Ancient Herbs and Modern Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference Guide
to Medicinal Herbs, Human Ailments and Possible Herbal Remedies
by James Kedzie Sayre.
Copyright 2001. All rights reserved.
Culinary herbs
Herbs have been used for thousands of years to spice and flavor foods.
Originally, folks only could use herbs that could be found growing in their
immediate neighborhood or local area. With the development of the concept
of long distance trade, herbs and spices began to be imported from further
away. By the medieval times in Europe, there was an ongoing spice trade
with the eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor regions. These regions supported
traders who imported spices from India and the Far East. When the Portuguese
developed sailing and navigation techniques that allowed them to make travel
around the southern tip of Africa and reach India and the East Indies, the
monopoly (and resulting high prices) of the mid-eastern land-based traders
was broken. The high prices of spices rapidly fell with this extension of
sea trading. As Alan Davidson observed in his brilliant and comprehensive
book, The Oxford Companion to Food, spices were always used to enhance
the existing food flavors, they were not used to mask the flavors of bad
food or spoiling meat [Davidson]. This notion that spices were being used
not to enhance the eating experience, but only to mask bad smells or flavors
was a notion invented later by some Puritan food writers and has no basis
in the historical record [Davidson]. In this book, culinary herbs and spices
are treated the same way as medicinal herbs. Indeed, there is a considerable
overlap between culinary spices and medicinal herbs. Towards the end of
this book there is a long list of culinary spices. In addition to including
culinary herbs and spices in this book, the author has taken the expansive
view of the subject and has also included such flavorings as mushrooms and
nuts. All these additional entries are given the same treatment as culinary
and medicinal spices.
End.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please feel free to Email the author at sayresayre@yahoo;com. sayresayre@yahoo.com
Web pages originally designed by Bottlebrush Press and recently revised by James Sayre.
Contact author James K. Sayre at sayresayre@yahoo.com. sayresayre@yahoo.com
Copyright 2003 by Bottlebrush Press. All Rights Reserved.
Web page last updated on 14 May 2003.