Mustard has been cultivated for more than 4,000 years. The seeds of the mustard plant (Brassica nigra) were used as a spice in ancient Egypt, and a few seeds have been found in the pyramids at Saqqara.
Mustard seeds are mentioned in the Bible, and both Pliny and Dioscorides wrote about their medicinal properties. In India they were used to flavor food and treat coughs, colds and sore throats.
When the Crusaders returned to Europe from the Middle East they brought with them a taste for Oriental spices. Mustard became popular as a table condiment, and with its pungent flavor it gradually replaced horseradish as a spicy accompaniment to meats.
The Romans had used mustard medicinally, but during the Renaissance it was prescribed as a cure for many maladies such as rheumatism, gout and arthritis. Mustard plasters were applied to bruises and injuries.
Pharmacists made medicines from mustard powder, oil of mustard or syrup of mustard containing an assortment of other herbs and spices.
The tiny mustard seed that the Bible says grew into a plant, and birds came and nested in its branches, is the first example of a lie that became true. The mustard plant does indeed grow by as much as a foot per day.
It also has an interesting chemistry. When you bite into a piece of hot dog, what makes it taste like hot dog? There’s some kind of compound that gives all mustard plants their pungency, called allyl isothiocyanate (or AITC for short). Allyl isothiocyanate is the thing that makes your eyes water when you cut yourself. It’s what makes onions and horseradish hot. But it’s not the only such compound in mustard plants; there are many others. The other compounds give different flavors to different kinds of mustard: French mustard tends to be sharper than German or English.
The one that gets the most use is black pepper. It’s been used for so long as a spice, seasoning and medicine that it’s hard to believe that it’s not native to India, where the first Europeans to trade for it thought it was produced. Though it is produced elsewhere in Asia and in Africa, India has remained its largest producer, exporter and consumer.
One of the most important things about black pepper is not where it comes from but how people use it. Because the outer fruit of the plant can be picked before the inside flesh is fully ripened, a single plant can be harvested several times a year. The berries are dried to make peppercorns, which are ground into powder or left whole as a spice. Being so perishable, fresh pepper is rare and expensive.
Black pepper remains an important crop throughout Asia as well as parts of Africa, but on a per capita basis India remains by far the largest consumer. In parts of southern India, especially Kerala and Karnataka, black pepper is in daily use in three forms: whole berries in soups and stews; ground powder as a topping for vegetables; and pickled peppercorns as a condiment with meals. Black pepper is also an ingredient in garam masala, a
The Greeks and Romans used some spices, but not many. Black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves were rare and expensive. (They mostly got their flavor from herbs.) Spices were mainly used in medicine. Hippocrates recommended a mixture of pepper, ginger, cumin, coriander, and celery seeds to treat eye diseases; pepper was also thought to cure stomach ailments. Galen prescribed pepper for colds and coughs and liver disorders.
The Romans apparently liked the taste of ginger in wine; the historian Pliny notes that it “charms the palate.”
The most common spice in the world is black pepper. The second most common spice in the world is red pepper. The third most common spice in the world is Sichuan peppercorn. Then there’s vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and turmeric.
A single clove of garlic contains a hundred flavor compounds. A cup of coffee has over 800 flavor compounds. A cup of water has fewer than ten flavor compounds.
The flavor of any particular food depends on which molecules survive the trip through your taste buds and make it to your olfactory bulb. And that depends on how big they are: big molecules don’t get very far, because they can’t fit between the taste bud cells; small molecules can get everywhere.
How big are spices? Spices are packed with tiny molecules that give them their characteristic flavors. That’s why they overpower other flavors and become so dominant once they’re on your tongue. It’s why a pinch of saffron can turn a whole pot of rice yellow.
The spice trade was dangerous, and the Portuguese were not the only ones to lose ships. The Dutch lost a ship in 1628 on an island off the coast of Sumatra. They built a fort and remained there for two years but had to leave due to illness and conflict with the locals.
The Dutch returned in 1637 with reinforcements from Batavia (present day Jakarta) to establish a pepper-trading post. Fort Victoria was built on nearby Sebesi Island, just off the mainland of Bengkulu province. It was established in 1653 as a trade post of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The fort, renamed Fort Willem III of Orange, became the center of Dutch control over South Sumatra and the Malacca Straits. The fort was restored twice after being destroyed by earthquakes in 1761 and 1833.[2] The Willem III Tower was built in 1880 as part of the restoration effort, using material from other demolished Dutch forts in Sumatra; it is now a national monument.[3]
Over time Fort Willem III became more important as more importance was placed on Malacca Strait. In the late 18th century, it became capital of Dutch possessions on Sumatra until November 1912, when it was moved to Ben
