Herbs and Spices
Herbs and spices
Herbs are aromatic leaves or seeds
from plants of temperate origin
 Spices are aromatic fruits, flowers, bark
or other plant parts of tropical origin
 While herbs and spices are mainly
associated with cooking, they have been
used in medicine, as natural dyes, and
in the perfume and cosmetic industries
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Essential Oils
Volatile substances that contribute to the
essence or aroma of certain plants
 Most commonly found in leaves, flowers,
and fruits where they occur in
specialized cells or glands
 Chemically, essential oils are classified
as terpenes - type of hydrocarbon
 In flowers they attract pollinators
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Early history of spices
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Primitive people were attracted to aromas
of these plants and found uses for them
Ancient Egyptians used herbs and spices
extensively in medicine, cooking,
embalming, and as perfumes and incense.
Ebers Papyrus dated about 3500 years
ago is a scroll that lists the medical uses of
many plants
Ebers Papyrus
Anise, caraway, mustard, saffron and
many others
 Cinnamon and cassia also mentioned in
Egyptian records
 These two spices, native to Southeast
Asia and China, are evidence that an
active spice trade was already in
existence
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Ancient Greek trade
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During ancient Greek civilization, the spice
trade was flourishing between the
Mediterranean region and the Far East
Spices such as the cinnamon and cassia as
well as black pepper and ginger from India
Arab merchants brought the spices by
caravan from India, China, and Southeast
Asia (Spice Islands in East Indies)
The Roman spice trade
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Spices were even more prominent in the
Roman Empire
After first century, Rome began trading directly
with India by ship, breaking the centuries-old
Arab monopoly
When Rome fell in 476 A.D. the spice trade
virtually disappeared
Centuries elapsed before the spice trade
actively resumed
Dark Ages
Exotic spices from the East were rare
 Europeans had to rely on native
temperate herbs and many valued for
medicinal uses
 Merchant travelers kept a limited supply
of spices from the Arab trading centers
 Crusades, beginning in 1095, increased
the spices from the Near East
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Marco Polo
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Venice and Genoa rose in 12th and 13th century
Venetian who influenced spice trade - Marco Polo
Traveled to the court of Kubla Khan in China in
1271 and spent 25 years in the Orient - saw its
riches and wrote about it on his return
Increased European desire for spices
Lured more and more travelers eastward
New overland routes were established and soon
explorers were searching for sea routes to the
East
Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry of Portugal wanted to
break the Venetian-Muslim trade
monopoly
 He established a school of navigation in
1418 to find a sea route to the Orient
 His efforts laid the ground work for the
Age of Exploration
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Age of Exploration
In 1486 Bartholomew Dias discovered
the Cape of Good Hope at the southern
tip of Africa, proving a sea route to India
was possible
 Vasco da Gama made the possibility a
reality when he reached the west coast
of India in 1497
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Christopher Columbus
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Sailed west in search of spices of the East
He was convinced that he had discovered the
route to China and Japan.
Christopher Columbus never found black
pepper and cinnamon, but he firmly establish
Spain's claim to the New World
He did introduce many plants including yams,
sweet potato, cassava, kidney beans, maize,
capsicum peppers, and tobacco
Ferdinand Magellan
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Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan, also
sailing for Spain, led the expedition that
circumnavigated the globe (1519-1522)
and discovered a western route to the
Spice Islands
Imperialism - Portuguese control
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During the 16th century, Portugal
monopolized spice trade through its
outposts in India, China, Japan and the
Spice Islands
The Portuguese were ruthless in their
control, often enslaving native populations
to labor in the plantations.
Price of spices soared throughout Europe,
and the revenues brought tremendous
wealth and power to Portugal
Dutch control
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Dutch and English broke the Portuguese
control early in the 17th century
By 1621 the Dutch forced the Portuguese
from the Spice Islands
Dominant force in the East Indies, Ceylon,
and the Persian Gulf spice markets
Even harsher than the Portuguese
To inflate prices of nutmegs and cloves,
uprooted 75% of trees on the Spice Islands.
