THE SPICE TRADE
I’m going to start a new little chapter about spices for a while now and how they have influenced and shaped certain countries, how these rich little aromatic ingredients can change a whole dish and bring it to life as well as medicinal and cultural aspects of spices.The spice trade has brought so much into our history with adventure and tails of how men would search and explore for these sort after little treasures.
As long ago as 3500 BC the spices have been used for flavoring food, in cosmetics and for embalming the dead. The Ancient Egyptians believe that the spirit will return to the deceased and so all the royalties were mummified and buried with their worldly treasures for when the spirit returned.
The spice trade was mostly controlled by the Ancient Egyptians, Arabs and Indians but now is loved and used by everyone around the world. The Spice trade was controlled by the Arabs for over 5000 years.
There are so many different spices in the world and so many ways to prepare and cook with them and that’s where this little chapter begins…
CHOOSING SPICES:
When choosing and buying spices it is best to select the whole seeds or berries, the whole bark not ground, these will last and keep their flavor for longer. You can grind them at a later stage if you want or cooking them whole and remove after.
But when it comes to certain dishes fresh spices are always the best such as fresh ginger and galangal or lemongrass, you will never get the same flavor from the dried or preserved ones.
WHAT IS A SPICE?
Some people don’t realize that spices are just the dried version of certain fruits and plants or seeds. The dried seeds consist of spices such as cumin, coriander, cardamom and mustard. The bark and roots are cassia, cinnamon and ginger and leaves are lime leaves and curry leaves.
Spices are mostly of tropical origin all native to the Orient but some exceptions include vanilla, chilies and allspice, they originate in tropical America and West Indies.
The picture was from http://www.stockfood.com/
