FRAGRANT AND FULL OF FLAVOUR

We have access to almost every spice across the globe, but they are hardly used, at least in Europe. Despite the limited availability and high costs, relatively more spices were used in the Middle Ages than nowadays. More than 75 percent of medieval recipes included spices. English culinary manuscripts use up to 90 percent. Why were spices so popular and how were they acquired?

By Manon Henzen

Spices were not used to camouflage the taste of rotting meat. When someone in the Middle Ages had enough money to buy spices, they could certainly afford fresh meat. Spices do have a mildly preserving effect, but this was not the reason why spices were so popular centuries ago. Spices were very expensive and considered a luxury. Up until the fourteenth century, people had no idea where they came from. Many thought that spices came from the ‘Paradise’ that was said to be near India. Only a small group of rich people could afford spices, and they came to signify style, sophistication, and prestige. They functioned as a status symbol. They were used in such abundance that one might think that status was more important than the taste of the food. Culinary…

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Medieval World (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 2 - 2022

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