Comments on: What I’m Reading: Spice: The History of A Temptation

By: 7 Great Grocery Store Healthy Foods | Zen to Fitness

7 Great Grocery Store Healthy Foods | Zen to Fitness — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:39:29 +0000

[...] These should be an essential, load up on things like Cinnamon, andÂ HerbsÂ de Provence. There are so many different one’s you can always find something different and experiment with your cooking. On top of this spices all have different effects on your body with a range of health benefits, Cinnamon has a great effect on controlling blood sugar levels and coriander flushes toxic heavy metals from your body. Check out the Modern Forager’s post on Spices here….. [...]

By: Greg Davis

Greg Davis — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:32:23 +0000

Re: saffron, yeah thats pretty widely cited these days. Note the book was written largely from a European (British) perspective.. and saffron was actually cultivated relatively close to home in the middle ages (late, actually in England) so I don’t think it was a particularly expensive or highly sought after spice.

By: MikeB

MikeB — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:47:52 +0000

Greg,

Nice job on the book review.

Interesting, we were just having dinner with my in-laws last night and were talking about spices, particularly saffron. My mother-in-law is somewhat of a spice aficionado and collects different spices from the countries that she and my father-in-law visits then cooks with them and compares. This book would be right up her alley. We were eating a dish flavored with saffron and the discussion led to the fact that saffron is the most expensive thing per ounce in the world. Not sure about the factuality of that statement.

And yeah, when I’m asked why I rarely get sick, I attribute it to good old Peasant blood.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:51:22 +0000

Great book review, Scott. The spice book would be a great condiment to the book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (the paperback is a great travel book – small & packable (lightweight & flexible for stuffing anywhere), and “heavy” enough on content to be fascinating, but “light” enough to pick up and put down at will.

By: Scott Kustes

Scott Kustes — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:27:24 +0000

Joe, this is Greg’s book review. Looks like a good book, though my book list is too long as well. I’ll probably never get to this one.

MDA Kid, good call on the diamonds. I’d rather have the spices. Well, it would be nice to have the diamonds to sell and then buy spices and food.

Cheers
Scott

By: MDA Kid

MDA Kid — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:55:40 +0000

Wow, can’t wait to read this book. I’ve been fascinated with spice history since I read the Magellan bio “Over the Edge of the World.” It is incredible how the little $5 jars of spice we scoop up at the grocery store used to be more valuable than diamonds. Heck, in my opinion they still are more valuable than diamonds. Diamonds only give you a false sense of wealth while spices make your meals tasty!

By: Joe Matasic

Joe Matasic — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:48:07 +0000

Another great review Scott. Book sounds interesting. Doubt I’ll read it though as my reading list is long and my reading time is short. I’ve got to find more time for reading.

Joe