[Sca-cooks] Spices was licorice,

[Terry Decker]

>Herb, which I had not previously defined has three primary definitions, no
>need to confuse them!  An herb can be a non-woody plant, a plant used for
>flavoring food, or animal fodder!  I think we know what definition is meant
>when it is used on a foodways list.

It's also a slang term for marijuana.  And the term is used generally for
plants used medicinally or as a spice (your definition 2).

>
> Here is an interesting 20th century quote on the subject I got from the
>American Spice Trade Association, "Whether spices came by sea or by land,
>they had to come by way of Cairo, Egypt. "Whoever is lord of Cairo," said
>the merchant pilot, "may call himself lord and master of (Christendom. . .
>and. . . of all the islands and places where the spices grow), since of
>necessity all merchandise of spicery from whatever direction can come and
he
>sold only in the land of the Sultan."
> F. H. M. Prescott's "Once To Sinai" The MacMillan
> This quote is in regards to the middle ages, prior to the opening of the
>West Indies and New World sources.
>
>Ranald de Balinhard

In terms of trade patterns, Cairo controlled the access from the Red Sea to
the Mediterranean and mostly controlled the spice trade from the 2nd Century
BCE until the 16th Century CE.  At various times there was a canal from the
Red Sea to the outskirts of Cairo.  At other times, cargos were unloaded at
various ports around the northern Red Sea and transported overland to Cairo.
>From Cairo, they usually went to Alexandria where the warehouses and factors
were located.

Before the Islamic expansion, the spices usually moved north to Byzantium
and then into Europe.  After it, the trade broadened and finally became a
near monopoly  between the Egyptians and the Venetians, the former
controlling access to the spices, the latter access to the European markets.

Spices which came into the Mediterranean via the overland routes from China
usually didn't go to Cairo, but they were nowhere near the volume or quality
of the spices brought by sea.

Bear