Lecture 11. Spices,
condiments and flavorings
Summary
The term spice has no botanical
definition. It refers to various dried
barks, roots, leaves, seeds, fruits and
flowers used as condiments, flavourings
or culinary herbs. These plant parts are
chosen because they add a characteristic
flavour and aroma when added to food and
beverages. Many of the chemicals
responsible for these distinctive tastes
and smells are compounds known as
volatile or essential oils. These are
largely contained in the plant, in oils
cells, secretion ducts or glandular
hairs. They are often associated with
resins or gums, and tend to resinify on
exposure to air. Essential oils –
whether distilled or conserved in the
plant – are used therapeutically,
for flavoring and in perfumery.
Curiously, most of the spices in world
trade come from the Eastern Hemisphere,
though there are some examples from the
New World (Pimenta dioica, Theobroma
cacao (if considered a spice) and Vanilla
spp.) International trade in spices (e.g.
sale of nutmeg from Banda to India) was
already being practised in the 5th
century. The search for the source of
spices and efforts to create monopolies
in their harvest and trade were a major
reason for European exploration and
colonization of the world, beginning late
in the 15th century.
Examples:
- Zingiberaceae is a medium-sized
family of 49 genera and 1300
genera, found in tropical areas.
It is particularly diverse in the
Indomalaya region. Zingibers are
herbs, often robust, that have
branched fleshy rhizomes or
tuberous roots. The leaves, which
emerge from the rhizome in two
distinct ranks, have blades that
are large with numerous, closely
parallel nerves coming from the
midrib. The inflorescence is a
dense head or cyme (although the
flowers are occasionally
solitary). The flowers are
irregular and bisexual, with a
unique and complex structure,
including a distinctive two- or
three-lobed lip called the
labellum. The ovary is inferior,
composed of three fused carpels.
The fruit is a brightly colored
and sometimes very fleshy
capsule. The family is primarily
known as a source of spices and
perfumes, but also medicines,
dyes and ornamentals. The most
commercially important species is
Zingiber officinale,
ginger, which evolved in
Southeast Asia but is no longer
found in the wild. It was used as
a spice and medicine India and
China since ancient times, was
known to the Greeks and Romans,
and is now planted in many
tropical areas. Curcuma longa
yields turmeric, one of the main
colorings and aromatic
ingredients of curry powder.
Galangal (Alpinia galanga,
also called Siamese ginger, is
used as a condiment in Thailand
and elsewhere. Cardamom (Elletaria
cardamomum), which grows wild
in the monsoon forests of South
India and Sri Lanka, and is
cultivated in other areas,
including Guatemala.
- Piperaceae has only five genera,
but 2000 species. Its
distribution is pantropical, and
it is most frequent in rain
forests. Its primary economic
plants are pepper and kava. They
are shrubs, herbs and small
trees, and less commonly
sometimes vines and epiphytes.
The leaves are alternate, simple,
entire and dotted with glands
containing pungent aromatic oil,
and with winged petioles that
sheath a jointed stem. The small
flowers are borne in the axils of
small peltate bracts on dense
fleshy spikes. The fruit a berry
or drupe. Piper nigrum is
the source of black pepper, the
most commonly consumed spice in
the world. It is originally from
the Western Ghats of South India
(where it still grows wild), but
is now cultivated in many
tropical countries. P.
methysticum, from the Western
Pacific, is commonly called kava,
the national beverage of Fiji and
other Pacific nations, which is a
mild narcotic sedative. Piper
betle is an Indomalaysian
species whose leaves are used as
a masticatory from East Africa to
India and Indonesia, together
with betel nut.
- Iridaceae is a medium sized
family of about 70 genera and
1800 species. The family is
cosmopolitan in distribution.
Found in both tropical and
temperate regions, it is
particularly diverse in South
Africa, the eastern Mediterranean
and Central and South America.
They are perennial herbs that
have corms, rhizomes or rarely
bulbs. The leaves narrow and
linear, tough in texture, and
commonly arranged in two rank,
like a fan. The flowers are
bisexual, and have six perianth
segments. The ovary is inferior.
Apart from saffron, there are
many ornamentals, and a
medicinal, orris root (Iris
germanica). The dried stigmas
of saffron (Crocus sativus)
are the world’s most
expensive spice. It takes 200,000
dried stigmas from 70,000 flowers
to produce one pound of saffron.
Originally from Asia Minor, it
has been cultivated in the
Mediterranean since ancient
times. The main areas of
cultivation are Spain, Turkey and
India, but it is produced in
other countries such as Morocco.
- Other plant families which yield
spices and culinary herbs:
- Myrtaceae (Syzygium)
- Myristicaceae (Myristica)
References:
Dove, M.R. 1997. The "banana tree
at the gate": perceptions of
production of Piper nigrum
(Piperaceae) in a seventeenth century
Malay State. Economic Botany
51:347-361.
Lebot, V. M. Merlin, and L. Lindstrom.
1997. Kava: The Pacific Elixir. The
Definitive Guide to its Ethnobotany,
History and Chemistry. Rochester,
Healing Art Press.
Questions for
discussion:
- How can we explain the fact that
most commercially important
spices are of Old World origin?
- Can you think of any New World
spices that are commercially
important, apart from those
mentioned above?
Perspective for
discussion:
The "Story of Lambu Mangkurat and
the Dynasty of the Kings of Banjar and
Kota Waringin", more commonly known
as the Hikayat Banjar, is the
indigenous, court-based chronicle of a
coastal Malayic kingdom that existed in
South-East Borneo until 1860, although
the chronicle itself only covers up until
1661… The Hikayat contains a
passage well-known to historians, but
whose economic botanical implications
have never been analyzed, in which its
founder and ruler issues an injunction
against the cultivation of sahang
or black pepper.
[E]arly in the seventeenth century,
the Sultan of Aceh ordered the
destruction of pepper vines in the
vicinity of the capital, because their
cultivation was leading to the neglect of
food crops and to consequent annual food
shortages. He also reports that Banten
"cut down its pepper vines around
1620 in the hope that this would
encourage the Dutch and English to leave
the sultanate in peace, though
self-sufficiency must have been an
additional reason… The proscription
or destruction of natural resources by
those without sufficient power to resist
their exploitation by others is not
uncommon."
From Dove, M.R. 1997. The "banana
tree at the gate": perceptions of
production of Piper nigrum
(Piperaceae) in a seventeenth century
Malay State. Page 347.
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