[Sca-cooks] Bad Cooking at Feasts - was Re: good taste

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

selene says re: spices taht are stale:
>On the other hand, is this not a reasonable approximation of the 
>condition of spices by the time they were walked from Asia to Europe by 
>the Silk Road, or shipped around the Horn?  OK, it might age better if 
>left unground but still, something to consider.


I would actually think not. Le Menagier (or was it Chiquart?) specifically says 
that you buy your spices whole, in leather bags. transported this way they would 
stay a lot fresher for a lot longer. 

the stuff we buy is ground a long time ago, stored in clear glass jars and sits on 
warehouses before going to the grocery store. I betcha the time it takes cinnamon 
bark to be cut off of trees and end up in a jar at safeway isnt all that much 
different from the time it would take it to be packed in to europe. they managed to 
ship oranges and other citrus before it spoiled, I imagine they could do the same 
with spices?

-Anne-Marie