Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.

Condiments Spices and ... ... Flavors

=Condiments, if properly used, assure digestion and hasten the absorption of food by the system.—THEODORE CHILD.=

COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY MARY E. GREEN, M. D.

PREFACE

In this pamphlet no attempt has been made to give specific directions as to the uses of spices and condiments. It must be borne in mind that their usage results neither from the demands of fashion nor of a vitiated sense of taste, but from their own germicidal and preservative qualities. From the spiced and perfumed mummies of the Pharaohs to the spiced apple and pickled pear of our own store-rooms, the same reason for the use of spices exists—their antiseptic qualities. A short account of the divers kinds and qualities of these excellent substances may lead, it is hoped, to a more intelligent use of them in cookery. Nothing has been said about adulteration, for, while most of the adulterants of spices are harmless, still, fraud lies in the fact that the buyer pays a high price for an article part of which is worthless. As every housewife cannot be her own chemist, her safeguard lies in buying only of reliable spice houses.

CONDIMENTS, SPICES AND FLAVORS.

A Maxim as ancient as the time of Democritus of Abdera reads: “Whatever pleases the palate nourishes.” Modern science has proven the truth of this maxim and has given us acceptable reason why condiments are no more necessary in palace of connoisseur than in hut of barbarian, why they are as eagerly used by the native of Labrador as by the swarthy son of the tropics; why they are the property of Mohammedan, Confucian, Buddhist, Gentile and Jew, of all castes, races and civilizations. Acting principally upon the nervous system through the sense of smell, condiments stimulate the flow of both the saliva and gastric juices. They materially aid digestion, and the familiar phrase, “to make the mouth water,” states a physiological fact. From this standpoint the fragrant aroma of steaming coffee and the savory odor of a stew are as truly condiments as pepper and salt; for condiments are the magic wand which transforms most commonplace of foods into essences, subtle and delicious. They are equally appropriate to the steaming _potage_ of the French peasant and the sacrificial altars of Palestine and Greece. Nothing more closely tests the skill of the cook than his use of these appetizing flavors. Like genii of the fairy tale, they are willing, versatile and obedient as slaves; when master their pathway is strewn with sorrowful though most aromatic wrecks of soups and _hors d’œuvres_. They should permeate food as incense does the atmosphere, delicate, impalpable and as indescribable as they are requisite. The too abundant use of a certain condiment or spice, the lack of another or the injudicious mingling of certain others will ruin the finest pudding, sauce or soup ever compounded.

Condiments and spices are as ancient as civilization. The oldest books of the scriptures, notably Exodus, Leviticus, Job and the Canticles, make frequent reference to salt and spices, substances which were then costly, chiefly dedicated to royalty and the uses of temple and altar. The Greeks followed the Semitic customs to some extent in their disposition of spices, not using them as largely in their food as have later races. They were fond of aromatic flavorings and it is said that the laurels of Greece, of which the cinnamon is a species, possessed that quality to a greater extent than those of any other country, although all laurels have aromatic leaves.

Homer in the Iliad refers with naïve surprise to those people unaccustomed to the use of salt, and in the ninth book pictures Patroclus as

“He strews a bed of glowing embers wide, Above the coals the smoking fragments turns, And sprinkles sacred salt upon the urns.”

By the mediæval Romans condiments were well liked. They made, according to one author, a pickle from the tunny fish, just as their languorous descendants are doing to-day, and also prepared a condiment from the intestines of the mackerel. “Liver of the capon, steeped in milk and beccaficoes, and dressed with pepper” was another of their highly seasoned dishes.

In the thirteenth century Dante, in the description of the alchemists and forgers of the tenth gulf of the Inferno, referred to one Niccolo of Sienna, “who first the spice’s luxury discovered.” Contemporary with him in England, William Langland, in his “Vision of Piers the Plowman,” inquired if thou “hast in thy purse any hot spices?”

