Test tasks.
1. Henry the Navigator was a prince of which country?
a) Spain
b) Portugal
c) France
d) Germany
2. Henry the Navigator is famous for
a) made several long sea voyages in the Atlantic Ocean
b) founded the first nautical school in Europe
c) crossed the Mediterranean Sea and opened the sea route to Africa
d) discovered Greenland
3. Bartolomeu Dias first
a) reached India
b) from Europeans circled Africa
c) reached the coast of Africa
d) circumnavigated the world
4. In what year did Vasco da Gama reach the shores of India?
b) 1498
5. How many times did Vasco da Gama visit India?
at three o'clok
d) four
6. Which of the three proposed statements is correct?
a) Vasco da Gama was the first European to circumnavigate Africa and take his ships to the Indian Ocean.
b) India was considered richest country medieval world.
c) The era of the great geographical discoveries lasted from the end of the 15th century to the first half of XVII century.
Thematic workshop.
Read the text and answer the questions.
In Europe, goods from the East were highly valued: spices (cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg), pearls, fabrics, ivory, etc. They were brought from India. TO mediterranean sea they were delivered by Arab merchants.
But in the XIII century, on the way to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the state of the Mamluks arose, and in the XIV century in Asia Minor - Ottoman Empire. These states imposed heavy taxes on caravans for transporting goods, and often simply robbed them.
The influx of goods from the East became less and less. Their prices in Western Europe have increased hundreds of times. Trade routes along the southern Russian steppes, bypassing the Caspian Sea, through Central and Central Asia required a lot of time, were expensive and were far from safe.
A convenient sea route from Europe to the countries of the East was needed. The search for profitable sea routes to the East in the 15th century was started by Portugal. Along the way, sailors discovered the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands and the island of Madeira. These lands became their base for distant voyages. In 1445, the Portuguese reached the westernmost point of Africa - Cape Verde, opened the mouths of the Senegal and Gambia rivers. Before that, none of the Europeans had ever been here.
Portuguese navigators found that the further south, the more the coast of Africa deviates to the east. Maybe the mainland ends somewhere and is washed by the sea from the south? Then it would be possible to go around the land, get into the Indian Ocean, and go by ship to India and China and from there bring spices and other valuable goods to Europe by sea! The thought was breathtaking.
1. What spices were brought to Europe from India?
Cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg.
2. Name the sea, bay and peninsula that had to be crossed on the way from India to Europe.
Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Hindustan Peninsula.
3. Why was a sea route to India needed?
Christopher Columbus wanted to open a new and short route to India.
4. Who organized the voyages of Portuguese sailors to the coast of Africa?
First voyage - Bartolomeu Dias.
The next one is Vasco Da Gam.
5. Name the navigator who was the first to circumnavigate Africa.
Bartolomeu Dias.
Cartographic workshop.
Follow the map of the navigation of Vasco da Gama and name the geographical objects through which he passed.
1. Iberian Peninsula
2. Canary Islands
3. Cape Verde Islands
4. Gulf of Guinea
5. vpd.Livingston
6. Mozambique Strait
7. Somali peninsula
It often seems to us that much that is accessible and ordinary in our modern life it's always been like that. But this is far from true. For example, everyone in the kitchen has black or red pepper, other fragrant spices. We can go to the store or to the market, and if we wish, we can buy inexpensively at least a kilogram of various spices. But how many people understand that this was not always the case? That in medieval Western Europe the owner of a kilogram of black peppercorns was the owner of a fortune?
In the 10th century, Byzantium was the main supplier of spices to Europe. was the world's trading center for this valuable resource. It was there that Arab merchants brought outlandish and exotic goods: black pepper, saffron, zest, orange and much more. From the capital of Byzantium, spices came to France, England, the Holy Roman Empire. Another gateway through which they got to Europe was the Iberian Peninsula, where East and West not only fought, but also traded. The Arabs strictly kept secret all information related to profitable trade. The places of purchase of spices, the routes of the caravan routes were kept under great secrecy.
The well-established business came to an end when, in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks defeated the Arab states and captured Baghdad and Asia Minor. The flow of spices to Europe stopped. Here it is necessary to explain why this product was important for the people of the Middle Ages. What role did he play in the life and even culture of the ruling classes of Western Europe? First of all, spices were used as seasoning. In those days, food was often monotonous and coarse, and the use of spices greatly improved its taste. An important factor was the use of spices as preservatives, because then there were no refrigerators, and perishable products had to be stored somehow. Spices were used to improve the taste
alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks - it was believed that they disinfect the water.
