So-called Chineses "Grains of Paradise" was Re: [Fwd: SC - Columbus' chilies]

[David Dendy]

This is about the use of the term "Grains of Paradise" in *A Soup for the
Qan*, implying use of what we think of as Grains of Paradise in Medieval
China. Scroll down for my response. Francesco
- -
Paul Buell wrote:
[snip] "Grains-of-paradise" (shu-sha) are unquestionably not regular
cardamom in the Yin-shan cheng-yao (1330), the official Mongol court dietary
for China, but some other Amomum (but not Tsao-ko or anything resembling
it). Precisely which we are still debating (my species identification in the
book is based on what was meant by the Chinese term in the standard
medicinals and spices trade of later times, but we don't know for sure).
[snip] But one thing for sure, what we call "grains-of-paradise" was clearly
distinct from regular cardamom and the large smoky kinds called Tsao-ko in
the early Chinese texts. This is some other spice. We have assumed it is
exactly what the name implies until evidence has accumulated to prove
otherwise. However, my colleague Anderson points out that ascribed
properties of this "grains-of-paradise" do appear to be different from those
ascribed to it later. I will ask him to comment.


Gene Anderson wrote:
Some questions have arisen about "grains of paradise" and other spices.
The problem is a lack of words in English for all the East Asian cardamom
species. [snip] We follow Shiu-ying Hu's usage in AN ENUMERATION OF CHINESE
MATERIA MEDICA, and she uses "grains of paradise" for sha-jen (sha-ren),
which literally means "sand kernels" and refers to the southeast Asian
cardamom species _Amomum xanthioides_ and _A. villosum_.  (Other terms with
"sha" in them turn up; the CCPYSL uses a weird nonstandard character + sha.)
These contrast with ts'ao-ko "grass cardamom," _Amomum tsaoko_, and ordinary
green or white cardamom, pai tou k'ou (bai dou kou, lit. "white bean
cardamom"), _Elettaria cardamomum_ (Hu
thinks this includes _Amomum kravanh_ also, but I bet the YSCY would have
included that under sha-jen).
Of course the normal usage of "grains of paradise" in English is to refer
to the West African cardamom, or Melegueta "pepper," _Aframomum melegueta_.
This did not occur in China in the middle ages, so far as anyone
knows--though it was traded so widely in Europe and the Near East that it
probably reached China sometimes.

Now for my own weigh-in (Francesco):

Using my own reference library (*Chinese Medicinal Herbs*, compiled by Li
Shih-chen, translated and researched by F. Porter Smith and G.A. Stuart [San
Francisco: Georgetown Press, 1973], pp. 35-39, it is clear that "shu-sha"
(as Buell calls them) or "sha-jen" (as Anderson calls them) are *not*
Aframomum melegueta or any other Aframomum, but rather Amomum xanthioides
("so-sha-jen"), a native of Burma. The mis-use of the name Grains of
Paradise as a translation for them (although simply copying the usage of an
earlier writer) is very unfortunate and perhaps even academically
irresponsible. I say this not to flame the authors of the book, but because
of the permanence of misinformation, once in print. True, readers can
laboriously track down the references and discover that the "Grains of
Paradise" mentioned here is not the same of Grains of Paradise mentioned in
other Western sources, but will the readers do so? or will they simply go
away with the false idea that there was a trade in the spice between West
Africa and China at that time? and quite possibly put that information into
their own writing? Academics (among which I include myself) have a
responsibility to avoid adding to the amount of misinformation in
circulation, even if we cannot dispose of that which is already out there.

Yours grumpily,
Francesco Sirene