Aromatic natural products which may be dried seeds, buds, fruits or flower parts, bark, or roots of plants usually of tropical origin.
In an attempt to take Jerusalem out of the hands of the Moslems, Christian leaders of western Europe launched the crusades in the eleventh century; the crusades failed, but the crusaders did bring back dozens of new spices from the East; Europeans were overjoyed with being able to season their food with something besides garlic, and by the fifteenth century the city of Venice was booming as the portal of the spice trade between East and West; when the Venetians began to exploit their spice monopoly by charging exorbitant prices, entrepreneurs such as Christopher Columbus set out to find a new route to get spices, bumping into the West Indies and the Americas along the way; my ancestors—and perhaps yours—eventually followed Columbus and here we are today. Out of all this, the word spice developed for the simple reason that after the failed crusades people had all “sorts” of spices to choose from. This abundance of choice prompted the Latin word species, meaning sort or type, to be adopted as the generic name for all these new kinds of spices. In French, species became espice, which in turn was adopted into English as spice in the early thirteenth century. Much later, in the early seventeenth century, the word species was again adopted into English, this time directly from Latin, as the scientific name for classes or “sorts” of animals and plants. Incidentally, further back in history, the Latin species, and therefore the English spice as well, derives from the Latin specere, meaning to look, because a species is identified by its appearance; the word spectacle developed from the same Latin source, as did the restaurant term specialty, literally meaning a particular “sort” or “species” of dish.
The overarching term encompassing a diverse array of fragrant condiments employed for enhancing the flavor of food. These culinary additives typically derive from woody shrubs thriving in tropical regions. In earlier times, spices served the purpose of concealing rancidity in the absence of effective preservation methods such as canning, dehydration, and freezing. The utilization of curry powder in India serves as a prominent illustration. Spices can be procured individually or in harmonious blends, such as mixed spice and curry powder. Optimal flavor is achieved by utilizing freshly ground spices, necessitating their acquisition in modest quantities.