Spice and Herb Explorer

By Su Stella

From Silk Road to Your Spice Cabinet
Step back in time, and travel the Silk Road to discover a brief history of spices and herbs. Find out how black pepper changed the world with the race to find new trade routes. Discover how one black pepper recipe almost extinct Red Fish worldwide.

We Visit Your Kitchen
Together we explore your spice cabinet to taste test your herbs and learn the best choices for you.
There is useful information about creating and storing your herbs. Ever wonder which salt, pepper, vinegar or oil to use? This book covers it.

Have an Air Fryer?
There is a section has easy conversion charts, tips and instructions to maximize your cooking knowledge.

International Spice Mixes
Enjoy recipes from the Silk Road, then some along the Mediterranean Coast. People and ideas crossed the Atlantic to the Gulf Coast in America where immigrants brought beloved tastes of home with them.

From novices to advanced home cooks, this book helps fill your world with good reading and great eating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Su Stella
• Release date: Nov 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781959856139

Su Stella

Su Stella grew up just outside of Boston. Her late teens and early twenties were spent at the art Institute of Boston or traveling throughout Europe. In her mid-twenties she trekked through South America before spending a year in Switzerland. When she returned to the US, she bought an RV and spent 3 years on the road before settling down in Biloxi, Mississippi. In 2005, hurricane Katrina uprooted her. She moved inland to Shreveport for 10 years. In 2017, she bought a lucky scratch ticket and was able to relocate to Oregon.In Oregon she was able to get a job as a trimmer for a season. When she learned the lingo she got a budtender job, and still does it part time. Her love of gardening now includes growing four plants grown legally. When she is not writing, you can find her smoking her homegrown while enjoying the beauty of Oregon.

Book preview

Even as a kid, I was seeking a life of adventure. I was constantly in trouble for leaving my neighborhood boundaries. When I wasn’t on foot or by bicycle, I was traveling through books. I read about courageous men and women and their stories of danger, strife, and excitement.

We were on a family beach vacation when I was about 10 years old. I had left in the morning to explore the beach, and at dinner time, a woman approached me and asked if I was ‘the little lost girl’. I told her ‘no’ and ran back to the cottage where the police were consoling my family.

Growing up near Boston in the 1980s was perfect for me. Airline tickets to Europe started at $99. At 18 years old, I was traveling to Europe. Grabbing my backpack, I made over a dozen trips, mostly by myself. I was frugal and creative, so I was able to stretch my money for months. I would spend 6 months in Turkey or 3 months in Greece, and on other trips, I just rode the trains across many countries.

This book is a continuation of my adventures. I am sharing ideas, recipes, and stories that I learned along the way. I hope you enjoy this chapter of my life.

Short History of Spices

People have been using spices to flavor food, make medicines, create perfumes, and in the arts for centuries. In 1750 B.C.E., the Mesopotamia’s were spicing food, a clay tablet was found with over 30 recipes on it. A papyrus scroll from 1550 B.C.E. had over 800 medicinal cures and remedies, proving people were more sophisticated than we give them credit for.

It is amazing to think that spices have changed history. Many people risked their lives trekking deserts or sailing newly charted courses across the globe with precious packages of dried goods in exchange for treasures like silk, metals, ivory, gemstones, and more. Spices were so valuable that they even used them as currency. Pepper was referred to as Black Gold or Peppercorn Rent, and stealing a handful was like robbing a bank.

Europeans on the Atlantic coast wanted to cut out the middleman and find water routes to India and spice-rich countries in that region. The Portuguese were some of the top explorers, but the Spaniards, Italians, and Dutch were all looking to get rich with the spice trade too. Everyone was hiring ships to bring back the bounty.

We all know that in 1492, Christopher Columbus got lost looking for a shortcut to the East Indies, searching for spices. Even though he missed his mark, his travels led to new spices like vanilla which is a product of Mexico. This journey brought more ships and the beginning of the slave trade, which ensured cheap labor in dangerous conditions.

In 1497, the Portuguese hired Vasco de Gama to find spices. The journey took him down to Cape Horn, Africa, which is one of the deadliest ocean crossings on the planet. He made it to the Malabar Coast and found a source for black pepper.

Like any creative sales tactic, there was a tall tale to add mystery, danger and to increase the prices.

The story of pepper told of evil serpents that flourished in the forests of pepper trees. Local farmers had to burn down the forest to recover the burnt and dried black peppercorns. Since the forest was destroyed, the locals had to replant the trees and wait for them to mature, which led to the high prices.

Interesting Facts

In reality, pepper grows in clusters on a vine. It is a green berry on the plant. If it is soaked, it gives us white peppercorns, and the black ones are simply dried, giving it blackened outer skin. Freeze-dried gives us the green ones that are slightly fruitier.

In the 1980s, Chef Paul Prudhomme in New Orleans created the ‘Blackened Red Fish’ recipe that nearly extinct the Red Fish population by over fishing. It is hard to imagine that one recipe could change the world.

In 1997, the International Pepper Exchange came into being in India. This organization deals with the global trade of black pepper. Even though it is very inexpensive to buy, it is worth billions of trade dollars every year.

Over the centuries, pepper plants have been exported and planted in many countries.