[Sca-cooks] FW: paprika and spikenard

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

I just received this by email and thought some of you might be interested as we have discussed both of these items here before.

I am in fact honored to have gotten this email, for if my guess is correct, this is the same Charles Perry and his book which have been previously mentioned on this list.

Perhaps some of you studying eastern Europe or the Balkans might want to check out this thesis. Bear?

Stefan

-----Original Message-----
From: Perry, Charles [mailto:Charles.Perry at latimes.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 5:54 PM
To: Mark.S Harris
Subject: paprika and spikenard

	I just came across a collection of historical spice threads collected by you. I had two observations to contribute, didn't know where else to send them.
	Paprika: -ika is a Slavic suffix used on plant names; paprika means "pepper plant." It was not introduced to Hungary by the Turks but by Croatian merchants from Ragusa (now Dubrovnik). There is a thesis on file at UCLA on this subject, complete with maps of the spice routes through the Balkans. 
	Spikenard: It has a musky, resinous scent, and its commonest use throughout history has been as a hair tonic or perfume (it is still probably used for that purpose -- I suspect its presence in Vitalis), but occasionally it has flavored foods and beverages. My translation of the 14th-century Arabic cookbook "Kitab Wasf al-At'ima al-Mu'tada" (in "Medieval Arab Cookery," Prospect Books, 2001) gives some recipes that call for it. At present, spikenard is available at markets that sell Iranian food products. It comes in little cellophane packages -- looking like a tangle of brown wires -- under the name "valerian." In Perso-Arab script, however, the packages call it by its Arabic name, "sunbul al-tib," "fragrant spikenard."