Do not forget about their great cult significance. They were an invariable ingredient in fragrant oils used in church ceremonies. If we add to this the widespread use of spices as the most effective medicines at that time, it becomes clear why the problem of supplying them was considered in the Middle Ages as very topical. Trade in them in that period in terms of profitability can be compared with the trade in oil in modern world. It is not surprising that the struggle for access to such a valuable resource has become one of the causes of global conflicts. In particular, the First Crusade had as its goal not only the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher, but also the expulsion of the Seljuk Turks from the caravan routes, along which priceless pepper and cinnamon came to Europe. The Crusades increased the range of oriental spices available to Westerners. In the 13th century, three Italian cities became monopolists in the spice trade - Venice, Genoa and Pisa.
Monopolization led to the fact that the price of expensive overseas drugs became available only to the richest merchants and the highest nobility. It is to this period that the origin of the French proverb dates:"Dear as pepper", since pepper was valued at that time literally worth its weight in gold, or even higher. Per pound of nutmeg, for example, gave three - four sheep or a cow(in modern equivalent, the price of a car). During that period, spices often replaced gold in various payments. For example, the Genoese in the 12th century they paid salaries to hired soldiers- participants in the attack on Caesarea 48 solidi(gold coins) and 2 pounds of pepper. An attempt to counterfeit such a valuable product was severely punished. In France, this entailed the confiscation of all property. In Germany, a fraudster was buried alive with all the goods.
At the end of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire captured the trade routes of the East. Again, Western Europe was left without the spices it needed so much. This prompted the Europeans to new geographical explorations and, as a result, was the reason for the implementation of the great geographical discoveries. Spanish and Portuguese sailors were looking for a sea route and mysterious and distant India, not so much from the desire to extract gold, but to capture precious saffron and nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon. In 1408 the Portuguese asco da gama for the first time, bypassing intermediaries in trade, brought pepper on their ships, cloves , cinnamon and ginger . Cargo from fairy lands amounted to 2000 tons of spices. This caused an unprecedented sensation in the trading(and not only in trading) circles in Europe. To roughly imagine the value of this booty, we can give an example of the expedition of another Portuguese - Ferdinand Magellan. Of the five ships of his expedition, only one returned, but the cargo of spices on it was enough to fully pay for the enterprise. The organizers even made a profit. Commercial companies, seized in different countries take over trade with the colonies, made money fabulous profits on the sale of spices- their profit reached 2000- 2500 percent. The monopoly did not make overseas spices cheaper and more accessible. They still remained the privilege of the ruling classes. There is a story about how one of the richest people in Europe of the 16th century, the banker Jakob Fugger, at a reception with Emperor Charles V, burned the monarch's IOU with a bunch of burning spices. It is not known what was more expensive, a receipt for several thousand florins or a bunch of precious herbs.
The gigantic profits that could be made from the trade in pepper, saffron and cinnamon stoked the insatiable greed of the European colonialists. And woe was to those who were not lucky enough to be born in the lands where spices grew. It must be understood that the high cost of this commodity in Europe caused the most cruel exploitation of the colonial peoples. The Portuguese, having captured the Moluccas archipelago, localized the production of cloves and nutmeg on two islands. Residents of other islands were strictly forbidden to breed these crops. 60 thousand nutmeg and clove trees were cut down. The punitive detachments strictly watched so that the natives did not dare to grow new ones. For failure to comply with the order, the villages were burned, and their population was mercilessly exterminated. Dutch, capturing Ceylon in 1656, introduced a cinnamon tax for the local population: every man, starting from 12 years old , was required to submit annually 28 kg of cinnamon. This quota has since been raised several times., until it reaches a monstrous size- 303 kilograms. For failure to comply with the norm, the natives cut off their hands. Not better led themselves in their possessions the British, French and Spaniards. Stocks of spices were often burned to maintain high market prices. In 1676, 4,000 tons of nutmeg and cinnamon were burned in Amsterdam. The result of the overwork of many people was destroyed for the sake of super profits. So the story of Europeans chasing overseas spices is a story of colonial robbery.
TO late XVIII century, the price of spices falls - they become available to ordinary Europeans. The development of sea trade routes and the destruction of the monopoly on the spice trade affected. And now everyone can have in their kitchen a set of seasonings that a duke or count could previously afford.
Pepper
Pepper is a spice - the dried fruits of the most different plants having a sharp, rich spicy aroma and taste. Plants are usually small to medium sized shrubs and vines.
They bloom in small flowers, tightly collected in inflorescences-brushes, shaped like bunches of grapes. After flowering they bear fruit - in each inflorescence there are 30-50 small (2-5 mm) spherical fruits covered with a layer of pulp. The fruits are harvested and dried, sometimes ground. By processing them, black, white, pink, green peppers are obtained. Pepper is grown commercially in many regions of the world. Almost all varieties of pepper are cultivated in tropical and subtropical zones. These are heat-loving plants that need an abundance of sunlight.
