SC - Columbus' chilies

[Jenne Heise]

> According to the OED, cardamom has been used to refer to A. melegueta.

Note that the OED says:

> Cardamom
> ...
> A spice consisting of the seed capsules of various species of Amomum and
> Elettaria...
>
> b.  Also occas. applied to the capsules of A. meleguetta of Western
Africa,
> usually called Grains of Paradise.

Note the 'occas.' which is very important. Also the lack of a date... so
we don't know when it 

> Grains of paradise also refers to A. melegueta.  While the OED doesn't show
> cardamom and grains of paradise as being synonyms, the fact that they are
> both used to refer to the same spice makes it probable they were used
> interchangeably at times.  

I've seen 'grains of paradise' explained as cardamom, but not the other
way around.

> The earliest references to malagueta pepper seem to tie it to the East
> Indies.  Since the use of the terms grains of paradise and malagueta pepper
> pre-date the major trade in A. melegueta from West Africa, it is probable
> that malagueta pepper and grains of paradise were a member or members of
> Amomum imported from Asia and were supplanted by by A. melegueta as part of
> a marketing ploy by the Portuguese.

What you are postulating here is that cardomom (or some unknown variant of
cardomom) was also called grains of paradise before 1460, and when the
Portuguese started importing A. Melegueta, they claimed it was grains of
paradise and so the words diverged, cardomom meaning one spice and grains
of paradise another. (You also seem to be postulating that A. melegueta
could not have been available in England until the water route to West
Africa was opened...)

Now, from my friends the secondary sources (unreliable or otherwise, you
decide)

J.O. Swahn, _The Lore of Spices_ (a relatively 'popular' source)

'The Arabs had monopoly on pepper before about 1500, provoking others to
look for sources outside India. IN 1460-- the year when Europe's
pioneering explorationist in Portugal, Henry the Navigator, died-- one of
his ships returned to Lisbon, full of slaves and 'grains of paradise'
found somewhere on the Guinea coast of western Africa. This cargo struck
the city's spicelovers like a bomb. Paradise-grain was an excellent
substitute for pepper [my note: SCA-Cooks will probably explode that
notion], and so cheap that several traders with plenty of genuine pepper
went bankrupt.
The nicely named upstart was not really new. Paradise-grain had reached
Europe earlier, and at greater expense, by caravan across the Sahara....
Its related name "melegueta pepper" is due to the medieval kingdom of
Mali, founded by the Mandingo people, who controlled much of the spice's
trade northward...
We first hear of Paradise grain in 1214, at a festival in Treviso, Italy.
One of the spectacles was to watch a model castle being captured by
bombarding its defenders--- twelve pretty girls-- with flowers, candy, and
grana paradiso. During the same century, this spice was called "Grawn
Paris" in Wales...'

C. Anne Wilson, _Food and Drink in Britain_
"Grains of paradise began to reach Europe from the Guinea cost of West
Africa during the 13th century. They gained such great popularity as a
cooking spice, and were imported in such quantity that their place of
origin became known as the 'grain coast'. By 1284 their price was no more
than fourpence a pound." (p.284)

If Swahn is correct about what happened in 1214, it does suggest
that something else might have been called 'grana paradiso', unless it
was obtained reasonably cheaply (or was, perhaps, candied?)

However, the whole argument rests on the idea that A. melegueta was
unobtainable in period, and that's a shaky premise....

John Baptista Porta, on the other hand, says in _Natural Magick_ 1584, 
"You shall draw out a water from the seeds of Cardamom, (which
Apothecaries call Grains of Paradise) Cubebs, Indian Cloves, raspings of
Brasil and Spirit of Wine distilled" (I regard Porta as an unreliable
primary source, myself.) The curious thing about this, is that he is using
grains of paradise and cardamom interchangeably in the 16th century, long
after grains of paradise were imported. 

However, C. Anne Wilson may provide the key here. In speaking of the Early
Modern period, (16th & 17th centuries), she says:

"[The housewife] had gained new cooking spices, but also lost a few, among
them zeodary, galingale, cubebs and cardamom and the home-grown peony
seed. All were still in use, however, for medical preparations. The
pungent grains of paradise lingered on as a condiment for ale and beer."
(p 293)

Add that to Porta's note that 'the Apothecaries' call cardamom grains of
paradise, and the deserved reputation of Apothecaries for selling one
thing for another... Porta might have been buying grains of paradise sold
to him as 'the same thing as cardamom' by the Apothecary who didn't have
any cardamom. (Recognize that scenario, anyone?)

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, mka Jennifer Heise	      jenne at tulgey.browser.net
disclaimer: i speak for no-one and no-one speaks for me.
   "My hands are small I know, but they're not yours, they are my own"