Frequent reference by the writers of that day indicates that these substances were expensive and used mainly by the luxurious. Venice had for many years controlled the trade in spices, which were brought overland from the Orient in immense caravans, and not until Diaz and Vasco de Gama, in the fifteenth century, rounded the cape of Good Hope did their costliness diminish. After that event spices and condiments ceased to be regarded merely as luxuries and became as necessary to the plainest of soups as to the _Puree de volaille a la Bearnise_ of the French chef.

All classes of people use condiments in some form, from the wealthy epicure who flavors his terrapin with mace, salt, pepper, and sherry to the negro who sifts okra through his fingers into his gumbo soup or the Indian, stirring the contents of a steaming kettle with twigs of sassafras.

Condiments have been defined as those substances eaten with meat and combined with salt while spices are chiefly added to articles containing sugar. They may be classified as follows:

{ { Clove, cinnamon, cassia-bud, pimento or { { allspice, nutmeg, mace, cardamon, pepper, { { cumin, coriander, fenugreek, grains of { AROMATICS { Paradise, anise, dill, caraway, basil, chervil, { { celery, fennel, bay-leaves, summer savory, { { parsley, thyme, sage, sweet marjoram, VEGETABLE { { mint, tarragon, onion, leek, garlic, saffron, { { capers, turmeric and curry powder. { { { Mustard, { PUNGENT { horse-radish, { AROMATICS { ginger, { { chilies (cayenne pepper).

MINERAL { Salt.

ANIMAL { Pastes and essences of shrimp, lobster, bloater, anchovy, { etc. SAUCES { Chutney, tabasco, lime juice, Worcestershire, ketchup, { carachi, cassareep and soy.

PICKLES { Various vegetables and fruits, such as cucumber, olive, { samphire, etc.

FLAVORS { Vanilla, tonka bean, almond, chocolate, orange and { various fruits.

ACIDS { Vinegar, lime juice, verjuice.

CORDIALS { Curaçoa, Noyau, Ratafia, anisette, kümmel, absinthe, { Chartreuse, Maraschino, etc.

Salt is even more valuable as a condiment than as a preservative. It is used in every staple article of cookery and, as has been said, “Plutarch was right when he styled salt the condiment of condiments.” Cereals and vegetables are tasteless without the addition of that mysterious quantity, “a pinch of salt,” bread is insipid without a dash of it, as also are meats and puddings. Meats, when so cooked that their own salts are not extracted, as when roasted, are more palatable without additional salt than any other food so prepared.

Though salt is unused because unattainable by certain barbaric peoples, such as the Bedouins, it is considered to be a necessity by all others. Aristotle relates that in Greece a salt spring was believed to be a direct gift of the gods, salt always comprising part of the religious offerings. Salt is referred to in the scriptures more than a score of times. In Leviticus we find the command that “every oblation of thy meat offering shall be seasoned with salt.” In Job occurs the question “can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt?” The Biblical comparison to salt which has lost its savor refers to the custom still retained in Oriental countries of adulterating with earth the salt which finds its way to the extremely poor, who cannot pay the original high price. So costly was salt in the ancient world that the old caravan routes were first formed for traffic in this article. The “Salarian Way” of Rome was so named because of its immense commerce in salt and to this day the trade route across the Sahara is by this means mainly supported. Recently, the salt beds of Europe and the salt mines and wells of the western hemisphere have made this article so abundant that its cheapness effectually protects it from adulteration.