The spice is widely used in cooking and folk, especially oriental medicine.
Pepper, description of the spice, the history of its appearance.
pepper types,
cultivated varieties. Black pepper. Long Pepper. Allspice. Brazilian or pink pepper. Pepper Kububa. Red pepper.
Conclusion.Pepper(Latin name - Piper) is the collective name for dried and sometimes ground fruits of plants belonging to five main species:
Pepper (more than 700 species), this includes long pepper and black pepper.
Solanaceae, genus Capsicum, Capsicum, to which paprika and red pepper belong.
Myrtle, Jamaican pepper or Allspice.
Sumac, (Peruvian and Brazilian peppers).
Buckwheat - Water pepper, or Knotweed pepper.Thus, 9 varieties of hot pepper are most common. Pepper is currently one of the most widely used spices in all cuisines of the world.
Pepper has an ancient and interesting story. The history of pepper as a spice began, according to archaeological finds, more than 4,000 years ago - around the same time people began to use salt in cooking.
The homeland of pepper is considered to be Central America. However, archaeologists have found evidence of eating pepper in India about 3,000 years ago. Around the same time, there are references to black pepper in Indian literature. Peppers have been used in cooking and medicine in China for over 2,000 years. The benefits of pepper were known to oriental doctors, for example, in Chinese medicine already at that time it was used as a powerful digestive stimulant.
The plants from which the spice is obtained are distributed throughout the tropical zone, so it is not surprising that in different regions there were plants with the same properties: black pepper is black in India, red - in America. A hot, humid climate is necessary for the ripening of both black and red pepper, because of this, for many centuries this spice was exported to Europe from America and India, Indonesia, Malaysia and a number of other Asian countries.
For the first time, pepper was brought to Europe by Alexander the Great from a campaign in India. Pepper in medieval Europe was sometimes more expensive than gold. It was used in mutual settlements as a means of payment. The way for the spice to Europe was opened by Columbus, who discovered red pepper in the America he discovered - "the burning rose of the East". And in 1497, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India, this country of pepper. About 50 tons of spices were brought from the expedition, which, after the sale, fully paid off all the costs of the trip and brought a big profit.
In antiquity and in the Middle Ages, pepper was a symbol of wealth. After the spice appeared in Spain, in the middle of the 16th century, the Spaniards began to cultivate red capsicum on their plantations. Pepper began to be grown in the southern regions of Italy, and then in some other European countries. Most of all, this spice was loved by the Hungarians, more precisely paprika pepper. In this country, 7 varieties of pepper (paprika) are grown.
Over 600 years, a large number of varieties of red pepper have been bred. They differ in shape, aroma, pungency, flavors. There is even a red Bell pepper"- paprika with minimal pungency and sweetish taste. But only hot types of red pepper are used as spices.
The most common varieties of pepper currently commercially cultivated in India, South America, USA, Cuba, Indonesia and several other countries. In total, about a thousand species fall under the definition, and the spice is obtained from no more than a dozen plants.
Thus, the most popular black pepper in cuisines around the world is obtained from plants of the Piper nigrum species, which are tree-like vines. Liana grows in regions with tropical, humid climate. The plant is demanding on sunlight.
... a black pepper plantation in southern India that produces the highest quality spice in the world.
V most black pepper is cultivated in India. This country is the birthplace of the plant, more precisely the southwestern regions of India, formerly called Malihabar.
Translated from Indian, Malihabar means "country of pepper." In India, black pepper is called "Malabar berry".
Liana reaches a height of 6-8 meters. The leaves are leathery, large, oval. It blooms with small white or yellow flowers, collected in spike-shaped inflorescences up to 15 centimeters long. After the flowering period, up to 50 round peas appear - fruits with a thin gray skin. Liana grows rapidly, for 4 years after planting begins to bear fruit. From an adult plant, up to 2 kilograms of fruits are harvested per season. The maximum yield is brought by 7-10 year old vines. The life of the plant is more than 20 years.
... creepers bloom with small, often white flowers, collected in spike-shaped inflorescences of 30-50 flowers each.
What is the best pepper? The best hot pepper in the world in terms of quality and consumer properties is Indian black pepper, in particular its varieties Malabar and telesheri.
Black pepper is also grown in Indonesia and several other countries. South-East Asia. From India, black pepper came to Africa and America, where it is also grown in some regions with similar climatic conditions to Indian ones. This spice is also grown and exported to Sri Lanka, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and Brazil.