English control
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In the later half of the 18th century the Dutch
monopoly began to break down
British and French began spice plantations in
their own colonies
By the end of the 18th century, 200 years of
Dutch control ended
Early in 19th century the English East India
Company had control over most of the spicerich Orient
No more spice monopolies
In the 19th century spice monopolies
had ended
 Decentralization of the spice trade had
begun and a spice monopoly would
never occur again
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New World Discoveries
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The New World spices, introduced first
to Spain, included allspice, vanilla, and
several varieties of capsicum peppers
such as chili peppers and paprika.
Old World Spices
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Cassia ------------------------------ bark
Cinnamon ------------------- inner bark
Cloves ---------------------- flower bud
Ginger -------------------------- rhizome
Nutmeg and mace --- seed and aril
Black Pepper ----------------------- fruit
Saffron --------------------------- stigma
Turmeric ----------------------- rhizome
Cinnamon
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From bark of Cinnamomum zeylanicum
tree
One of the oldest and most valuable spices
Native to India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Use documented in ancient Egyptian,
Biblical, Greek, Roman, and Chinese
accounts
One of the main spices sought after in the
explorations of the 15th and 16th centuries
Botany of cinnamon
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Two-year old stems
and twigs cut and
the bark removed
Outer layer of the
bark is scraped
away and inner bark
curls into quills
Pieces and
trimmings ground
Cassia
The similar spice also called cinnamon
comes from several related species, but
primarily Cinnamomum cassia native to
Southeast Asia
 Entire bark is used to make the quills
 In US much of cinnamon may actually
be cassia
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Black and white pepper
From dried berries of Piper nigrum
 Vine native to India and East Indies
 Biting flavor of pepper due to volatile oils
 Strongest when first ground but the
spice loses flavor after grinding
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Black pepper
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Berries picked
green, dried for a
few days during
which they turn
black and shrivel
Sold whole as
peppercorns or
ground pepper
White pepper
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Berries ripen on the
vine, outer hull is
removed leaving a
grayish-white kernel
that is ground
White pepper is
slightly milder
Cloves
Native to the Moluccas (the Spice
Islands)
 Unopened flower buds of Eugenia
caryophyllata, an evergreen tree
 Buds are dried and marketed as whole
cloves or ground
 Clove oil has been used in medicines,
disinfectants, mouthwashes, tooth
pastes, soaps, and perfumes
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Cloves
Nutmeg and mace
Two spices from fruit of a single plant
 Nutmeg tree - Myristica fragrans native
to the Spice Islands in the East Indies
 Apricot-like fruit with a fleshy mesocarp
 Inside mesocarp is an aril-covered
endocarp
 Aril is a thin red net-like covering around
the endocarp
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Nutmeg and mace - the spices
Aril dried and ground as spice mace
 Stony endocarp and seed dried until the
seed rattles
 Seed is nutmeg - sold whole or ground
 Both spices have similar properties with
a strong, spicy but slightly bitter,
aromatic flavor and are used in baking
sweets as well as meat and vegetable
dishes
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Hallucinogenic properties
Both nutmeg and mace - hallucinogens.
 Large quantities of either spice must be
consumed.
 Essential oils contain hallucinogens, but
because of the toxicity of these
compounds, the hallucinations are
accompanied by many unpleasant side
effects including nausea, vomiting,
dizziness, and headaches.
