Post-Medieval Uses

Stefan Halikowski Smith notes that the Renaissance was the golden age of culinary spices, and that the most startling aspect of late medieval cooking was that it was ‘so wildly aromatic and of such strong taste’.⁵⁷ Ginger and other exotic spices appear frequently in the 1510 Dutch cookery text Een notabel boecxken van cokeryen, which was the earliest printed Dutch cookbook.⁵⁸ Ginger was used in a huge range of dishes, from flavouring the earliest waffles to spicing up sausages – for example, this one from Sir Hugh Plat in 1603: ‘Take the filets of an hog, chop them verie small with a handful of red sage, season it hote with Ginger and Pepper, and then put it into a great sheepes gut, then let it lie three nights in brine, then boile it and hang it up in a chimney where fire is usually kept.’⁵⁹ Crystallised ginger was also a Tudor favourite.⁶⁰

Ginger has always been an important component of Indian cuisine.

It was exported widely to the Red Sea, Hormuz, Arabia and Persia, but not much to Portugal due to the customs duties imposed, other than on Indian ships. This was a period of decline of the former Portuguese monopoly.

Cardamom, which mainly grew in Malabar, was also popular in India at this time according to Linschoten: ‘they put Cardamomum into the pot, it maketh the meate to have as good a savor and a taste as any of the other spices of India.’

It was also valued for its medicinal properties: ‘It is very good against a stincking breath and evill humors in the head.’ Linschoten also commented on the provenance of galangal – the sweeter-smelling lesser galangal coming from China and the less-attractive greater galangal from Java.

Turmeric was one of the export commodities from Bengal of the English East India Company, though relatively modest – the company’s demand in 1657 was only 5 or 10 tons, increasing to 30 tons in 1659.⁶² In the early 1680s, the shipments increased to 250 tons for a few years, but it was regarded as a ‘dull commodity’ by the company directors and reduced again to lower levels. It is strange that turmeric was so late appearing in Europe, compared to the closely related ginger which was widely used over the last two millennia.

Spain was the first European country to use turmeric, introduced by Arabs, and it was certainly known in England by the seventeenth century. Turmeric appears in Hannah Glasse’s classic 1747 cookery book, as an ingredient for India Pickle, purple cabbage pickle and milk water.⁶³ India Pickle evolved into Piccalilli at some time in the eighteenth century – turmeric is always a key ingredient. In Hannah Glasse’s 1767 edition it is referred to as paco-lilla, the pickling ingredients of which include ‘race-ginger’ (i.e. root ginger), salt, long pepper, garlic, mustard seeds, turmeric and white wine vinegar, into which various vegetables and fruits are placed.

Gingerbread appeared in Europe in medieval times and became widely available in Britain during the eighteenth century. Even in the thirteenth century it was quite well known and made a fitting gift for people of high status – in 1284–85 the price ranged from 9d to 2s per lb.⁶⁴ Sabina Welserin gave a recipe for Nuremberg gingerbread in her 1553 book of recipes. A simpler recipe for red gingerbread (or leach lumbar) is provided by John Murrel in 1617:

Grate and dry two stale manchets [medieval wheat yeast bread], either by the fire or in an oven, sift them through a sieue, and put to it Cinamon, Ginger, Sugar, Liquorice, Anis-seed: when you haue mingled all this together, boile a pint of red wine, and put in your mingled bread, and stirre it, that it be as thicke as a Hastie-pudding; then take it out, and coole it, and mould it with Cinamon, Ginger, Liquorice and Anis-seede, and rowle it thinne, and print it with your mould, and dry it in a warme Ouen.⁶⁵

Gingerbread biscuits often appear as gingerbread men, a custom which dates to at least the sixteenth century. The popularity of gingerbread, even in Shakespeare’s time, is seen in Love’s Labours Lost as Costard laments: ‘An I had but one penny in the world, thou shoulds’t have it to buy gingerbread.’⁶⁶ Zara Groundes-Peace observed that gingerbread was welcomed by both noble and peasant and that it was a popular gift at court, in everyday celebrations, and by patrons to workmen.⁶⁷ It could be served fresh from the oven or stored for a year.

The Low Countries have a seasonal treat that is related to gingerbread called speculaas. It is widely consumed in early December to celebrate St Nicholas’ (Sinterklaas) Day, which falls on 5 or 6 December. They are thin, spiced biscuits typically using ginger, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and brown sugar and traditionally made with Frisian flour, though many different varieties exist. The biscuits probably date from the seventeenth century, when these spices became widely available via the Dutch East India Company (VOC).

Ginger was introduced to the Americas and West Indies in the sixteenth century, and in 1547 Jamaica exported over 2 million pounds of ginger to Europe. Jamaica has been a significant producer and exporter since that time.⁶⁹ Turmeric was introduced to Jamaica in 1783. Hispaniola also became a significant ginger producer in the sixteenth century, sending 22,000 quintales (1 quintal = c. 46kg) to Seville from 1576 to 1594.⁷⁰ Ginger from the West Indies was a lot cheaper than that from India; in 1592, ginger from Santa Domingo was five times less than that from Calicut.⁷¹

Ginger tea is a modern favourite (use ½oz powdered ginger – or fresh sliced ginger – with 1 pint boiling water, and add small amount of honey to sweeten if required) but similar brews have long been used as a remedy for stomach upsets, nausea and colds.

Today the largest producer of ginger is India, followed by China and Nigeria. Other significant producers are Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand. The largest exporter, however, is China. It is sold as fresh young rhizomes, dry mature ones, dried and ground, or preserved. Stem ginger is fresh rhizome that has been peeled, cooked and preserved in sugar syrup. Ginger is a key ingredient of Indian curries and other foods and is used extensively in Asian cuisine. It is also very popular in the West, with the USA being the world’s largest importer. It has a long history of use in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages – ginger wine, ginger beer, ginger ale, etc., and is also very popular in cakes, puddings, biscuits, pastries, etc.

Turmeric’s widespread use includes curry powder (it is usually the major component), chicken stock, sauces, gravies, seasonings, pickles and relishes, soups, beverages and confectionary. Today turmeric is one of the trendiest spices: turmeric lattes abound in the smartest cafes frequented by the wellness warriors. However, there are potential downsides with respect to health – the bright yellow colour of turmeric is so appealing that it has been adulterated in Bangladesh, the USA and probably other places by the addition of lead chromate (an industrial paint pigment) in order to enhance and maintain its bright colour.⁷²

Turmeric is cultivated most extensively in India, followed by Bangladesh, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter.