The word “Spice” refers to every dried part of a plant such as the seeds, fruit, roots, berries, flower buds and sometimes even bark, as is the case with cinnamon (a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species). The only exception to this being the leaves, the leaf of a plant is considered an herb (we like to use those too!). Spices are used for seasoning and flavoring, coloring and sometimes even assisting in preserving a recipe while enhancing the main ingredient. Many spices have multiple uses, besides flavor while seasoning foods, other uses can be medicinal, religious or simply used as a vegetable when some are grown to maturity.
Spice Basics
Spice Basics
What are Spices?
Spice Benefits
Herbs and spices are the very best way to add flavor to a dish without adding fats or calories. Spices not only just excite your taste buds, but are composed of an impressive list of phytonutrients, essential oils, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, that are essential for overall health and wellness. When you eat or drink these antioxidants and phytonutrients, they can help prevent disease, and assist in keeping your body working properly. Spices have been an integral part of our history and food for centuries, and today, even more relevant to our diet, as people begin to rediscover the health benefits that they provide.
Storage Guide
Spices rarely “go bad”. The shelf life of spices vary depending on the particular spice or herb, and whether it is whole or ground. Generally speaking, the larger and more whole a spice, the slower it loses flavor as the essential oils have not been exposed. Additionally, if you store your spices in an air-tight container and prevent exposure to direct sunlight for long periods of time will also extend the life span. However, dried herbs and spices will lose their flavor, pungency, and colors will naturally fade over time. You always want to buy your spices in usable quantities. Buy what you need, use what you buy.
Food Dating & "Best By" Dates
When you are searching out the spices you desire, and, after reading above, and before purchasing, you may be quick to look for an “expiration”, “use by”, “best by” or “sell by” date on the package. Most consumers mistakenly believe that a date on food indicates how safe the food is to consume. Food dating emerged in the 1970’s, never about public health, it was prompted by consumer demand as Americans produced less of their own food but still wanted information about how it was made. The dates are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture and solely indicate freshness from a manufacturer standpoint and how they want to convey to the consumer when their product is at its peak freshness. This means the food does not necessarily “expire” in the sense of becoming inedible once it reaches that date. The words “use by” and “best by” are recommendations for the consumer, “sell by” is for the manufacturer, and are usually used so inconsistently that they contribute to widespread misinterpretation and waste by consumers. Most Americans throw out food prematurely, which means too much of the U.S. food supply is tossed in the trash, unused, every year because of food dating. Those “sell by” dates are there to protect the “reputation” of the food. To really be able to keep your products fresh, buy only what you will use within a reasonable amount of time, store it properly, and use good judgement in determining if the foods are fit to consume.
Spice History 101
Spices have been important to mankind and the inspiration for trade, exploration, war and poetry since the beginning of civilization. In its day, the spice trade was the world’s biggest industry: it established and destroyed empires, led to the discovery of new continents, and in many ways helped lay the foundation for the modern world. Spices today are relatively inexpensive and widely available however they were once very tightly guarded and generated immense wealth for those who controlled them. The spice trade began in the Middle East over 4,000 years ago. Initially the spice trade was conducted mostly by camel caravans over land routes that made up the Silk Road, which was an important route connecting Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the the development of the great civilizations of China, India, Egypt, Persia, Arabia and Rome. The Roman Empire set up a powerful trading center in Egypt in the first century BC and was in command of all of the spices entering the Greco-Roman world for many years.
Over the following centuries, countless groups battled for control of the spice trade. Eventually, Venice emerged in the mid-13th century as the primary trade port for spices bound for western and northern Europe. Venice became extremely prosperous by charging huge tariffs, and without direct access to Middle Eastern sources, the European people could do little else but pay the exorbitant prices they were charged. Even the wealthy had trouble paying for spices.
In the 15th century the spice trade was transformed by the European age of discovery. When Christopher Columbus set out in search of India to create a direct line of spices he wound up in the America’s instead.
With the “discovery” of the New World came new spices, with America as a late comer with its newly discovered flavors, that kept the spice trade profitable well into the 19th century. In the wake of the accidental “discovery” of the New World by Columbus in 1492, Spanish and Portuguese explorers continued the quest for riches, Portugal being the first country to successfully circumnavigate Africa in 1497 when Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and eventually sailed to India. Spanish, English and Dutch expeditions soon followed and the growing competition sparked bloody conflicts over control of the spice trade.