I’m interested in turmeric and coriander seed. I have been interested in studying how food has travelled across the world due to imperialism and diaspora. Thank you for writing this piece and sharing it! I hope we can build stronger cross-cultural relationships and empathy through understanding why we eat what we eat!
Nutmeg and mace and how they are used in their original home in Southeast Asia. Always dried or ever used fresh? And what happened to rose water and orange flower water in American cooking and baking. They seem to have been beloved in earliest recipes colonial era, but then somewhere in 19th century they disappear! And what’s with cardamom in small amounts in Swedish or Scandinavian baking?
nutmeg and cardamom will be coming this year! I learned about rose water in Sarah Lohman's excellent book 'Eight Flavors'--highly recommend. I didn't know that orange flower water was also commonly used!
I’m also curious about cardamom in Nordic countries and more generally how certain spices/flavor profiles have become strongly associated with certain cuisines that they are geographically distant from (I guess more modern versions of Romans loving pepper)
Oh that's very exciting as a reader as well! I have an old cardamom spice tin from the Central Cooperative Exchange, part of my collection of items related to the network of cooperative grocery stores operated by left wing Finnish immigrants in the upper Midwest 80-100 years ago. Special interests of the world, unite!
I have been using (and loving) long pepper for some years now, but I hadn't looked into its history. This was so fascinating to read! Thank you, so very much. I will continue to enjoy it, with a greater and expanded appreciation :) I would love to learn more about, really every spice, but perhaps especially cardamom and cinnamon, as they are among my personal favourites ^^
I've been using the dried ones, grinding with a pestle and mortar, and incorporating into stews mostly, sometimes salad dressings! I have a fair amount of different kinds of whole peppers that I like to rotate around. I use a lot of spices, and the combinations vary a lot, I tend to just go by what I feel like each day :) it was so interesting to learn that it was native to the northern parts of India, as something approaching a northern Indian-inspired spice blend is just the kind of spice mixture I've ended up combining it with the most, if I had to guess! Though I've certainly added it to other kinds of mixtures as well, I think it just lends such a nice note, and the fragrance when grinding it is such a pleasure :) the stews otherwise consist of whatever vegetables I have around at the time, lots of them, and whatever legume that I have batch-cooked at the moment ^^ I tend to just put everything in my electric pressure cooker and let it do the rest :) looking forward to any and all, spices are definitely a passion of mine, and learning in general, too!
it really has such an amazing fragrance! in India it's traditionally used in many recipes like rasam but I've enjoyed subbing it in for wherever I use pepper. thank you for sharing!
Love the idea of learning about juniper berries! Beautiful writing, eagerly await the next piece 😊
on the list for sure, I love juniper! thank you so much.
I’m interested in turmeric and coriander seed. I have been interested in studying how food has travelled across the world due to imperialism and diaspora. Thank you for writing this piece and sharing it! I hope we can build stronger cross-cultural relationships and empathy through understanding why we eat what we eat!
thank you aditya! both are on the list, I'm excited to share more.
Nutmeg and mace and how they are used in their original home in Southeast Asia. Always dried or ever used fresh? And what happened to rose water and orange flower water in American cooking and baking. They seem to have been beloved in earliest recipes colonial era, but then somewhere in 19th century they disappear! And what’s with cardamom in small amounts in Swedish or Scandinavian baking?
nutmeg and cardamom will be coming this year! I learned about rose water in Sarah Lohman's excellent book 'Eight Flavors'--highly recommend. I didn't know that orange flower water was also commonly used!
I’m also curious about cardamom in Nordic countries and more generally how certain spices/flavor profiles have become strongly associated with certain cuisines that they are geographically distant from (I guess more modern versions of Romans loving pepper)
the cardamom-nordic link is super interesting and goes back really far, I'm excited to share this one soon. thank you Isaac!
Oh that's very exciting as a reader as well! I have an old cardamom spice tin from the Central Cooperative Exchange, part of my collection of items related to the network of cooperative grocery stores operated by left wing Finnish immigrants in the upper Midwest 80-100 years ago. Special interests of the world, unite!
I have been using (and loving) long pepper for some years now, but I hadn't looked into its history. This was so fascinating to read! Thank you, so very much. I will continue to enjoy it, with a greater and expanded appreciation :) I would love to learn more about, really every spice, but perhaps especially cardamom and cinnamon, as they are among my personal favourites ^^
so curious to know how you use long pepper! thank you so much for reading. cardamom and cinnamon are definitely on the list--stay tuned :)
I've been using the dried ones, grinding with a pestle and mortar, and incorporating into stews mostly, sometimes salad dressings! I have a fair amount of different kinds of whole peppers that I like to rotate around. I use a lot of spices, and the combinations vary a lot, I tend to just go by what I feel like each day :) it was so interesting to learn that it was native to the northern parts of India, as something approaching a northern Indian-inspired spice blend is just the kind of spice mixture I've ended up combining it with the most, if I had to guess! Though I've certainly added it to other kinds of mixtures as well, I think it just lends such a nice note, and the fragrance when grinding it is such a pleasure :) the stews otherwise consist of whatever vegetables I have around at the time, lots of them, and whatever legume that I have batch-cooked at the moment ^^ I tend to just put everything in my electric pressure cooker and let it do the rest :) looking forward to any and all, spices are definitely a passion of mine, and learning in general, too!
it really has such an amazing fragrance! in India it's traditionally used in many recipes like rasam but I've enjoyed subbing it in for wherever I use pepper. thank you for sharing!