Da Gama succeeded. In a two year, 24,000 miles round trip, he took his ships around the continent of Africa to India and back to Lisbon. Only two of the four ships survived to reach their homeport. These two ships brought back a cargo of spices and other products worth 60 times the cost of the said voyage.

The spices of the East were valuable in those times, During these Middle Ages, a pound of ginger was worth a sheep, a pound of mace worth three sheeps or half a cow. Pepper, the most valuable spice of all, was counted out in individual peppercorns, and a sack of pepper was said to be worth a man`s life. Da Gama`s successful voyage intensified an international power struggle for control over the spice trade. For three centuries afterwards the nations of Western Europe - Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, and Great Britain - fought bloody sea-wars over the spice-producing colonies.

By the year 1000 Arabians had conquered  the Indus valley , what is now India. They brought the cumin and coriander that mixed with Indian pepper, ginger and turmeric make up the base of so many South Asian dishes. It was this combination of spices that centuries later British sailors spread throughout the world as curry powder. In India, Arabian traders got the rare and exotic spices of the Far East from local spice merchants. India had spent the previous two millennia spreading its culture to the Spice Islands of the east. Arabian traders were able to make good money supplying these spices, even with the high prices paid to the Indian middle men, not only to their countrymen back home, but to Europe as well. These traders of spices paid for the Art and Education for which Arabia became famous in the present day.. In many ways the culture of Arabia loved studying and learning different things.

The fascinating history of spices is a story of adventure, exploration, conquest and fierce naval rivalry.

The people of those times used spices, as we do today, to enhance or vary the flavors of their foods. Spices were also flavor disguisers, masking the taste of the otherwise tasteless food that was nutritious, but if unspiced, had to be thrown away.  Some spices were also used for preserving food like meat for a year or more without refrigeration. In the sixteenth century, cloves were used to preserve food without refrigeration. Cloves contain a chemical called eugenol that inhibits the growth of bacteria. It is still used to preserve some modern foods like Virginia ham. Later, mustard and ground mustard were also found to have preservative qualities. When spices were not available people went hungry because they could not preserve their foods to carry them over to the winter. Such was the importance of spices those days. 

Broadly, there are two main subdivisions of spices one being the major spices and the other is minor spices. For example the spices like pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, chilies etc., comes under major category. The important minor spices grown in India are ajowan, aniseed, caraway, celery, coriander, cumin, dill seed, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, onion, saffron, vanilla etc.        

SPICES AND FLAVOURS

Do you ever think how many different flavours of spices are there? Nature provides an incredible variety of colours, textures, aromas and flavours that add interest and depth to our meals. The many and varied flavours in spices are held in the volatile oils that naturally occur in spices. Some of these flavours are apparent in the fresh spice, for example in ginger. Other spices either change or only develop their true flavour on drying. One dramatic example is vanilla, a green tasteless bean that grows on a tropical climbing orchid. It is only after drying and curing that the enzyme reactions which take place actually form the vanilla flavour. In a similar manner, when peppercorns are picked green, the enzyme reaction that occurs upon drying turns them black and creates the pepper flavour we all know so well.

COMMONLY USED SPICES

Spices which are commonly found in the kitchens of the following countries,

• Mexican: cayenne pepper, chili powder, cilantro, cinnamon, cumin, garlic powder, jalapeno peppers .
• Italian: anise, basil, crushed red pepper, fennel, garlic powder, oregano, rosemary, sage.
• Chinese: Chinese 5-spice, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, ground ginger, sesame seed, white pepper, whole red chilis.
• Thai: basil, cilantro, cinnamon, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, ground ginger, mint, turmeric, whole red chilis.
• Greek: cinnamon, dill weed, garlic powder, mint, onion powder, oregano, paprika.

LIST OF INDIAN SPICES

Spices spice up the Indian food. As we know Indian food is rich in taste and aroma, this taste and aroma come from these spices, which make the food mouth watering. Some of the important spices used in Indian kitchen are:

Ajwain , Aniseed , Bay Leaf, Black Pepper, Cambodge, Capsicum, Caraway Seed, Cardamom, Cassia, Celery, Chillies, Cinnamon, Clove, Coriander, Cumin, Dill Seed, Fennel, Fenugreek, Garlic, Ginger, Lemon Grass, Mango Powder, Marjoram, Mustard, Nutmeg & Mace, Paprika, Saffron, Turmeric, Vanilla, White Pepper.