[Sca-cooks] argh spicing

[johnna holloway]

I have often wondered about the aspects of freshness and
quality of the spices used then. When they say "good" do they
mean qood in expensive or qood in quantity as to an amount
used or "good" in quality? How long did it take the ships or
caravans to reach the European markets from those far off
shores of the Spice Islands and Southeast Asia? There are these
edicts today that say one must toss one's spices and replace
every year, but are those spices of any worse quality than those used
6 or 7 centuries ago. No one would have tossed spices then given
their cost. Keeping them in whole or ground form
makes a difference of course and fresh grinding at the moment
they are finally used can lend a discernable difference.
I see this entire question of spicing (and of salt and pepper) and
even herb use to be far more complicated than we give it credit.
It's an area that needs more work in. I have often thought that
a series of trials would be interesting for certain dishes whereby
the same dish is served with little, more, still more, and most spicing
to actually see which is preferred or better.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:
The question that comes to mind is, do the recipes say 'good spices'

> because you spice to taste, or do you think the appropriate spices were
> predetermined, or were they chosen for their humors, or all of the above?
> -- Pani Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net