[Sca-cooks] History of Spices?

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

>>My go-to resource for history and identification of spices is A Historical
>>Dictionary of Indian Food by KT Achaya, but it was published in 1998. Any
>>newer sources for spice and herb identification and history out there?
>>
>>Madhavi
>>Trimaris

I'm a fan of Andrew Dalby's "Dangerous Tastes: The Story of Spices", published in 2002. It is not all inclusive, but includes all sorts of wonderful stories that people have made up over the millennia about where spices come from.

I not too long ago got "Cumin, Camels, and Caravans: A Spice Odyssey" by Gary Paul Nabhan. It was both interesting and frustrating. He begins with the very ancient incense routes from the Arabian Peninsula and travels through many cities on several continents to track many spices through their trade depots. It was mostly anecdotal, and while i liked the anecdotes, i also longed for some more systematized and analytical sections.

>I have found Gernot Katzer's Spice pages useful, especially when 
>trying to find various names for a particular spice, and how various 
>names are related.  (It has moved recently, if you have an old 
>bookmark, you may want to update it).
>
>http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl
>
>Sharon

Thanks, Sharon, for this news. Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages is my go-to resource for herbs and spices. Photos of the plants and the aromatic parts, botanical names, names in dozens of languages, some history.

Urtatim al-Qurtubiyya