The first mention of pepper is found in Indian sources more than 3500 years old. Numerous Indian treatises describe and use black pepper in medicine.
The sharpness, spicy taste of pepper creates a group of chemicals that make up its composition, in particular the piperine alkaloid and essential oils.
long pepper - fruits of a number of plants of the species Piper longum
Long pepper is the fruit of a number of plants of the species Piper longum - a climbing evergreen shrub - vines from the pepper family. This genus includes over 700 plants. The liana reaches a height of 8 meters, the leaves are oblong without petioles, light green in color. It blooms with small white flowers, collected in large spike-shaped inflorescences. After flowering, it bears fruit with round green peas. Fruits after drying and processing become black or dark brown. The inflorescences of the plant grow together with each other, giving the plant an unusual appearance.
Liana grows in humid, tropical climates. The plant is demanding on sunlight and develops well only on fertile soil.
The long pepper is native to India. In India and Indonesia, as well as in some other regions of the tropical and subtropical belts, it is currently cultivated on an industrial scale.
Long pepper is popular in oriental cooking, especially Indian. It was this pepper that was first recognized by Europeans; it was brought from India to Europe by Arab merchants in the 14th century AD. Historically, long pepper came to Europe much earlier than black, it served as a weight standard and a means of calculation.
The spice is included in the recipes of many Indian dishes, it is also added to a mixture of spices (included in the world-famous spicy Kari mixture) and spices. Long pepper is popular in some areas North Africa, where in the 8th-10th c. it was introduced by Arab merchants. But in Europe, at present, this spice is used quite rarely, despite the fact that during the time of the Roman Empire, long pepper was more common than black and was valued three times more expensive.
In ancient medicine, long pepper was used for medicinal purposes, primarily because of its excellent antiseptic action. Especially often ancient doctors used long pepper to treat disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.
The taste of this spice is more pungent than black and slightly sweeter. Intense spicy aroma.
... paprika cultivated in Europe has a completely different taste compared to paprika from South America - it is much less hot and spicy.
paprika pepper and capsicum, are no less popular in cooking. They belong to the genus Capsicum, family Solanaceae.
Paprika is a perennial, low shrub with erect stems and fruit that is used as a spice.
Paprika is native to South America, where it was grown and used in cooking and medicine long before the arrival of Columbus. Paprika also grows in temperate climates - in the southern regions of Russia, in Ukraine and Moldova, in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, but as an annual plant. Paprika is also grown in Turkey, the USA, Hungary and a number of other countries.
After paprika was brought from South America to Europe, the plant began to be cultivated in many European countries. The spice quickly gained popularity on European cuisine. However, over time, due to climatic conditions In the early 19th century, pepper began to lose its pungent taste - in European paprika there is much less essential oils, as well as the piperine alkaloid, which mainly create the taste of pepper and its aroma.
Today, many varieties of paprika are cultivated with different palatability, for example, seven types of paprika are grown in Hungary. Ornamental peppers grown at home are some varieties of paprika.
...Pimenta officinalis, belongs to the Myrtle family, the immature dried fruits of this tree are called allspice.
Allspice, or Jamaican pepper is the dried fruit of the Pimenta officinalis plant (lat. Pimenta officinalis). This plant belongs to the Myrtaceae family.
Pimenta officinalis, the dried unripe fruits of which are a spice, is an evergreen tree reaching a height of 20 m. The tree lives 30-40 years, begins to bear fruit 6-7 years after planting. Up to 30 kilograms of spices are collected from an adult tree. It grows in a humid tropical climate, on fertile calcareous soil. The leaves are oval, large, the flowers are small, white, collected in racemose inflorescences.
After flowering, it bears fruit with peas - berries with a diameter of up to 5 mm. blue-green color. The fruits contain about 4% essential oil, which creates the aroma and taste of spices. In order to obtain spices, unripe fruits of the plant are harvested, in which the content of essential oil is maximum. They are dried in the sun for 10 days, cleaned, peeled off. In the process of drying, the fruits change color to brown, the surface becomes rough, they lose up to 30% of their mass.
Pepper fruit.
Pimenta officinalis is native to South America. The spice was discovered for Europeans by Columbus. There are many varieties and types of allspice, depending on the variety of the plant and the region where it is grown.
In the 17th century, allspice came to Europe and immediately won recognition. During this period, more than 1000 tons of spices were imported annually. The British even began to call it a universal seasoning.
were open and medicinal properties pepper, especially its antiseptic action.
The spicy, sharp, pronounced aroma of this pepper is reminiscent of the aroma of cloves and cinnamon. The taste of pepper is burning, burning.
