SC - Current Pennsic Cookery Classes

[Elaine Koogler]

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I also received this from one of the other editors/authors of "A Soup
for the Qan", with permission to pass it on to you all.  I found that it
helped clear up some of the information in that book, as well as adding
depth to our ongoing discussion.

Kiri

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Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:01:31 -0700
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	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.  The YSCY and other medieval Chinese books have three terms for
cardamoms, and keep them distinct; this was evidently very important.  The
medical values of these cardamoms were considered different.  (This is a
subject that needs scientific investigation today.  See Lily Perry,
MEDICINA PLANTS OF EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA, MIT 1980, for medical values
and chemical contents of various cardamoms.)  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.  
	Chiles got to China in the 16th century, with the Portuguese, and were
probably adopted quickly.



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