Spices and herbs

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Part of The Young Citizen: The Magazine for Young People

Title
Spices and herbs
Year
1941
Rights
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Fulltext
288 THE YOUNG CITIZEN AuGusT, 1941 ELEMENTARY SCIENCE SECTION SPICES AND HERBS Drying Cloves . IF· modern cold storage had been known in the days of Columbus, the New World . might not have been discovered until centuries later. For without OlJ.r modern means of keeping food palatable through­ out the year, the Europe of the Middle Ag.es and later times found spices ,and . herbs almost indispensable to flavor its poor and often half-spoiled food. In medi·eval England, for example, the usual winter diet consisted of meal (not made from Indian corn, however) and coarse salt meat, which became half­ rotten before the winter was over. So ·Spices were in enormous demand to lend some savor to this monotonous and pleas­ ureless fare. Cinnamon, cloves, and pepper wer.e worth their weight in gold and men risked their lives and fortunes in seeking new routes to the land of spices -the East Indies and the neighboring parts of Asia. For centur�es spices, so common with us that we scarcely give them a thought, were among the most important articles of commerce. The spice trade was a .leading factor in determining the rise and fall of states, in provoking wars, and in discovery and exploration. It was chiefly the desire to find new ways of access to this vastly profitable trade that led to the discovery of &ea routes to the east and th� discovery· of America. . Arabia was at first the great distribut­ ing center for spices, which were brought overland in great caravans. Venice rose to world power through her control of the Mediterranean trade in spices and other imports from the East. When Venice lost command of the trade through the discovery of ·new sea route!!· to the · East, first Portugal, then Holland, rose · to wealth arid power largely through the; spice monopoly. In the days of Queen Elizabeth the Dutch went so far' in their efforts to keep all the spice trade in their own hands that they cut down clove, cinnamon, and pepper trees in districts not: directly un­ der- their control and inflicted the severest punishments on anyone who attempted to infringe on their monopoly. AUGUST, J941 THE YOUNG CITIZEN So:-.rE WELL-KNOWN SPICES AND HERBS 1. Cloves (twice tile natural size) (2) Branch of a nutmeg tree (reduced i11 size), showing flower!,· leaves, and fruit (3) Allspice berries (highly mag,ified) (4) Branch of red pepper (5) Nutmeg (6) A growing ginger rrJot ( 7) Cimiamon bark ( 8) Black pepper berries ( 9) Pods of vanilla branch (reduced in size) ( 10) Caraway seed.r (highly mag,ified). In Ceylon,· the great cinnamon· center, death was the penalty for the illegal sale . of even a single stick of cinnamon ; and this law remained in force until the Eng­ lish took the island in 1796. It was large­ ly to break the grip of the Dutch on the profitable spice-trade that the East India Company W<}S formed in Eng�and, thus laying -the foundations for British rule in India. . Most of the spices are s"till produced in the East· Indies, the Philippines, and the neighboring lands. Pepper and cin­ (Please turn to page 296.) 296 THE YOUNG CITIZEN AuousT, 1941 SPICES AND HERBS I (Continued fr:om page 289) namon are native1·lo India and Ceylon, but is also prodti/ced in nea�by countries. Nutmeg and ia ce, cloves, turmeric, . and ginger come ;from the Malay Archipel­ ago, and c.as' �ia ·bark from China. The �..:merican tropics have supplied vanilla, red peppers, and allspice. The colder climates of Europe and Asia have pro­ d�oed caraway seed, p·arsley, mus�ard, and other herbs and roots. Many of these things have other uses than that ·of flavoring food_s. Some are valua-ble in p�rfumery, candi_es, and scented soaps, as vanilla, clover, and pep­ per, or in the manufacture of incense, as cinnamon. Many ar_e used in medicine, as ginger, nutmegs, oil of cloves, etc.· Turm,eric is used in dyeing, especially in India and China, an,d marjoram serve . s in dying wool. . Other spices and herbs are used in various arts. It is a. remarkable fact that a large proportion of the spices are successfully grown only on islands or near the sea. Nutmegs, cloves,· vanilla, and cinnamon may be termed island plants .. The flavor of spices is due to the pres­ ence of aromatic oils secre�ed in the plant, but these oils are richest in different parts of various plants. In cloves and the little hot peppers called capers it is the flower buds that are particularly aromatic; in coriander, capsicums, and pepper, it is the fruit. Ginger, licorice, and turmeric are roots and underground stems. Cin­ na�on and cassia are the inner bark of a tree. In most of the savory herbs such as sage·, mint, thume, �arjoram, catnip, et cetera, the leaves are richest in these essential oils, while nutmegs, caraway, and anise are seeds. When the flower buds are utilized, they are plucked just before they are ready to break into blossom. The whole cloye, as we buy i: in a grocery·store, is the dried flower bud· of a small, bushy tree. One of the early uses of cloves is recorded in an ancient Chinese court order, wherein the officers of the court were required to hold cloves in. their mouths while address­ ing the sovereign. Cap,ers, which are used in seasoning, are the salted and pickled buds of a bushy plant. Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of several species of trees, some of which grow in the Philippines. This aromatic bark }:las long been popular, having been prized eyen in Biblical times. Allspice consists of the little unripe fruits of a tree which Pesembles the clove. The spice takes- its name from a resem­ . blance to a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Coriander is one of the oldest spices, being mentioned in early Sanskrit. and . Egyptian writings. It is the fruit of a small herb, and is largely cultivated in India. It is valued as an ingredient in confectionery, to disguise the unpleasant taste of medicines, and as an ingredient in curry powder, which is a mixture of various spices. One of the sp�ces often used in curry is the cumin, which is als? used as a substitute for caraway seeds. Dill is the dried fruit of a plant. It is used in pickling, the most familiar use be­ ing for "dill" cucumber pickles which may be bought in any grocery store. Another group of seasoning plants are cultivated in gardens as kitchen herbs. Among these are the sweet-smelling mar­ joram, thyme, sage, parley, bay, and others.