Why spices were loved by European countries in the Middle Ages

To put it simply, spices are a kind of fragrant plant substances, and there are many types of spices with different effects. The origin of spices is mainly in the East, distributed in India, East Asia, Southeast Asia and other places. The main spices popular with Europeans are pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, which is very common in daily life.

First of all, these spices have one characteristic, that is, they are rare, and they all have to be transported from the East. Therefore, since the Egyptian civilization, Europe has maintained exchanges with the East in terms of spices, except during the Roman Empire, spices have always been a precious luxury in Europe.

In the West, spices were first used dating back to 3500 B.C., when the Egyptian emperor Yannais used a scented ointment that resins or balms. Until 1350 B.C., the Egyptians bathed with sesame oil or balm, which they believed was good for the skin, and at that time they used thyme, oregano, myrrh, frankincense, etc., and then mixed with sesame oil, almond oil, and olive oil. In 700 B.C., after the Egyptian culture spread to Greece and Rome, spices became valuable goods, and were the hobby of the aristocratic class at that time.

Cinnamon, also known as cinnamon bark, is derived from the concentrated cinnamon trees of the Lauraceae family in tropical Asia. People who plant cinnamon trees cut the tender bark on the tree, and after drying the roll, it is our commonly used spice cinnamon. In the West, cinnamon has always been an important spice.

And Europeans love cinnamon beyond ever wish: no matter what the dish, they have to find ways to add cinnamon to raise the price. In addition to food, cinnamon powder and cinnamon wine are also used as medicines, and cinnamon oil and cinnamon, which is burned directly as incense, are indispensable in some important religious ceremonies.

In addition to being used for meat, spices are also commonly used in alcohol, and the preservation of food is a big issue, both modern and ancient, as is alcohol. Therefore, Europeans like to add some spices to wine, and the role of spices is not to increase the texture of the wine, but to preserve the freshness and mask the smell of the wine after spoilage.

With the advent of spices, a group of people who make a living by blending spices and making perfume essences have gradually been born in society, and they are called perfumers. Before the 18th century, perfumers had access to only natural flora and fauna fragrances provided by nature. The perfumes and essences that are formulated, although they are an improvement over the original fragrance, still have certain limitations, so they are called "natural" fragrances.

After entering the nineteenth century, with the rapid development of organic chemistry and synthetic fragrance industry, many new spices have come out one after another, and the imagination of perfumers has become richer and richer. To this day, perfumery is still moving forward, waiting for people to continue to explore and innovate.

In the East, the earliest appearance of spices can be traced back to the time of Emperor Shennong 5,000 years ago, when people already attached great importance to the aroma volatilized by plants, and dedicated aromatic substances such as flowers, fruits, and resins to the heavens, so that the fragrance around them overflowed and reached the perfect sacrificial realm. Therefore, in ancient times, these incense substances were used for worshipping the gods, sacrifices, purifying the body and mind, and funeral, and later gradually used for food, decoration and beauty.

Spices can also play a role in preserving and preserving meat to a certain extent, but some experts say that even when spices are at their most abundant, spices are still a luxury for ordinary families, and Europeans cannot use spices on a large scale to preserve food.

It's delicious, the Chinese are one of the main consumers of spices in the world.

Our chili peppers are also from foreign countries, and it's better to have more spices.

Because what Europe didn't have at that time, it was because of the lack of this thing, so this thing seemed 10 points precious, do you think about it? Just like pearls in the past, they were not so expensive to sell, but now the ** of pearls has changed, mainly because the production cost is lower than before, so now ** is not so high. I said this sentence mainly because of the old days, that goth.

When the tribe went to invade Italy, they went through a fight.

And Gothbrod surrounded all the Italians in the city and deprived them of food, so that after two months the Italians had to negotiate peace with them. And then the strange thing happened, the Gothic tribes took the opportunity to make some very excessive demands on the Italians, and if they wanted them to withdraw their troops, they had to give them 30,000 pounds**, 5,000 pounds**, and 3,000 pounds of pepper.

It is said that rare things are precious, and among the three, ** is the most, which means that it is the most worthless, and pepper has become the most precious thing, and then from the Italians inside, they can only search everywhere, and even put those gold and silver ornaments from the statues in the church.

Take it and give it to the Gothic tribesmen. Even a lot of people don't actually know about the AmericasNew WorldAt that time, the Europeans were just to discover, to find new spices, more spices, so they directly connected the road that connected Asia to Europe, and also discovered the new continent of America.

Therefore, spices actually have a magical history in ancient times, and they mainly used pepper as a seasoning that tastes better than salt, but they are very few, so they are very precious if they are scavenged everywhere.

Only rare things will be precious, and at that time, spices had not been cultivated on a large scale, so they belonged to rare items, and they would naturally be precious.

Because scarcity is expensive, Europe itself did not have spices in ancient times, and spices need to be imported from other countries.

Because in the past, it was very difficult to make a good spice in Europe, you had to have not only the materials, but also the money, and the craftsmanship. Therefore, it will be more precious than **.

Because scarcity is expensive. The origin of spices is not in Europe, but in India, Sri Lanka and other places, the distance is very far, and the ancient transportation is extremely inconvenient, if you want to obtain spices, you have to go through sea, land transportation and other twists and turns, of course, it is more precious.

There are two reasons, one is that spices are very useful in the social life of the European Middle Ages, which is expensive and rare, but it is a very versatile and irreplaceable product, and it is also an important product;

The other is the era of spices, which often have many cultural connotations.