Cloves are the unexpanded flowers of an evergreen tree found in the East Indies and indigenous to the Molucca Islands. They are called by the Chinese “fragrant nails” owing to the peculiar shape of the dried clove buds, and the English word is derived from the Latin _clavus_, and French _clou_, also meaning nail. It is doubtful if cloves were known to the Greeks or Romans, the Venetians having first obtained them from the Arabians, while the clove trade was later monopolized by the Portuguese. Then it was owned by the Dutch who expelled the Portuguese from the Spice Islands in 1605. The Dutch made great effort to control the entire spice trade of these islands, which was a source of abundant wealth, and were even known to furnish the market with the adulterated article, the oil of clove being extracted by pressure and the buds being given a fresh appearance by a glaze of olive oil. They also preserve the mother clove, or fully developed fruit. This resembles the olive in appearance and, being less pungent in flavor than the bud, makes a dainty sweetmeat. The clove tree is not hardy and grows best when planted in loamy soil, sheltered from the winds by the hills. It has been introduced into the West Indies and Guiana. Cloves from the Moluccas and Ceylon are more valuable, being richer in oil, darker in color and far more aromatic.

Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tree allied to the laurels. It is indigenous to Ceylon and the Penang Islands although believed by some authorities to have originally come from China, where it has flourished since the remotest times. As it is mentioned in the Old Testament it is conjectured that the Hebrews obtained it from the Arabians who in turn procured it from India. Later it was mentioned by Herodotus. It is known that Hippocrates used cinnamon medicinally and the modern medical world has but recently made the discovery that oil of cinnamon is a valuable antiseptic and germicide. Not until 1506 was cinnamon discovered wild in Ceylon and not until 1770 was it improved by cultivation. The tree grows to a height of twenty and occasionally thirty feet, although, as the bark from the young shoots is of finer flavor, that only is used. Cinnamon shrubs are cultivated in fields, the finest being located in the region of Colombo, Ceylon. The shoots, which grow in clusters of from four to ten, are cut to the roots twice a year, after the rains. The epidermis is peeled off, the bark is put up in bundles about forty inches long and thus dried and marketed. Three grades are exported, the finest, thin, of a brownish yellow color, fragrant and sweet of odor and correspondingly high of price. It is also adulterated with cassia bark, a cheaper production.

Cassia is the inner bark of a species of cinnamon called Chinese cinnamon or _cassia lignea_. The greater part of it is exported from China. The bark is put up in bundles about half the length of cinnamon bark and is more pungent and less sweet of flavor. Cassia buds are the unripened fruits of the tree which produces Chinese cassia. In shape and size they resemble cloves, in aroma, cinnamon, and are usually preserved whole for sweetmeats or spices. Cassia is mentioned by Moses as an ingredient of the holy oil, in Psalms as a perfume and in Ezekiel as a spice.

Allspice, sometimes called Jamaica pepper and properly, _pimento_, is native to the Island of Jamaica and has not been successfully cultivated outside of the West Indies. The pimento tree is an evergreen of the myrtlebloom family, all of which are exotic trees, and reaches a height of thirty feet. The allspice of commerce consists of the berries of this tree, exported whole after being dried, and so called because their aroma resembles that of cloves, cinnamon, juniper and nutmeg. The berries are gathered when green, being left on the twigs until dried by the sun, by which means all the essential oil is retained.

Nutmeg is the kernel of the fruit of an exotic evergreen tree native to the Banda and other of the East Indian islands. In appearance it resembles the orange, yielding fruit when eight or nine years of age and bearing for fifty or sixty years. It requires a light soil, moisture and shade, and cannot be propagated in regions in which these conditions are not present. The tree bears fruit during most of the year, in the Molucca and other islands three crops a year being gathered. The fruit, which requires nine months in which to mature, is carefully dried before the pericarp is removed and the kernel taken out. There are three varieties, the male or barren, the royal and the queen, the last, a small, round nutmeg, considered most valuable. The inferior nutmegs are used for the extraction of nutmeg butter or oil, known as “oil of mace.” About six per cent of volatile oil is contained. It is stated that more nutmegs are exported to the United States than to all Europe. The Dutch formerly preserved the entire fruit, kernel and pericarp, in a syrup of sweet vinegar for a sweetmeat. This nation when in control of the spice trade of certain of the East Indian islands made strenuous efforts to confine the nutmeg tree to the Bandas. But the “nutmeg bird,” a species of blue pigeon, frustrated their designs by scattering the nuts all over the islands after feeding upon their pulpy covering. So determined at one time were the Dutch to keep the price of nutmegs high that, if an unusually large harvest occurred, part of it was burned by them.

