Are you tempted by the street food covered in layers of spices and other condiments? If you like the taste of the spices then this article will let you know some unique and interesting facts about them.
Spices are in general the dried and ground herbs that are used to season the food so that its taste is accentuated.
However, the benefits of spices aren’t just limited to enhancing the taste. It has several health benefits that keep us immune and helps in the digestion of the food we eat.
Some spices have medicinal properties which have endorsed the usage of spices. Others also have antimicrobial properties and are hence used as food preservatives.
Keep on reading this article to know the interesting facts about this culinary marvel. Here are some of the facts about spices:
- The English word spice is derived from the French word espice that later was termed as epice. And the word epice was actually inspired from the Latin syllable spec which refers to “appearance, kind”. Early Romans promoted the use of spices in medicine, food and skin care products as well. However, today the South Asian country India is well known in the world for all producing and using varied kind of spices.
- Spice was one of the main ingredients which used to be traded in the early centuries. The trend o spice trade began from Indian subcontinent in the early 2000 B.C. Some spices like Cinamon, black pepper and other herbs were majorly traded. For seven centuries, from eight to fifteenth, Venice used to have monopoly over the trading of spice with middle east and Italian countries. Eventually, coming to the present day, India contributes to the 75% of total spice production in the world.
- Black pepper is one of the most used spices around the world. In fact, the United States is the biggest consumer of black pepper in the world, importing almost 18% of the world’s pepper in 2009. It is also called King of Spices and is often shared on with salt.
- One of the most expensive spices of the world is Saffron and it is majorly produced in a place called Kashmir in India. A single saffron flower has three stigmas and each of the flowers is handpicked individually to pick just three stigmas. That’s why even a few grams of saffron costs too much.
- Turmeric has anti- inflammatory properties and it detoxifies liver as well as help in maintaining blood sugar levels. It has an active substance called curcumin which gives anti-inflammatory property to the spice.
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