The main exporter of this spice is Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, in a smaller amount - India, Thailand, Vietnam. Jamaican allspice is considered the highest quality..
Brazilian pepper. Pink pepper.... Brazilian or pink pepper is widely cultivated in the USA, China, South America, Australia.
Pink pepper or Brazilian pepper is used as a spice dried fruits of several tree species (Shinus pistachios) from the Sumac family (lat. Schinus terebinthifolius).
Unlike black and long peppers, the taste is sweetish, spicy, moderately spicy, reminiscent of ginger, with mild notes of anise, raisins, and juniper.
The pepper tree reaches a height of 10 meters, lives up to 50 years, grows in a humid tropical and subtropical climate. Loves the sun. It has a dense crown, with vertically growing branches. The leaves are large, up to 20 cm long, oval, oblong, 6 cm long and 2 cm wide. It blooms with small white flowers collected in large inflorescences - panicles. After flowering, it bears fruit in round pea fruits with a diameter of up to 5 mm. The fruits hang in clusters up to several hundred each.
The homeland of pink pepper is Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay - the countries of South and Central America. Widely cultivated in the southern United States, Australia, China, South Africa.
Water pepper - Polygonum hydropiper, is a herbaceous annual plant belonging to the Buckwheat family. The height of erect stems is up to 70 centimeters. The stem is green, hollow inside, branched. The leaves are oval, oblong, lanceolate, petiolate, about 6 cm long and up to 2 cm wide. The leaves are leathery, with small villi on the underside.
The plant blooms with small, pink flowers with a greenish tinge, collected in spike-shaped inflorescences - brushes up to 10 centimeters long. After flowering, it bears fruit with ovoid fruits, up to 4 mm in diameter, black in color, with a rough surface. The fruits of the plant have a burning spicy taste, which practically disappears when dried.
Water pepper loves fertile soil and abundant moisture - it grows along the banks of lakes, rivers, swamps, damp meadows. The aerial part, flowers and fruits contain up to 1% essential oil, which mainly creates the taste and aroma of the spice.
The most aromatic and pungent of all peppers is the cubeb pepper.
Cubeba pepper, the Latin name Piper Cubeba L., or Javanese pepper is the fruit - the berries of the creeper, whose homeland is Indonesia, more precisely - the islands of Java and Sumatra. Liana reaches 6 meters in height, the leaves are large, oblong, dark green. The flowers are small, white or gray-white, collected in long, up to 10 centimeters inflorescences - panicles.
Cubeba pepper is larger than black pepper, the fruits reach 6 millimeters in diameter. The color of the fruit is dark green, with a gray tint. In the process of drying, it changes to gray-brown. The fruits of this plant are harvested unripe. At this point, they contain the maximum amount of essential oils that give the taste and aroma of the spice. The surface of the fruit is wrinkled, rough. The fruit is hollow inside, contains a black seed.
The taste of quality cubeb peppers is sharp, spicy, rich, burning, slightly cooling. The smell is spicy, camphor.
This type of pepper is much more pungent than black pepper, it is put into dishes in small quantities, in proportions of 1 to 5 in relation to black pepper. Cubeba is probably the most aromatic of all peppers.
It is interesting! What is the hottest pepper? In 2012, this honorary title was awarded to the Trinidad Scorpion Moruga Blend capsicum variety, which has a heat rating of 1.2 million on the Scoville scale. The researchers who worked with this plant and its fruits worked in gas masks and protective rubber gloves.
Cubeba is less common in cooking than black pepper and paprika. It is used mainly in oriental cooking - Chinese, Indian, less often - European. Cubeba is widely used in Malay cuisine. This spice is mainly seasoned with rice and seafood dishes.
This type of pepper has been used in folk medicine since ancient times, especially in the east. They treated a large number of diseases. This pepper has pronounced antiseptic properties. The use of this type of pepper well tones the human body.
... red pepper - one of the hottest - a guest from Central America.
Red pepper or chili pepper is a spice with a burning taste and a rich, strong spicy aroma, which is the dried fruit of the Capsicum frutescens shrub. It is noteworthy that the second name of this pepper comes from the Aztec "chilli" in translation meaning "red".
The plant grows in a humid tropical climate, originally from Central America. It is a semi-shrub with a height of 40 - 60 centimeters. The stems are strongly branched, the leaves are oblong, dark green in color. The plant blooms in white or gray large flowers. After flowering, it bears fruit with berries - spherical fruits of red, yellow or dark brown colors. The fruits are harvested, cleaned and dried. In the process of drying, the fruits acquire a more saturated color and wrinkle, lose in volume and weight. After drying, the calyx is removed and the fruit is crushed.