Mace is the reticulated aril covering the kernel. When fresh, it is of a crimson color, reaching the golden tint only when dried and after some months. In its properties it is similar to the nutmeg. The leaves of the nutmeg tree as well as the fruit are highly aromatic.

The cardamon is a member of the ginger family and is native to Malabar, Madagascar and Ceylon. That from the latter country is of quite large size. It consists of a rhizome or root stock from which rise tall, flag-like leaves. The flower stem springs directly from the root and is much shorter, bearing racemiform clusters of small white flowers. The fruit consists of greenish pods half an inch in length, each pod being three capsuled and containing numerous seeds. These seeds are pungent in flavor and constitute the valuable part of the plant. The pods are dried slowly as rapid drying causes them to split, thereby losing the seeds. Cardamon seeds were used by the ancient Greeks both as a spice and as medicine.

Pepper, with cinnamon, salt and incense, was one of the staple commodities which anciently passed over the caravan routes between Venice and India. At that time its price was extremely high and, according to E. M. Holmes, rents were frequently paid in this article as late as the middle ages. After the sack of Rome by the barbarians one of the articles of tribute demanded by Alaric was a thousand pounds of pepper. As late as the eighteenth century the pepper trade was confined to the Portuguese. In recent years it has become one of the cheapest of our spices.

The pepper plant is a vine, of the order _piperaceæ_, which grows wild in China, is also indigenous to Malabar and other islands of the East Indies, and has been introduced into the West Indies. The plants require a rich moist soil, bearing after the fourth year and continuing fruitful for from eight to fourteen years. The most famous of the pepper islands are the Penang, which furnish more than half the amount produced by the entire East Indies. Only the berries of the pepper plant are valuable and these, being gathered before fully developed, have a wrinkled appearance when dried. The berries used for white pepper are decorticated either in the islands or in London and reach the United States ready for grinding. The finest grade passes through more than twenty different operations before it is considered marketable.

Black pepper differs from the white in the leaving on of the hull, which is black and contains the acrid principles of the flavor. Hence, white pepper is less pungent and fully as fine in flavor as the black. Shot pepper consists of the finest berries, those richest in oil. It is selected by throwing a quantity of the berries in water. Those which sink are collected, labeled, and sold as shot pepper.

Long pepper, referred to by the Greeks as _piperi macron_, is the unripe fruit of a species of pepper, an inch or more in length and and shaped like a spike. The flavor is similar to that of ordinary black pepper. African pepper is another variety. Those best known to the western markets are Penang, Tellicherry and Malabar.

Cumin or cummin is a small herbaceous plant, native to Egypt and very early cultivated in the Mediterranean countries. It is now grown in India, Sicily and Malta, the seeds only being valuable. These contain a large proportion of essential oil which gives them an aromatic but acrid flavor. They are not now used in cookery though receipts are still extant which prove them to have once been considered a valuable culinary spice. The Latin poets relate that the ancients used cumin seeds medicinally, their effect being to produce languor. They are referred to in Isaiah as being “beaten out with a rod” and also in the Mosaic law regarding tithes.

Coriander is a small umbelliferous plant native to the eastern of the Mediterranean countries but now cultivated quite generally in both Europe and America. The fruits, erroneously called the seeds, are nearly always mentioned in the earlier recipes for meats and puddings and to this day many a country housewife considers them indispensable to the flavoring of dried apple pies. The plant grows wild in all parts of Palestine, especially in the Jordan valley.

Fenugreek is an herbaceous plant allied to the clover. It is native to the Asiatic countries and is still cultivated in France and Germany. The seeds were formerly used as a spice, but now only as an ingredient of curry powder, owing to their strong, bitter and unpleasant flavor.

