Spices are the soul and backbone of any great dish. They can turn a bland meal into a feast of flavour. But what are the best spices to use? There are so many different spices available; it can be hard to know where to start.
Spices bring to mind images of tempting culinary art, fascinating travels and the bitter struggle for supremacy. Expressions like "Variety is the spice of life" and "Sugar and spice and all that's nice" show how spellbound men of letters were about spices.
It evokes the dreams of exotic tropical islands, exciting expeditions to find routes to the source and the rise and fall of many empires. Columbus went Westwards in 1492 from Europe to find a sea route to the land of spices but discovered new world. Eight years later, Vasco da Gama went Africa and touched Kozhikode on the South - West coast of India. Long before this, Arabs started trading with orient through land routes. During the 13th century, Marco Polo experienced the attraction of spices in his travels. Even the European conquest and trade arrangements in India and the East India had a lot to do with spices. Thousands of years ago, great masters of Ayurveda (the Indian system of medicine), notably Sushruta and Charaka, discussed in detail the use of spices for culinary and medicinal purposes. Enterprising soldiers of fortune took the knowledge of spices to Egypt. There they used spices and aromatic herbs in food, medicines, and cosmetics and for embalming. The conquest of Egypt and Asia by Alexander the Great made spices an article of commerce in Mediterranean countries and later in central and Northern Europe; there are reports of pepper being used in meat, both to aid preservation and to mask the unwelcome odour of deteriorations of quality during the long winter storage.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, and Theophrastus, a Greek scholar and botanist, wrote treatises on medicinal plants, including spices. India has been home to most of the major spices of the world with varieties from Kerala dominating international trade.
Thankfully, with a little exploration, you’ll soon discover which spices you like and which ones work best in different dishes. Whether you’re adding a pinch of spice to a cake or creating a marinade for chicken, there is a spice out there that will add the perfect flavour.
In the end, it’s up to you to experiment and see what spices you like best. There’s no right or wrong way to use spices. So, don’t be afraid to try new things! You might be surprised at how much you enjoy some of the more unusual spices out there.
Thanks for reading!!!
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