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Nutmeg and Mace in history
Not known to ancient western
civilizations
 Reached Europe by the 12th century
and were two valued spices of the
Middle Ages
 Yankee traders in the 19th century
developed a scam by producing fake
wooden nutmegs which they sold as the
real thing - Connecticut- "Nutmeg State"
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Ginger
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From the rhizomes of Zingiber officinale, a
small herbaceous perennial native to tropical
Asia but cultivated throughout the tropics
Aroma and taste - spicy, hot, pungent,
Best ginger today said to be from Jamaica
Introduced into the New World by the
Spanish, so successfully that by 1547
Jamaica was exporting ginger
Ginger Rhizome
Turmeric
Also native to tropical Asia, Curcuma
longa
 Another spice obtained from a dried
rhizome - same family as ginger
 Turmeric is also used as a brilliant
yellow dye to color both food and fabric
 Ingredient in prepared yellow mustard
 One of main spice in curry powder, and
often a substitute for saffron
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Saffron - the world's most
expensive spice
From stigmas of crocus, Crocus sativus
 Native to eastern Mediterranean
countries and Asia Minor
 Not an exotic spices from the Far East,
but it was highly desired by the ancient
civilizations of Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia,
Persia, Greece, and Rome as spice and
dye
 Today - Spain is leading producer
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Crocus flowers
Saffron harvesting
The blooming period is short, about two
weeks - flowers must be picked in full
bloom often just a hew hours
 Three-parted stigmas carefully removed
 Speed important before the petals wilt
 Traditionally done by hand
 Stigmas dried by slow roasting and sold
as either saffron threads or powdered
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Harvesting
Most costly spice
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Stigmas from 75,000 to 100,000 flowers for
one pound of the spice.
Retail price of saffron $7 to $8 per gram (over
$200 per ounce)
Fakes known to include turmeric, marigold or
safflower petals, or other substances.
Flavor: pungent, slightly bitter, and musky
Widely used in French, Spanish, Middle
Eastern, and Indian cooking
New World Spices
Allspice -------------------------- fruit
 Capsicum peppers ----------- fruit
 Vanilla --------------------------- fruit
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Capsicum peppers
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Discovered by
Columbus and
introduced to Spain
Capsicum fruits as
pungent as the Oriental
black pepper
He believed that his
voyage west in search
of spices had been
justified
Early history of Capsicum peppers
Cultivated for thousands of years in
tropical America
 Exact time of domestication not known
 Fragments of a 9000 year old chili
pepper were discovered in a Mexican
cave
 After their introduction to Spain, spread
throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa
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Botany
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Fruits of genus Capsicum, several cultivated
species and hundreds of varieties
Member of Solanaceae (tomato family)
Fruits are berries - immature fruits green and
mature fruits vary from yellow to purple to red,
from long narrow to spherical
» Capsicum annuum most widely cultivated
– sweet bell peppers ---> hot peppers
» Capsicum frutescens mainly in the tropics more fiery taste such as tabasco pepper
Capsaicin
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Biting taste due to the amount of capsaicin
Found in the seeds and placental area
Capsaicin content is negligible in the sweet
bell peppers and high concentrations in hot
chili or jalapeno peppers
Capsaicin can be tasted in concentrations as
low as one part per million
Utilized as a pepper spray
Used in creams for localized pain relief
Peppers and vitamin C
Excellent sources of vitamin C
 One pepper is more than enough to
satisfy the daily requirement
 Higher in peppers than in citrus fruits
 Vitamin C was first chemically isolated
from paprika in 1932 by Albert SzentGyorgyi, who won a Nobel Prize in 1937
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Capsicum peppers as a spice
Sold whole, either fresh or dried
 Powders are prepared by grinding the
dried fruits
 Chili powder - a blend of spices in
addition to the ground chili peppers
 Used internationally
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Vanilla
Only spice obtained from an orchid
 Vanilla planifolia, a perennial vine native
to the humid tropical rain forests of
Central America and Mexico
 Produces elongate pods which are
processed into the vanilla beans
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Processing of vanilla
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Pods picked green
