Spice: Difference between revisions

No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 51: Line 51:


<!--T:13-->
<!--T:13-->
Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the [[Wikipedia:Republic of Venice|Republic of Venice]] held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, using this position to dominate the neighboring Italian [[Wikipedia:maritime republics|maritime republics]] and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000&nbsp;tons of pepper and 1,000&nbsp;tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the [[Wikipedia:Late Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages]]. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people. The most exclusive was [[saffron]], used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor. Spices that have now fallen into obscurity in European cuisine include [[:en:Aframomum melegueta|grains of paradise]], a relative of [[cardamom]] which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, [[long pepper]], [[nutmeg|mace]], [[spikenard]], [[galangal]] and [[cubeb]].
Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the [[Wikipedia:Republic of Venice|Republic of Venice]] held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, using this position to dominate the neighboring Italian [[Wikipedia:maritime republics|maritime republics]] and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000&nbsp;tons of pepper and 1,000&nbsp;tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the [[Wikipedia:Late Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages]]. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people. The most exclusive was [[saffron]], used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor. Spices that have now fallen into obscurity in European cuisine include [[Aframomum melegueta|grains of paradise]], a relative of [[cardamom]] which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, [[long pepper]], [[nutmeg|mace]], [[spikenard]], [[galangal]] and [[cubeb]].


===Early modern period=== <!--T:14-->
===Early modern period=== <!--T:14-->