Kuro Nikkoku is the Nipponese name for black garlic. Of Korean origin for some, Japanese for others, black garlic leaves no one indifferent when you see it, but above all when you taste it. Black garlic has been used for thousands of years in Asian cuisine, and particularly in Japanese cuisine, where it has become an everyday staple for both its culinary qualities and its medicinal virtues. Slow food, slow process, black garlic takes time...Continue Reading
Unlike true peppers, which come exclusively from the Piper Nigrum, P. longum and P. cubeba families, false peppers are not part of the Piper genus, and in fact are not even members of the Piperaceae family. So what is a false pepper? False peppers group together many things under their name: condiments, blends, berries or spices bearing the appellation pepper. They can have very different flavors...Continue Reading
4000 years of saffron cultivation worldwide From the Latin safranum, zarparan in Persia or Sahafaran in Hebrew, traces of crocus sativus - saffron - can be found on tablets in Iraq over 2000 years BC. Present on certain Santorini frescoes, it was discovered 2000 years ago in the Roman Empire. Greece is undoubtedly the birthplace of the famous Crocus Sativus (the Greek endemic Crocus cartwrightianus being its presumed ancestor). It is...Continue Reading
From the 11th to the 13th century, a balance of strongholds The great Italian republics played an important role in the spice trade. Venice, Genoa, Amalfi, Pisa and even Florence became rivals, so important was the trade. France and the people of Marseille mastered the west coasts of Africa and Europe as far as Norway, and increasingly strengthened their position towards the East: trade flourished. Trade relations with the Levant were naturally affected by...Continue Reading
5th to 11th centuries: the world's spice trade in turmoil In 410 AD, the Visigoths sacked Rome. The ransom amounted to several thousand pounds of pepper. This was followed by a period when the world spice trade came to a halt (notably following the invasion of North Africa by the barbarians). For 400 years, all traffic between kingdoms ceased; laws, religions, arts and sciences seemed threatened by a...Continue Reading
Alexander's conquest of India... 326 BC // year 47 We stopped at the beginnings of the future Suez Canal, 500 BC, which would have made it possible to avoid the long route taken by Ishmaelite merchants to Egypt. Alexander the Great entered India from the north-west in 326 BC, in a bitter battle (as was often the case in those days), and decided to open up two other routes by which he could transport spices from that country....Continue Reading
In the beginning... 4300 B.C. // 520 B.C. The discovery and trade of spices has seen empires rise and cities fall, and great powers succeed one another, but it has also served to bind together different eras of human history. This trade has been the starting point for relations between nations, and has kept East and West in constant contact. These spice trade routes have remained the main arteries of...Continue Reading
