Medieval spices

[Philip W. Troy]

Sean Ellwood wrote:
> 
> Any suggestions on how to look check and see if certain spices were
> available in Medeival China or Europe.
> 
> thanks
> Sven Carlson

Sure!

One place to look for such information is in books like "Food in
History" by Reay Tannahill. Another is Harold McGee's "On Food and
Cooking".

Finding such accounts for China could be hard, since there's not too
much for those who can't read accounts in Chinese. Except of course for
accounts by people like Marco Polo, who is, at best, not always
trustworthy, and William of Rubrick (I think that's his name) who is far
more so.

Europe is pretty easy. The extant recipes indicate quite clearly what
spices would have been available in the place and time the recipes were
written. They call for them, don't they? :  )

Regards,
Adamantius