BI464 Midterm: BI464-Midterm-2-lectures-9-13
BI464 Midterm 2 Review
Lecture 9- Spices
- Spices are aromatic fruits, flowers, bark, or other plant parts. Today we
associate spices with cooking but they are also used in the cosmetic and
perfume industry.
- History of spices and perfume is intertwined
- Fragrance has the power to appease the gods, awaken the spirit, recall
memories, stir up strong emotions, soothe, inspire fantasies, awaken sexual
desires, etc
- Pleasant smells have been associated with immortality and good smells have
been used in rituals to appease benevolent spirits.
o Perfume= per fumun=by smoke
o Incense= “that which is lit”
- Spices are also powerful antibiotics and can be used a preservatives
o Used to preserve mummies
- Makeda, Queen of Sheba—ca 1000 BC
o Ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom which modern archaeology
speculates was located in present-day Ethiopia or Yemen.
o According to the Bible, Queen Sheba heard of the great wisdom of
King Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold
(~4.5 tons!!!) and precious stones, as recorded in First Kings 10.1-13.
The queen was awed by Solomon's wisdom and wealth, and
pronounced a blessing on Solomon's God. Solomon reciprocated with
gifts and "everything she desired," whereupon the queen returned to
her country.
o ^Told by the Quran, Bible, latter by Jewish legend, Ethiopian accounts
o The majority commodity that made you rich ca 3000 ya; essentially
Sheba was considered rich due to her possessions of spices such as
myrrh, black pepper, cloves, ginger &cinnamon
- Myrrh- Commiphora myrrha (harvesting myrrh)
o Red-brown resin
o Ancient constituent of perfumes and incense, worth more than its
weight in gold; considered gifts of the Magi to baby Jesus (gold and
myrrh)
o Antiseptic
o Stimulant
o A preservative, a cure, and an aphrodisiac, a symbol of bliss given by
love-union: Song of Solomon→ frankincense an essential oil for
medicinal use
o Queen Hatshepsut (around time of Sheba)
▪ In 1493 B.C. she sent a fleet of five ships to the Land of Punt
(God’s Land, near present-day Somalia). *1st oceanographic
cruise
o Discover and bring back whole Myrrh plants for
cultivation in Egypt (successful)
- Egyptians used a large number of plants to create perfumes and fragrances:
almond, cedar (Cedrus spp. not Thuja!), cinnamon, citron, ginger, peppermint,
rose, rosemary, sandalwood, pine, juniper, myrrh and many more...
o Done so as aromatic body ointments and pomades and makeup
o Embalming: Body eviscerated and filled with spices. Sown up and
placed in sodium solution for 70 days. Wrapped in linen and smeared
with gum.
- Black & white pepper: Piper nigrum
o The fruit is a drupe; black pepper is the entire fruit harvested green
and dried (peppercorn); white pepper is just the pit after the external
part of the fruit is removed).
o Contains piperine
o Antioxidant and anticancer
o Accelerates energy metabolism in the body and also increases the
serotonin and beta-endorphin production in the brain.
o Pepper is a vine native to S and SE Asia and it has been used since
immemorial times.
▪ Black pepper was known in Greece at least as early as the 4th
century BC, though it was an uncommon and expensive item
that only the very rich could afford.
▪ By the time of the early Roman Empire, especially after Rome's
conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, open-ocean crossing of the Arabian
Sea redirect to Southern India's Malabar Coast was near
routine. In Medieval Europe, Black pepper was so valuable
that it was often used as a collateral or even as a currency.
▪ Pepper was a major trade item during ancient Egypt, Greeks
and Romans, but also more recently in medieval Europe.
• I.e. Ramsses II (c. 1303 BC –1213 BC) – (mummy) also
had peppercorns of black pepper inserted in the nose.
- Ginger - Zingiber officinale
o Against nausea, dizziness, and vomiting as symptoms of motion
sickness, and vomiting during pregnancy (Gravol!).
o Antioxidant
o Gastrointestinal problems
o Anti-inflammatory
o Native to Southern Asia; the part used is the rhizome (ginger root)
- Cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum
o Used in perfumes & fragrances.
o Religious ceremonies.
o Cinnamon improves glucose and lipid levels in people with type 2
diabetes.
o Antiviral properties
o Cancer prevention (colon)
o One of the oldest spices known, native to India and Sri Lanka (S Asia).
The spice comes from the bark of the small cinnamon tree.
o Pharmacological experiments suggest that the cinnamon-derived
dietary factor cinnamic aldehyde (cinnamaldehyde) activates the
Nrf2-dependent antioxidant response in human epithelial colon cells
and may therefore represent an experimental chemopreventive (used
to target disease) dietary factor targeting colorectal
carcinogenesis. Recent research documents anti-melanoma activity
of cinnamic aldehyde observed in cell culture and a mouse model of
human melanoma.
- Cloves – Syzygium aromaticum
o Native to Indonesia (“Spice Islands”)
o Dried flower buds
o Clove oil (Eugenol) is used in stomatology (mild anesthetic and
temporary fillings)
o May reduce blood sugar levels
o Tellimagrandin II with anti-herpes virus properties
o Cloves were valued in China, where they were used to sweeten the
breath of court officials before they addressed the emperor.
o The peristalses plus the bud of the flower= clove
o Clove oil used in dentistry a lot as a mild aesthetic affect and semi
scent
o Diabetes (control blood sugar levels) and antiviral properties
- Ancient spice trade routes
o The land route was called the “Incense Road”
o Camel caravans carried spices from Somalia & Ethiopia and spices
from India and beyond to the Mediterranean ports of Gaza and
Alexandria.
o Greek geographer Strabo (ca. 64 BC-23 AD): Incense road looked like
“an army in transit”.
o Pliny the Elder (Roman natural philosopher): described 65 stages,
each a suitable halt for camels.
o The desire for incense & spice had a significant impact on the early
history of world exploration, colonization and trade
o Had to explore and find these suitable routes
o So this meant that all these civilizations were able to mingle with each
other and so a lot of spices and scientific knowledge was exchanged
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