King Charlemagne (742-814) was instrumental in getting farmers
to plant and produce culinary herbs like anise, fennel, fenugreek,
sage, thyme and parsley. It is also an interesting fact that
churches had a commanding control over the cultivation of spices
and herbs in Europe guided by religious and spiritual beliefs.
A “pepperer’s” guild of wholesale merchants was established in
1180 by King Henry II which was a forerunner of the modern
grocery store.
Age of Spice Discovery
(1300–1500 AD)
This era was the period of ‘spice discovery’.
The great Italian merchant traveller Marco
Polo brought back reports about the flavour
of sesame oil from Afghanistan, the ginger
and cassia of Peking, the pickled spiced
meat of Karazan, the huge plantings of
pepper, nutmeg and cloves in the islands of
the
China
Sea
and
the
abundant
proliferation of cinnamon, pepper and
ginger along the Malabar coast of India.
During 1493, on his second
trip, Christopher Columbus
brought the Spanish physician
Diego Chanca with him. In
later years, Chanca discovered
the spice capsaicin (red pepper).
During 1501, a spice route was
established between Portugal and India which resulted in many
Indian spices being brought to Portugal under the reign of King
Manual. Later he transformed this alliance into big trading
business for his country with large European syndicates.
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