SC - Columbus' chilies

[Decker, Terry D.]

Actually, what I was postulating was that the original malagueta pepper was
a member(s) of the species Amomum from the East Indies and was simply
replaced by A. melegueta as a plentiful and cheaper substitute.  This is
based on the OED reference which ties it to cloves and cardamoms with a 1214
date.  Cardamom was not specifically mentioned in this paragraph and while I
was equating grains of paradise and malagueta pepper, it is equally possible
they were not the same thing. 

The OED reference dovetails nicely with Swahn's fair at Treviso.  Treviso
lies northwest of Venice, was a Venetian trading partner, and came under
Venetian control in the 14th Century.  Venice was involved in the Asiatic
spice trade and would later come to monopolize it.  While it doesn't rule
out West African spices, the spices at Treviso were most likely of Asiatic
origin.  Do you have any idea of the source of his information about the
fair?

Since, the OED does not reference grains of paradise with this same date, it
is possible that Swahn is using grains of paradise as a synonym for
malagueta pepper.  I do question his etymology for melegueta pepper.

As to the spice trade, the question is not so much whether A. melegueta
could have been available in Europe, but whether it could have been
available in commercial quantities.  Given the travel conditions between the
Mediterranean and the Niger Basin, I question that the markets of Europe
were supplied by caravan with A. melegueta in quantity.  Gold, being
imperishable, could be traded from point to point, as conditions permitted,
but perishable commodities require more expeditious delivery.  

Do Swahn and Wilson provide any sources to support their statements that
grains of paradise came to Europe from West Africa prior to the Portuguese
navigation of the coast?

Being unfamiliar with Porta, why do you consider him an unreliable source?

Bear
 

> 
> 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