Cure for several
months to develop
characteristic vanilla
flavor
Cured beans are
percolated with a
solution of alcohol to
produce vanilla
extract
Early history
An important commodity among the
Aztecs before conquest
 Used as flavoring, perfume, medicine,
and even as a means of tribute
 Used in the preparation of chocolatl
 Brought back to Spain, and soon its use
spread throughout Europe
 Today Madagascar leads the world in
cultivation of vanilla beans
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Allspice
Dried berries of Pimenta dioica an
evergreen tree
 Long used by the Mayan civilization
 Discovered by Europeans in the 1570's
 Named for its multi-faceted flavor similar to a combination of cinnamon,
nutmeg, and cloves
 Never successfully cultivated outside the
Western Hemisphere
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Herbs
Herbs are usually the aromatic leaves or
sometimes seeds of temperate plants
 Other organs may also be herbs
 Throughout the centuries, thousands of
plants have been used as herbs for both
cooking and medicinal properties
 Four well known families - mint, parsley,
mustard, and lily
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Mint family - Lamiaceae
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Herbaceous plants and small shrubs
» square stems
» aromatic simple leaves with numerous oil
glands
Dried leaves or distilled oils used
 Mediterranean region an important
center of origin for family
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Mint family - Lamiaceae
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spearmint
peppermint
marjoram
oregano
rosemary
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sage
sweet basil
thyme
savory
Basil
Rosemary
Parsley Family - the Apiaceae
Annual, biennial, or perennial
 Recognized by their umbels (flat-topped
inflorescences) and compound leaves
 Characteristic fruit - schizocarp
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» dry indehiscent fruit which splits into two
one-seeded identical halves
» commercially referred to as seeds
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Useful parts are fruits (seeds) or dried
leaves or both
Parsley family - the Apiaceae
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parsley
caraway
dill
fennel
celery
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anise
coriander and
cilantro
cumin
chervil
Dill
Mustard family - the Brassicaceae
Many vegetables: cabbage, broccoli,
cauliflower, brussel sprouts, turnips, and
radishes
 Two flavorful herbs - mustard and
horseradish
 Family especially abundant in the
Mediterranean area
 Family easily recognized by flowers with
four petals arranged in a cross
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Mustard
From Brassica nigra and B. alba seeds
 B. alba, white mustard, milder than B.
nigra, black mustard
 Marketed as whole and ground seeds
 Taste result of reactions between:
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» sinigrin and myrosin in black mustard
» sinalbin and myrosin in white mustard
» these react to produce volatile oils - unless
acidified they quickly deteriorate
Horseradish
Use as a condiment since the Middle
Ages in Denmark and Germany
 Prepared from taproots
 Taste due to the interaction of sinigrin
and myrosin which produce volatile oil
 When the roots are scraped or grated
the components interact
 Volatile oil diffuses easily
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Lily Family - the Liliaceae
Herbaceous perennials that arise from
rhizomes, bulbs, or corms
 A single genus, Allium from central Asia,
is the source of many familiar herbs:
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» onions - A. cepa
» garlic - A. sativum
» leeks - A. porrum
» shallots - A. ascalonicum
» chives - A. schoenoprasum
Onions and garlic
Onions - biennial producing a single
large bulb
 Garlic - perennial with a composite bulb
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» each clove called a bulblet
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Pungent flavor due to volatile sulfur
compounds that are released when the
tissues are cut
» garlic -- allicin
» onion -- lacrimatory factor
Medical use
Ebers Papyrus listed 22 uses of garlic
for various ailments
 In both India and China, onions and
garlic used for numerous conditions
 Modern research has shown these folk
remedies have a sound scientific basis
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» sulfur compounds in garlic inhibit the
growth of disease causing bacteria & fungi
» inhibit the formation of blood clots
Summary
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Essential oils are volatile substances that
contribute to the essence, the aroma or flavor,
of herbs and spices
Desire for spices had a significant impact on
world exploration, colonization, and trade
In temperate regions the use of herbs goes
back to prehistoric time
Four families provide the majority of herbs in
use today