Sometimes the fruits are harvested unripe, they produce green peppers . The sharpness and taste of green pepper is much less than that of red.
Quite often in cooking, red pepper is used fresh. Pepper pods are added to marinades when canning food. The hotness of red pepper is given by several chemicals that make up its composition, the main ones are the phenolic compounds of capsaicin. In high concentrations, these substances can cause skin burns.
Red pepper is rich in vitamins, mainly C, A, B. It contains a lot of iron and potassium. Essential oils are present, in a volume of up to 2%.
Ornamental red peppers are grown at home, and some varieties of peppers are not inferior in pungency to those grown in natural conditions. Red pepper is widely used in cooking in mixtures of spices and separately, as well as in medicine.
... cooked peppers are black, white, green peas.
Cooking pepper includes several stages. First of all, for the preparation of spices, as a rule, unripe fruits are harvested. In them maximum amount essential oils, and chemicals that create the taste and aroma of spices.
After collecting them, they are scalded with boiling water, cleaned. The peppers are then dried in the sun or in dryers for one to two weeks.
In the process of drying, the fruits change color to brown, the shell darkens, shrinks, becomes wrinkled, and at the end of the process becomes black. Fruits dried in this way are called peppercorns.
After drying, the peas are packed in sealed containers. Sometimes the pepper is ground before packing. Packaged pepper goes to retail chains.
Should know! When buying spices, you should pay attention to the date of production - it should not be more than 6-8 months and the country of origin. During the year, even well-packed peppers lose up to 30% of their consumer properties due to the evaporation of essential oils. Based on this, it is best to buy packaged peppers where they are grown.
A well-cooked spice contains a large amount of essential oil - more than 4% by weight of the fruit. The smell of spices is pronounced, fragrant, spicy. Spicy taste is pungent.
In retail sales, pepper is sold mainly in the form of peas; ground pepper is less common. Ground pepper loses its consumer properties faster, so it is preferable to buy peppercorns.
Hot dishes, sauces, meat and fish dishes, marinades are seasoned with fruits. Before serving, the fruits are removed from the dish. Pepper gives the product aroma and sharp, spicy taste.
Possessing excellent preservative properties, the spice increases the shelf life and storage of foods and dishes. It goes well when cooking with fried meat, poultry, game.
Pepper is practically insoluble in water. Only confectionery dough (cookies, gingerbread, muffins) is seasoned with ground pepper. Cooking pepper in accordance with the standards guarantees its quality and long-term preservation of consumer properties.
... the properties of pepper make it possible to use it not only in cooking but also in the treatment of many diseases.
The properties of pepper are due to the chemicals that make up its composition. The composition of hot peppers includes essential oils, vitamins of groups C, B, phosphorus, calcium, iron, resins, tannins.
Peppers are pungent with the alkaloid piperine., found in the greatest amount in pepper seeds.
This substance accelerates metabolic processes in the human body, perfectly tones and strengthens the immune system.
Modern medicine highlights the following pronounced medicinal properties of pepper:
Antiseptic.
Vasodilator.
Stimulating the immune system.
Tonic and firming.
Painkiller.The use of pepper in medicine has ancient history. ethnoscience, especially eastern - Indian and Chinese have used pepper for medicinal purposes since ancient times.
Oriental doctors knew benefits of pepper, which was used to treat a number of diseases. So, pepper was used for bronchitis and inflammation of the respiratory tract, they caused sputum rejection. It was used to stimulate digestion. Used its carminative property.
Modern doctors use pepper for atherosclerosis, as its use thins the blood, relieves spasms of blood vessels.
Pepper is used as a local pain reliever. It is used to detoxify the body, as it helps to remove harmful substances from the body, has a strong diuretic effect.
Externally, pepper is used in the form of ointments, patches for arthritis, rheumatism, polyarthritis, respiratory catarrh, gout. Everyone knows the pepper patch, which irritates the skin and improves local blood circulation. Pepper ointments are used for mild frostbite.
Neurologists prescribe this spice for neurosis and stress, due to the fact that the spice improves blood circulation, it is an effective antidepressant.
Pepper is used as a way to burn fat - the alkaloid substance capsaicin, which we talked about above, increases the energy consumption of the human body, stimulating the metabolism in the body. Therefore, it is rare to find fat people eating a lot of hot peppers.
The properties of pepper help people cope with a large number of ailments, but be careful when using it - pepper has a burning effect on the mucous membrane of the stomach and esophagus.
Pepper is used as a spice in cooking, as well as in cosmetology.
In cosmetology Pepper is widely used in various tonic, corrective and regenerating preparations and products for skin, hair, nails, and oral cavity care.
