[Sca-cooks] Spices was licorice,
Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius
adamantius.magister at verizon.net
Mon Feb 23 13:52:02 PST 2004
Also sprach Ron Carnegie:
>Greetings all,
>
> Unless I am greatly mistaken I think you will find that NO spice is grown
>in Europe. (Unless in a hothouse). When I was first taught historical
>cooking, I was taught that Spices by their very nature and definition of the
>word come from exotic locations (i.e. the spice islands). Before posting
>this this the list I thought I would check my information. (My teacher was
>a best a tertiary source!) I do not have time currently to peruse my
>primary sources to see if this is a modern alteration or not (As I can think
>of no easy way to do such).
>
> Now in the OED (also of course not primary, and in my opinion
>not always
>the last word in definitions) Spice is defined as," One or other of various
>strongly flavoured nor aromatic substances of vegetable origin, obtained
>from TROPICAL PLANTS, commonly used as condiments or employed for other
>purposes on account of their fragrance and preservative qualities."
>(emphasis is mine.)
>
> This suggests that what I was taught was correct. Though used for a
>flavouring agent, if grown in Europe (which is NOT tropical, though it can
>be Mediterranean) it is an herb, not a spice.
>
> To add to the confusion however, it appears that one may "spice" (the
>verb) with an herb and not just spices!
Of course, it's possible to worry too much about narrow-focus
definitions. We're looking at a case of intersecting but incongruent
sets. By that definition, cayenne pepper or other chili powders are,
arguably, not a spice, to which I simply say, hogwash, and then
there's also the question of how to classify all the non-herbaceous
"herbs".
Adamantius
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