Spices - History, Classification & Their Uses

Spices - History, Classification & Their Uses

                            The term 'spice' applies to natural or vegetable products or mixtures thereof, in whole or ground form that are used for imparting flavour, aroma and piquancy for seasoning of foods.

                          China, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are the major traders of spices. The first spice to be introduced to Europe was pepper. Like wine and cheeses, their individuality is intense and their identification with places a vivid one. Spices cover both liquids and solids used in the kitchen. India is known as the home of spices' for the whole world.

The History of Spices

                The fame of Indian spices is more than 7000 years' old. Large merchant ships used to carry Indian spices, perfumes and textiles to Mesopotamia, Arabia and Egypt since the ancient times. It was the lure of these spices that had brought many seafarers to the shores of India. In the ancient period, Greek merchants would throng the markets of south India, buying expensive items, including spices. Epicurean Rome was also spending a fortune on Indian spices. It is believed that the Parthian wars were being fought by Rome largely to keep the trade route to India open. It is also said that Indian spices and her famed expensive products like silks, muslins, were the main temptation for many expeditions to the East.

                  Today, when spices cost so little, it seems unbelievable that they were once a royal luxury and that man was willing to risk lives in their quest. During the middle ages, a pound of ginger was worth a sheep, a pound of mace was worth three sheep or half a cow.

              Christopher Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 and after five years, four tiny ships sailed southward from the port of Lisbon, Portugal, under the guidance of Captain Vasco da Gama. Like Columbus, Vasco da Gama was searching for a new route to the spice lands of Asia too. While Columbus failed to reach India, Da Gama succeeded. In a two year round trip, he took his ships around the continent of Africa to India and back to Lisbon. Only two of the four ships survived to reach their homeport. These two ships were laden with spices and luxury goods from India.

                         Vasco da Gama's successful voyage intensified an international power struggle for control over the spice trade. For the next three centuries, the nations of Western Europe Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, and Great Britain-fought bloody sea wars over the spice-producing colonies.

                         The Muslims brought cumin and coriander, which, along with Indian pepper, ginger and turmeric, make up the base of many South Asian dishes. It was this combination of spices that the British sailors spread throughout the world as curry powder after many centuries. 

Spices sourced from plant components

● Aril or bracket-covering seed - Mace or javitri

● Barks - Cassia, cinnamon

● Berries - Allspice, pimento, black pepper or juniper

● Buds - Clove

● Bulbs - Onion, garlic, leek and shallots

● Floral parts - Saffron

● Fruits - Cardamom, chillies

● Kernels - Nutmeg

● Leaves or leafy spices - Basil, mint and marjoram

● Rhizomes (underground stem) - Ginger, turmeric

● Latex or resin - Asafoetida, aniseed, caraway

● Seeds - Ajowain, dill, fennel, mustard and poppy seeds

Use of Spices

                              Spices can be used to add flavour to various food items by following the given techniques:

● Dry roasting: Done in the case of cumin, coriander, fennel, mustard and poppy seeds.

● Frying: Whole spices are fried in oil and subsequently used.

● Grinding: A lot of spices need to be ground before use. • Grating: Spices such as nutmeg, horseradish and ginger are grated before use.

● Crushing: Spices such as cardamom, juniper and lemon grass are crushed before being used, to get a better

● Shredding and chopping: Fresh spices are mostly chopped before being used to prepare dishes. However, kaffir lime leaves are usually shredded instead of being chopped.

● Infusing: A few spices are infused in a warm liquid before use, like saffron and tamarind.

Equipment used for the preparation

                               Spices are often ground, crushed or pounded to create powders and pastes. Although these processes are simple, there are a few useful items of equipment that make the task much easier. The equipment for the purpose are as follows:

• Pestles and mortars made up of china and granite are available in a variety of sizes and are excellent for grinding small amounts of dry spices.

• Electric food processors, mixers and grinders are used in the kitchen.

• Graters are used to grind fresh spices.

• Garlic press is used specially for crushing garlic cloves.

• Nutmeg mills are used for grating the kernels of nutmeg. 

• The perplex mill is specially used to grind both cinnamon and cassia bark.

• Zassenhaus peppermills: They are high quality peppermills that Germany has been making for a long time.

• Japanese ginger grated: They are supposed to be easy to work with and clean. 

Classification of Spices 

Spices can be classified or grouped according to the following systems of classification. They can be classified according to their:

• Botanical analogies or families

• Economic importance, that is, major and minor spices For working in the kitchen, we divide spices as-fresh and dried.

                        Fresh spices could be ginger, galangal, chillies, lemon grass, kaffir lime and curry leaves. Dried spices could be pepper, cardamom, red chillies, coriander, cumin, celery, fennel, fenugreek and garlic. They can be further divided into whole and ground spices.

                       In India, there are five major spices, namely pepper, cardamom (small and large), ginger, turmeric and chillies, Pepper is the most important spice in India, rightly termed as the king of spices'. Some other important spices grown in India are ajwain, aniseed, caraway, celery seed, coriander, cumin, dill seed, fennel, fenugreek, garlic, saffron and vanilla. Indians also use spice mixtures like garam masala, curry powder, sambar powder, panch phoron etc.

                       Some of these spices possess antioxidant properties, while others are used as preservatives in some food like pickles, etc., since they have anti-microbial and antibiotic characteristics. Many of them possess medicinal properties and have a profound effect on human health. Many of them are also aphrodisiacs by nature.