[Sca-cooks] OOP: Vanilla Extract

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

I read through the messages i've saved from this list about vanilla.
We've discussed it a fair bit, but there seems to have been less
discussion of extract - probably because it is out of period.

I was wondering about the history of the development of vanilla extract...

As far as i know, vanilla wasn't being used much in Europe "in SCA
period", although it was known to Spaniards by the first quarter of
the 16th c. and was used in the chocolate drink brought back from the
New World.

Anyway, i was wondering how the extract came about - i assume first a
"tincture" of the pod/bean... but when did this occur? I didn't have
much luck searching the web.

I don't own a book on spice history. And i really need to get one.
I'm considering buying Andrew Dalby's "Dangerous Tastes: The Story of
Spices" (University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-22789-1, 2000).
Reports posted to this very list suggest it may not go back as far in
time as i'd like... but it sounds like something i'd enjoy reading.

Any other books on the history of spices i really ought to have?

Anahita