Cardamom

Cardamom is another important spice. Cardamom is one of the world’s very ancient spices. It is native to the East originating in the forests of the Western Ghats in southern India, where it grows wild. It is sweet and aromatic and is very pleasant. It is found in Asian countries and also Australia depending on the type. It is one of the most expensive spices after saffron and vanilla. It is often called as "Queen of Spices".

Different types of Spices;

There are lots of spices. These spices are use for coloring food, make delicious food and also use as medicine. Spices are- red chilly, green chilly, garlic, onion, black pepper, cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, cloves, mustered, ajowan, asafetida, coriander, cumin, curry leaf, mango powder, nigella, nutmeg, sesame, tamarind, asafetida, turmeric etc.

History of Spices

The fame of Indian spices is older than the recorded history. The story of Indian Spices is more than 7000 years old. Centuries before Greece and Rome had been discovered, sailing ships were carrying Indian spices, perfumes and textiles to Mesopotamia, Arabia and Egypt. It was the lure of these that brought many seafarers to the shores of India. 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 those men were willing to risk their lives in quest of them. Though it was the Dark Ages, but there were rich people who had gold to exchange for pepper and cinnamon. 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 sheep’s 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.

Spicy Life of Spices

Spices are the aromatic parts of tropical plants. Spices come from the bark or roots of certain plants but the majority are berries, seeds or dried fruits. There are different types of spices. For example the spices like pepper, cardamom, ginger, cloves, turmeric, chilies, aniseed, caraway, celery, coriander, cumin, dill seed, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, onion, saffron, vanilla etc. 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. Spices are well known as appetizers and digestives and are considered essential in the culinary art all over the world. Some of them have anti-oxidant properties, while others have preservative properties and are used in some foods like pickles and chutneys, etc. Some spices also possess strong anti-microbial and antibiotic activities. 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 winters.