They are flowers, seeds, fruits, roots, stems or even barks of plants that radiate intense and distinct aromas and flavors with diverse colors that almost follow the rainbow. The Asian continent is the cradle of spices, scattered today all over the world and sold at affordable prices. But it was not always that way, in the late Middle Ages, XIV and XV centuries, they came to worth more than gold itself. A fact that led the portuguese people to discover the sea route to India, conquering a new ‘Spice Route’ to Europe, by sea. This alternative destroyed the previously monopoly dominated by Muslims, Venetians, and Genoese, and made Portugal control the areas producing pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, thus becoming one of the great economic powers of the time.
Today, the world’s largest spice growers, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), are Asian. And just as in the past, spices continue to delight in the kitchen, in cosmetics and in particular in medicine, thanks to its powerful properties as you will find in other texts on this site.
Spices can be purchased in seed, oil or powder, although the latter has the disadvantage of starting to lose qualities after six months, and other cheaper species are often milled together with the original seed. Learn more about some species of spices and their properties and benefits for our body in texts also published on this site.
