Spice Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Middle Ages=== [[File:Le livre des merveilles de Marco Polo-pepper.jpg|thumb|"The Mullus" harvesting pepper. Illustration from a French edition of ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''.]] Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the [[Middle Ages]],<sup>[[Spice#cite note-5|[5]]]</sup> the most common being [[black pepper]], [[cinnamon]] (and the cheaper alternative [[Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]]), [[cumin]], [[nutmeg]], ginger, and [[cloves]]. Given medieval medicine's main theory of [[humorism]], spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food,<sup>[[Spice#cite note-6|[6]]]</sup> on a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent [[pandemic]]s. In addition to being desired by those using [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|medieval medicine]], the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages, believing spices to be from and a connection to "paradise".<ref>{{Cite book |author=Schivelbusch, Wolfgang |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/24702170 |title=Tastes of paradise : a social history of spices, stimulants, and intoxicants |date=1992 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=0-394-57984-4 |oclc=24702170 |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115421/https://worldcat.org/title/24702170 |url-status=live }}</ref> An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the [[King of Aragon]], who invested substantial resources into importing spices to [[Spain]] in the 12th century. He was specifically looking for spices to put in [[wine]] and was not alone among [[European Monarchs|European monarchs]] at the time to have such a desire for spice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Freedman|first=Paul|date=June 5, 2015|title=Health, wellness and the allure of spices in the Middle Ages|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|series=Potent Substances: On the Boundaries of Food and Medicine|volume=167|pages=47β53|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2014.10.065|pmid=25450779}}</ref> Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the [[Republic of Venice]] held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, using this position to dominate the neighboring Italian [[maritime republics]] and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of other common spices were imported into Western Europe each year during the [[Late Middle Ages]]. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adamson, Melitta Weiss|title=Food in Medieval Times|url=https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218|url-access=limited|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn|year=2004|isbn=978-0-313-32147-4|page= [https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218/page/n89 65]}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="freedman" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page