SC - Period Hummus-recipe and a added question

Wed Jul 28 21:10:40 PDT 1999

Dear Ana

I have attached (below) the entries on "spignel" and "spikenard" (incomplete
as they are) from the glossary of spice names I am working on writing. It
would seem that Spikenard is usually the root etc. of "Nardostachys
jatamansi", but may on occasion be "Meum athamanticum". We sell the
jatamansi (which is certainly what is mean in 90% of the references, going
back to Roman times, but haven't found a source of the meum yet (anyone know
one?).

I'd be very interested in experiences, recipes, and comments from people who
have used spikenard. We have only recently added it to our stock, and I
haven't got around to doing much testing yet.

Francesco Sirene
David Dendy / ddendy at silk.net
partner in Francesco Sirene, Spicer / sirene at silk.net
Visit our Website at http://www.silk.net/sirene/

SPIGNEL
 [English 1579; "spignale" 1502 (OED2 "Spignel")] Also known as "meum" or
"baldmoney".
 "The aromatic root of the umbelliferous plant Meum athamanticum, used, when
dried and ground, in medicine as a carminative or stimulant, or as a spice
in cookery." (OED2 "Spignel")
  This was used in some spiced wine concoctions (viz. "1502 Arnolde Chron.
(1811) 188 Take cloues and gelofre, . . gynger and spignale, . . and temper
hem with good wyne." OED2 "Spignel")
  It may on occasion have been used as SPIKENARD, particularly where the
recipe calls for "spykenard de Spayn" (Hieatt and Butler 1985, p. 143), as
spignel was on occasion known as as "spygnal of Spaine" and Turner's 1562
Herbal says it "peraduenture was ones called Spiknard." (OED2 "Spignel")

SPIKENARD
 [English c.1350; from the late or medieval Latin spica nardi, rendering the
Greek               (also            ) (OED2 "Spikenard")]
  (1) "The source of the true or Indian nard is now identified as
Nardostachys jatamansi, a plant of the family Valerianacae, the fibrous
root-stocks or ‘spikes' of which are still collected in Bhotan and Nepal."
(Encyclopædia Britannica 1932, vol. 21, p. 216)
  Flückiger and Hanbury confirm that Indian Nard is the rhizome of
Nardostachys Jatamansi DC., and is one of several substances known under the
name of sumbul, an Arabic word signifying an ear or spike. (Flückiger and
Hanbury 1879, p. 312)
  The ointment made from the plant is said to have gone under the name of
sinbul Hindi or Indian spike. (Walker 1957, p. 196)
  Jatamanshi is mentioned as a spice in Indian sources of the era 400-200
B.C. (Achaya 1994, p. 37)
  The perfume is actually in the lower hairy stems (the indian name
jatamansi refers to the shaggy hair, or ‘ermine tails', covering the stems).
These are tied together by the roots. (Walker 1957, p. 196) It is stated to
still be sold today [1957], as in New Testament times,  in alabaster boxes
which preserve the essential perfume. (Ibid.)
  As an aromatic ingredient in costly perfumes and unguents of the Romans
and the Middle Eastern peoples of classical times, spikenard was highly
prized. "The ointment prepared from it is mentioned in the New Testament
(Mark xiv. 3-5; John xii.3-5) as being ‘very costly,' a pound of it being
valued at more than 300 denarii (over £10 [work out modern equivalent value,
based on wages]). This appears to represent the prices then current for the
best quality of nard, since Pliny (H.N. xii, 26) mentions that nard spikes
reached as much as 100 denarii per lb." (Encyclopædia Britannica 1932, vol.
21, p. 216)
  The spice appears in Roman sources under several variant names: the late
4th or early 5th century cookbook of Apicius has nardostachyum and spica
Indica (Apicius 1958, pp. 56, 146, 164, 184, 211) In the Excerpts of
Vinidarius, an Ostrogoth living in North Italy in the fifth or sixth
century, his "Brevis Pimentorum" ("List of Condiments") includes both spica
indica and spicanardi, suggesting that the two are not precisely the same
thing. (Apicius 1977, p. 234; Apicius 1984, p. 282)
  (2) Garcia da Orta, a Portuguese physician and apothecary who spent 35
years (from 1534 on) at Goa in India, "verified that the spikenard of the
ancient Greeks was Cymbopogon schoenanthus, rosha grass that grew on the
banks of the Ganges." (Achaya 1994, p. 169) This, formerly designated
Andropogon Schœnanthus L., is a grass of Northern and Central India, which
yields by distillation the oil known as Rúsa Oil or Oil of Ginger Grass.
(Flückiger and Hanbury 1879, pp. 725-726)
  (3) See SPIGNEL, which may on occasion have been meant, particularly when
"Spykenard de Spayn" is referred to.
  (4) "Ploughman's Spikenard" (1597 OED2 "Spikenard") is Inula conyza
(formerly assigned to the genera Baccharis and Conyza), a sweet-scented
shrubby plant which grows wild in Britain. It was used medicinally, and as a
garland plant, but no mention is made of culinary use. (Gerard 1994, p. 183)
  (5) There are several other plants which have acquired the name spikenard,
but which will not have been meant during the period covered here. Aralia
racemosa is known as American spikenard or great spikenard, but it is a
North American plant and there is no evidence of its use before 1600 (it is
now sold by herbal suppliers, in North America at least, simply as
"spikenard", so buyers would be wise to check the botanical name of what
they are buying). Another species of the same genus, Aralia nudicaulis, as
well as being called wild sarsaparilla is also known as wild spikenard and
small spikenard, but is again of American extraction. In the West Indies
Hyptis suaveolens is called spikenard. (Encyclopædia Britannica 1932, vol.
21, p. 216; OED2 "Spikenard")

- -----Original Message-----
From: ana l. valdes <agora at algonet.se>
To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG <sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG>
Date: July 28, 1999 8:01 AM
Subject: SC - spikenard

>I wonder if I can find some help here with a spice named spikenard, or
>"Nard from Spayn". I tried to find some information in Stefans
>Florilegium, but I am afraid I have the wrong URL. I came only to the
>page with plain text messages, but not to the one classified in
>different topics. The url I used was this one:
>http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/cookbooks-msg.html.
>
>Can some you mail me the right URL or/and inform me about the spikenard.
>It should be a spice to make the Hippocras. But the question is: is it a
>root from Indien or is it the Spanish "nardo", a fleshy and bitter
>flower?
>Thank you in advance
>Ana
>--
>http://www.algonet.se/~agora  Hemsida och skyltfönster
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