The American Spice Trade Association writes that man began to use spices around 50,000 BC when someone discovered that some leaves gave meat a good flavor. By 2300 BC the Assyrians, in one of the earliest known written records, wrote that the gods drank sesame seed wine before creating the earth.
Spices became a form of currency that sent intrepid adventurers onto unknown oceans to find new places, people, and trade routes. The Spice Route to China sucked in Marco Polo and brought the spice trade to Europe. Christopher Columbus set out to find the way to the source of spices and found the New World. The British Raj occupied India to gain its wealth, its spice and tea trade.
It isn't just the pepper you sprinkle on that burger, or the Tabasco sauce on your chicken wings. Spices are sacred, may be aphrodisiacs, make foods tastier, and are filled with anti-oxidants. Grab some ginger and saffron, garlic and chiles, and be healthy, happy, graced by the gods, and sexually satisfied. What more does anyone need?
In 50 BC the Romans brought mustard seed to England. In 595 AD they tell us that Mohammed married a "... wealthy spice-trading widow; his followers combine missionary work with spice-trading in East and build first spice monopoly." Little I knew that the Prophet was a married businessman.
Columbus, Magellan, and Vasco de Gama were all searching for spice routes and supplies. Spices were wealth. In 1505 the Portuguese discovered Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and its important supply of cinnamon (only now are we learning about cinnamon as a disease-fighter). In about 1519 Magellan's expedition circumnavigated the globe. His surviving ship returned in 1522 with enough spices on board to finance the entire voyage.
By 1672 Elihu Yale gets to India, starts a business in spices and ends up with enough of a fortune to endow a university in Connecticut. In 1969 spices make it to the surface of the moon in an attempt to make the astronauts' food more palatable. The British discovered that powdered ginger is twice as good as Dramamine in preventing motion sickness in 1983.
This year the Chicago Tribune reported on 13 September that the US Department of Agriculture found that spices may have, ounce per ounce, measure for measure, more anti-oxidant compounds than fruits and vegetables. Anti-oxidants help prevent cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart disease.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
1 - Christopher Rose
Chiles, Cinnamon, Coriander, Garlic and Ginger - these are a few of my favourite things!
2 - Nancy
Garlic...cumin...coriander...cinnamon...cardamom. Mmmmmm. And vanilla - does vanilla count?
3 - Lisa McKay
Howard, I wish this article could be presented in aroma-vision. It is indeed remarkable that something so filled with sensual delight could also be good for us!
Nancy, I would most certainly count vanilla if it were used in bean form -- what a heavenly scent!
4 - Nancy
I've got a vanilla bean tucked in my clothes drawers instead of a perfume sachet. You know, I always have guys telling me how good I smell. LOL - I once put a dab of vanilla mixed w/cinnamon behind each ear & practically had marriage proposals all day! It was a joke, but everyone loved it.
Cinnamon....ummmm...how I could wax poetic over cinnamon. Or cassia, its cheap cousin. Either one is heavenly, and especially if you've just ground it fresh from sticks. Ditto cardamom. That's another man-trap spice.
Maybe I'll just have myself cremated on a pile of cinnamon like the phoenix. My funeral would sure smell good!
5 - Byflickr
Thought of adding spice to an allready spiced article;-)
From ancient times other cultures have been in contact with Sri Lanka to obtain the spices that grow there. The best cinnamon, cloves and other spices are indigenous to Sri Lanka. People arrived to trade in spices and also left some of their culinary practices as well. Sri Lankan cooking has evolved by combining culinary practices of many of these cultures. The most noticeable impacts have been the Portuguese, Dutch, Moor and Malay influences.
6 - Karthik
Really Informative... No doubts..
Nancy, thanks for ur input.. i'm planning to follow u ;). Never mind, just to use vanila in my draws..
7 - Zoe
A lot of people who love to cook are very fond of herbs and spices and look for every opportunity to present them into a dish.
Some cooks go overabundant, and sprinkle them in everything on the off chance they will find something new.
Then there are those who avoid seasonings altogether for fear they will ruin an entire dish by over-seasoning, or worse, adding the wrong seasoning.
One such herb is thyme; its most active ingredient - thymol - is a well-known ingredient in products like Listerine and Vicks.
Thymol has antibacterial and antifungal properties, which makes it useful for a number of things.
Its oil, when inhaled, can help to loosen phlegm and relax the muscles in the respiratory tract and when made into a tea, thyme is helpful for colds and flu. Adding thyme to a dish infuses a whole new flavor and fragrance; its dry aroma and slightly minty flavor allow it to pair perfectly with minced garlic in rubs for lamb, pork, or even beef roasts, or by itself to enhance cheese, tomato, and egg dishes.
Try adding some thyme to stuffing, spaghetti, pizza sauces or chilli.
Thyme retains its flavor on drying better than many other herbs, and dried thyme, especially powdered, occupies less space than fresh, so less of it is required when substituted in a recipe.
As a rule of thumb, use one-third as much dried as fresh thyme, a little less if it is ground.
Thyme is slow to release its flavors so it is best added early in the cooking process to ensure proper flavor penetration.
Thyme is great on roast beef, which makes a great Kummelweck.
Kummelweck or a weck is a roast beef sandwich made famous in Buffalo, New York by being served on a special Kaiser roll topped with lots of pretzel salt and caraway seeds.
Its name comes from its creator who is believed to have been William Wahr, a German baker from the Black Forest, an area of Germany where bread rolls are known as wecks.
View video of how to grow Thyme here.