Since hot pepper improves blood microcirculation in the vessels, warming the skin, it is used for various cosmetic procedures.
For example, pepper for hair is used for hair damage, poor growth, insufficient density, brittleness. Pepper for hair is an excellent hair follicle stimulator. Under its influence, they restore their work and inactive hair follicles, as a result, the hair becomes thicker. The benefits of pepper manifest themselves, in this case, in the form of exposure to the chemical substance capsaicin (8-methyl-6-nonenoic acid vanillamide), an alkaloid that is part of it, on the hair.
Pepper is included in a number of oral care products, in the composition of toothpastes. It reduces gum bleeding.
Pepper is used in the form of masks, ointments. Pepper ointment promotes hair growth, as it receives more nutrients.
In cooking hot dishes, snacks, soups, salads, main courses, meat, poultry, fish, sausages, marinades are seasoned with pepper.
Much more pepper is used in Asian cuisine than in European cuisine, this is largely due to the hot climate and the antibacterial property of pepper. The spicy taste and aroma of spices sometimes completely replaces the taste and aroma of the dish, more often it emphasizes its best taste features.
Pepper spice contains up to 4% essential oils, which mainly create the taste and aroma of the spice. Ground pepper has the most flavor.
When laying pepper in dishes, take into account the low resistance of the spice to high temperatures. It is recommended to lay the spice 10-15 minutes before the dish is ready. In soups and first courses, pepper, as a rule, is laid whole pepper, in the form of peas, since ground pepper does not tolerate high temperatures.
peppercorns when heated, they do not lose their aromatic and taste properties longer than ground pepper. Also, ground pepper is rarely used due to the fact that it practically does not dissolve in the dish.
Store ground pepper and peppercorns in hermetically sealed jars, bags, since the essential oils of the spice evaporate quickly, and the spice loses its properties.
Pepper is a good preservative, which, along with its excellent aroma and spicy taste, makes it an excellent ingredient in various marinades and preservatives. In canned dishes, pepper is also added in the form of peas. And semi-finished meat products (into sausages), cheeses are seasoned with ground pepper.
Conclusion.Pepper is the most common spice in cuisines around the world. About 15 varieties of hot, hot peppers are considered spices.
It grows mainly in tropical climates in Central America, India, and Southeast Asia.
In cooking, especially oriental spice is used very widely to add flavor and aroma to a large number of dishes. Pepper is a part of many mixtures and seasonings. Due to its good preservative properties, it is added to preservatives and marinades.
Pepper has medicinal properties and has been used by doctors since ancient times to treat a number of diseases. Pepper is also used in a number of modern medicines.
In cosmetology, pepper is used as a restorative and tonic agent.
Be healthy!
Many spices have been known since ancient times and were widely used for various purposes in India, China and Indonesia, from where they penetrated into Europe. Here they were a very expensive commodity, valued no less than gold. The desire of Europeans to find ways to the “gold-bearing” spice plantations of the East led to the fact that a new sea route was laid to the Indian Ocean, the New World and other unknown lands were discovered, and the first round-the-world trip was made.
For about 5,000 years, trade between East and West was carried out by the Arabs, who transported goods by camel caravans. This was quite dangerous as the spice caravans were often attacked.
The first spices that Europeans met were pepper and cinnamon, then their range increased significantly. Pepper, saffron and cinnamon were considered the most expensive.
Saffron
To obtain one kg of saffron, it is necessary to process about 200,000 flowers. This procedure is very laborious - stigmas are carefully plucked from each flower, which have a bright orange color, and then the collected material is dried.
Cinnamon
The Arabs did their best to hide the routes to their trading points, spreading, moreover, various tales about spicy plants teeming with snakes or guarded by giant birds. This was done so that no one would have a desire to go in search of these places.
In the middle of the XI century, Baghdad, the main Arab center of trade, was captured by the Turks.At the end of the 13th century, a merchant from Venice, Marco Polo, who traveled for 24 years in China and India, published his travel diary. In it, he destroyed the legends invented by the Arabs, and described the lands he encountered, in which a wide variety of spices freely grew in abundance.
Europe was gripped by "Indian fever"...
In the 14th century, the Pope forbade Catholics from trading with Muslims, and trade plummeted.
The inhabitants of Venice still managed to get permission from the pope to continue trading, justifying this by the fact that spices are necessary for the treatment of people. They bought some of the spices in the Ottoman Empire, and some they brought directly from India.
Using their exclusive right, the Venetians raised the price of spices even more. Due to this trade, Venice of those years flourished, becoming the richest city in Europe. Portugal and Spain could only envy her wealth.
In 1453, the Ottoman Empire blocked the main spice trade route, forcing Europeans to look for new sea routes to India.
