Menu

Menu

Spices and herbs

Spices are generically indicating aromatic substances of vegetable origin (e.g. tarragon, thyme, lemon balm, juniper, maize, saffron) that are used to flavor and flavor food and drink, and, especially in the past, also used in medicine and pharmacy.
Many of these substances have other uses, for example the preservation of food, or are used in religious rituals, cosmetics or perfumery: turmeric is also used in Ayurveda; licorice has medicinal properties; garlic is used as a vegetable in the kitchen.

Background

Among the various foods we eat, few have had such a fascinating and mysterious history as spices. The word spices derives from the Latin "species", a term that in addition to the original meaning "species" was assumed in the Middle Ages that of goods or foodstuffs. The search for spices has led to the discovery and conquest of continents and the foundation and destruction of empires. Spices were once as precious as gold, jealously guarded, and were considered a treasure of inestimable value. They were the "goods" par excellence, coming from the far East. Obtained from roots, cortexes, shoots, seeds and berries, they were used to flavor and store food, food, medicine, perfume and a thousand other uses.
What are the spices today we know, but at one time they were above all a valuable "currency", competition for the control of their trade spawned wars and alliances, inspired great discoveries, and above all determined the strategic importance of commercial ports. New plantations were started in other French tropical colonies: the Seychelles, Reunion, Cayenne and Zanzibar. At the beginning of the 19th century, having no country with an exc