Grains of Paradise are the dried seeds of a reed-like plant allied to the ginger family and indigenous to western Africa. The fruit which contains the seeds is four or five inches in length and of a bright red color. The seed are now never used, excepting occasionally by brewers. Formerly they were esteemed as a spice for cookery and were one of the ingredients of the famous Norwich herring pies of old England. In flavor they are extremely hot and pungent.

Anise is a little annual of the order umbelliferæ and scarcely more than a foot in height. It is indigenous to Europe, although cultivated in many of the northern Mediterranean countries. The seeds are powerful aromatics, used both medicinally and in the preparation of a _liqueur_ called “anisette,” which is to the Italians what kümmel is to the Germans. The star anise is a tree allied to the magnolias, the seeds of which are stronger and less pleasant of flavor than those of the common anise. They are called star aniseed from the star-like shape of the fruit. The anise mentioned in the New Testament as part of the tithes is a different plant, believed to be dill.

Dill is a small herb, native to Spain, which produces umbelliferous stalks of yellow flowers. It is still cultivated in portions of temperate Europe. An aromatic oil is extracted from the tiny seeds which are also used, whole, for flavoring pickles.

Caraway is also an umbelliferous plant growing wild in the meadows and pastures of both Europe and Asia. It is cultivated for its mildly aromatic seeds, although in the northern countries of Europe the root, which resembles the parsnip, is also eaten. No aromatic of temperate climates is more common than the dainty, white-blooming plant growing in the kitchen gardens of both hemispheres. Its seeds are used for the spicing of cheese, cakes and candies, and in Germany in the rye bread called “kümmel-brod,” which is universally eaten. The seeds are also used in the making of an aromatic cordial called “kümmel.”

Basil is not now used as extensively in cooking as formerly. Its native haunts are India and Persia, although since it yields gracefully to culture, it is to be found in many old-fashioned kitchen gardens. Its aromatic properties are similar to those of other garden herbs.

Chervil is an umbelliferous annual possessing aromatic leaves and somewhat resembling parsley in flavor. It is used in Europe as a pot-herb for soups and stews, but is chiefly known in America as one of the obsolete delicacies which deserve to be still popular. The root, which is fleshy and fusiform in shape, is cooked and eaten by the people of southern Europe.

Celery is a veritable plebeian, originally growing wild in the ditches and fens of Europe, a coarse, offensive and poisonous vegetable. Few plants are so susceptible to the influences of cultivation and it is difficult to recognize its unaristocratic prototype in the tender, white and aromatic stalks of the garden product. It belongs to the parsley family and every portion is useful to the cook, from the daintily curled tops which may be used for both flavor and garnish, the stalks which may be eaten plain, dressed raw in salad or cooked, to the seeds, the flavor of which makes even the poorest of soups relishable. The seeds are now commonly ground for the making of “celery salt” or “celery pepper,” as the same product is variously called. A variety of celery, called _celeriac_, is cultivated in certain European countries, notably Germany, the root only, which is large and fleshy, being eaten. The famous “wild celery” of Chesapeake Bay is simply “eelgrass,” an aquatic plant which bears no relationship whatever to the umbelliferæ, of which order celery is a species.

Fennel is an umbelliferous plant, native to portions of temperate Europe and Asia, especially Portugal. The fruits possess an aromatic flavor while the tender shoots are used for salad. The plant and its culinary value was well known to the Romans, and it is to-day cultivated in both Europe and America. The fruits of the European fennel are used in the making of an aromatic drink, while in America the plant is chiefly cultivated for its leaves. It has been said that fennel is to fish what mint is to lamb, and in certain of the southern states mackerel is considered of too strong a flavor to be eaten unless cooked with fennel. The fennel thus used grows wild, the green leaves being tied in bunches and boiled with the fish.