Expedition of Christopher Columbus
In 1492, in the hope of sailing to the shores of East India, Christopher Columbus set off to the west from Europe.
"I do my best to get where I can find gold and spices' he wrote in his diary.
However, he was "unlucky", it turned out that he did not sail to India at all, but to some unknown continent. So the legendary Columbus discovered America. As a consolation, he brought some new spices that grew there - chili, allspice and vanilla.
Expedition of Vasco de Gama
In 1497, the expedition of Vasco de Gama set off from Portugal to the shores of India. They sailed in an unknown way, rounding the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa, but ended up in India. Having loaded there with valuable cargo - black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, ginger - the sailors returned home after 2 years, however, out of 170 of them only 44 survived, the rest died, mainly from scurvy. After 3 years, Vasco de Gama organized another grandiose expedition to India, which also ended successfully, this time they brought as many as 2000 tons of spices.
Expedition of Ferdinand Magellan
The Spaniards, trying to find a shorter route, equipped their expedition in 1522. The flotilla of Ferdinand Magellan, consisting of five ships, went to India. And although the captain himself was killed by the natives on the Philippine Islands he discovered, one of the ships of the flotilla managed to swim to the "land of spices", the Moluccas. After 3 years, the dilapidated sailboat returned home, bringing 24 tons of valuable cargo in its hold.
Having paved the way to India, the Portuguese and Spaniards began to seize control of spice plantations.
Meanwhile, real "spicy" intrigues were woven in Europe. So, the Spaniards, who were the first to learn about vanilla, did not tell anyone about it. They kept this secret from the British for three centuries.
But the British did not share Jamaican pepper with anyone.
Over time, it became more and more difficult to maintain a monopoly on the spice trade, and other European colonial countries joined the trade - Holland, England, France.
Carnation. Dried, unopened cloves are among the oldest known spices. Homeland - Indonesia. In China and India it was known long before our era. Most cultivated in Madagascar, Zanzibar, the Moluccas, India, Sri Lanka and Guinea. At times ancient rome cloves were valued even higher than gold. Came to Europe through Ceylon. The clove tree reaches a height of 10-20 m. It blooms twice a year. The flowers are white, with a purple calyx. Cloves are obtained from buds that are harvested when they begin to turn red. Dried in the sun or in dryers, while they become brown. The main component of cloves is essential oil. In dentistry, clove oil has been used as a good antiseptic. Cloves have a strong peculiar aroma and spicy pungent taste. It is used as a spice and medicine. It is used to prepare bitter stomach liqueurs, hot drinks with wine, punches and compotes, for dishes from red cabbage, pork, lamb, game, in dark meat sauces, when pickling herring, in mushrooms, in meat aspic. Together with onions and kohlrabi leaves, it improves the taste of sauerkraut.
Black pepper is the best known and most commonly used. His homeland is India. It is also described in Sanskrit. The plant is a climbing shrub up to 15 m tall. After the end of flowering, round fruits grow; at first they are green, then they turn yellow or red. Grown in Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra, Borneo and Brazil. Grows on tall rods like hops. Begins to bear fruit after three years. Harvested when the fruits begin to turn red, and dried in the sun. During the drying process, the fruits turn black. A good spice should be not only spicy, but also fragrant. The spiciness of pepper depends on the content of piperine. Black pepper aids in digestion. Used for soups, gravies, sauces, vegetable salads, marinades, all types of meat, game, beans, peas, lentils, cheeses, fish and vegetable preservation.
Cinnamon. It is obtained from the inner part of the Ceylon cinnamon bark. His homeland is Ceylon, Brazil, Java. It is cultivated in China, in Borneo, Sumatra, Mauritius, in almost the entire tropical region of Asia. About the use of cinnamon as early as 2800 BC. the book about the plants of Emperor Shen-Nung-Kwai testifies. Ceylon cinnamon reaches a height of 6–12 m. It is cultivated on moist soils. Cinnamon is prepared from the bark of young shoots of cinnamon, which has been growing for several years. After two years, the leaves are removed from them, cut into pieces 20 cm long, the bark is removed, dried in the sun and sorted. During the drying process, cinnamon acquires its yellow-brown color. The edges wrap inward, and so-called double tubes appear. Cinnamon promotes digestion, stimulates appetite and strengthens the stomach. It has a strong peculiar aroma, sharp, spicy sweetish taste. In our cuisine, it is used in all dishes where there is sugar: fruit soups, casseroles, compotes, kissels, puddings, pies, baked apples, liqueurs, grogs, punches, hot wine and sweets of all kinds. Also in poultry dishes. Many people like cinnamon in coffee.
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