Tidbit on Medicinal Value of Spices

From Eating Better for Less: A Guide to Managing Your Personal Food Supply
Edited by Ray Wolf

I borrowed this book from Fred today, and came across this paragraph in a section on Indian Cooking:

Spices are more than just a seasoning, and Sanskrit writings which are 3,000 years old stress the importance of spices for their preservative and medicinal value. Pepper and chilis were recommended for treating digestive ailments; ginger was thought to cure liver complaints and to counteract flatulence. Tumeric apparently was made into a paste and applied to skin to stop itching or to clear up skin diseases. Cardamom is served today in modern India at the end of a meal along with cloves and the betel nut and its leaf to freshen the breath and help with digestion. In the Sanskrit treatise, cardamom was described as a remedy for halitosis, nausea, headaches, fevers, colds, piles and eye diseases. Coriander was recommended for constipation, insomnia, and childbearing. Many of these ideas persist today, and ginger is still added to lentils or peas when they are cooked in order to counteract flatulence. Refrigerators even today are a rarity in India and the preservative function of spice is of obvious importance.

This is an excellent book--look for a review of it here shortly.

Now I gotta go finish up dinner: chicken and dumplings today, in a rich broth with lots of tasty vegetables. YUM.
HM

From the Comments...

Here's a comment received yesterday on the Spice of Life entry:

Cinnamon Oil said...
The Cinnamon oil sold in the US is actually Cassia oil.
Cassia oil has a chemical called coumarin which could be toxic.
Please click the below link to read more http://www.bfr.bund.de/cd/8487
November 26, 2008 3:17 AM

I vaguely remembered something about this after reading Cinnamon Oil's comment--but apparently it pays to realize the difference between Ceylon cinnamon and cassia. Cinnamon Oil sells pure Ceylon cinnamon oil and other products.

Thanks for leaving the comment!
Onwards,
HM

The Spice of Life

Spices have a history, a long history. Wars have been fought over the spice trade--ever since the spice trade began. A nation might become powerful and mighty because it captured or stole the trading of spices from another nation. The Arabs held the power for a thousand years. The Romans stole it from the Arabs and ruled the spice trade for another thousand years (give or take a few hundred years). After the fall of the Roman Empire, the fledgling European nations began their explorations of the world via sail, and they became the world power that traded spices. The Dutch, Spanish, English--they all took turns being "the most powerful nation" since they controlled the spice trade. There's a brief but fascinating history timeline here. Western civilization, such as it is, grew along with the spice trade. Those little cans of stuff in your kitchen, the ones with the interesting smells and tastes, have a long and varied history.

I've been interested in this because spices also have a rich medical history: they've been used in medicines probably ever since the first human figured out how to eat them and incorporate them in cooking. Tumeric, for instance, has been found to have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, is good for digestion and is a source for antioxidants. It can also help keep food fresh.

Here's a quote about the uses of cinnamon from the article I've taken some of this information from:

In tests at Weber University, Cinnamon oil has proven more effective than Ampicillin in inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcal infections and unlike conventional antibiotic drugs, essential oils tend to leave beneficial bacteria intact while killing disease producing bacteria (pathogens). Additionally, bacteria do not acquire resistance to the oils as they do with antibiotics. Today when so many illnesses and bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, the therapeutic effects of essential oils and their immune-boosting abilities may be just what we need.

When you are considering your food storage (and you are, aren't you?), you'll want to make sure you also store spices and herbs. They can help you preserve food, they add a lot of flavor to what might otherwise be rather dull eating, and you can use them as home remedies in the form of teas, or capsules or tinctures. I'll be featuring spices in this blog as well, though I certainly can't forage for most of them where I live. Wish I could! Plenty of herbs grow here, but most of our spices come from Asia and the near East.

Seems to be the "world's superpower" status is changing with the US about to drop by the wayside and China to take on that banner. It is likely that China will control the spice trade from here on in. In past centuries, the lower classes didn't have the access to spices that the wealthy classes did, so they used wild herbs instead. If I can obtain spices, I will. If not, there's all the abundance of wild plants and herbs here anyway. The culinary/medicinal spices will make great barter items as well. They have for most of human history, and no doubt that will continue.

For more information on spices, The Epicentre is a great resource. If you're interested in a particular spice, check out the encyclopedia of spices. There's also historical information, recipes and lots of other goodies. Read and enjoy!
HM