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:
| Vegetable | AROMATICS | Clove, cinnamon, cassia-bud, pimento orallspice, nutmeg, mace, cardamon, pepper,cumin, coriander, fenugreek, grains ofParadise, anise, dill, caraway, basil, chervil,celery, fennel, bay-leaves, summer savory,parsley, thyme, sage, sweet marjoram,mint, tarragon, onion, leek, garlic, saffron,capers, turmeric and curry powder. |
| PUNGENT AROMATICS | Mustard, | |
| horse-radish, | ||
| ginger, | ||
| chillies (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 andvarious 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.
Clove.
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.