Calliope articles from February 2006

Calliope archives from February 2006

The west and the spice trade: tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.(MUSINGS)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... EVER WONDER ABOUT THE CILANTRO IN YOUR SALAD OR THE CHILI PEPPERS ON YOUR PIZZA? How about the cinnamon sprinkled on that delicious cookie you just ate? Or, the nutmeg on your rice pudding? With an array of spices always sitting on our...

Economy of the spice trade.
February 1, 2006... Spices from Asia have been traded to other regions of the world for more than 3,000 years. Changes in politics, economy, and technology have affected both the patterns of trade and the patterns of wealth generated from the spice trade. By...

Why spices?
February 1, 2006... Spices and herbs are not just used for flavoring food. Some are medicinal. The oil of cloves is a strong antiseptic often used by dentists, and chamomile tea soothes an upset stomach. Many spices and herbs have natural chemicals that help...

Cinnamon.(FUN WITH WORDS)
February 1, 2006... True cinnamon, Cinnamomum zelyanicum, comes from evergreen trees native to the wet forests of western and southwestern Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is still the major producer of cinnamon, which is sold as "sticks" a few inches long. Twice a year,...

Spicy facts! Expand this "spicy" time line by adding more dates as you read through this issue.
February 1, 2006... Egyptian papyrus accounts list some 800 medicinal drugs. Among them are many herbs and spices, including anise, caraway, cassia, coriander, fennel, cardamom, onions, garlic, thyme, mustard, sesame, fenugreek, saffron, and poppy seed. c....

Pepper rides: the monsoon: for thousands of years, monsoons have brought torrential rains and gusty winds to Southeast Asia. The scene here is in India in the 21st century.
February 1, 2006... Black pepper, the most commonly used spice in the world today, was not so readily available in the distant past. For several hundred years, it was actually the most sought-after commodity in world trade. Like other rare spices, pepper is...

Traders east and west.(spice industry's international trade)
February 1, 2006... By the time the Roman Empire was breaking up in the A.D. 400s, western Europeans had become dependent on spices. Even the invading Germanic tribes quickly caught on to the custom of heaping pepper, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves on...

A new route to the spice islands.
February 1, 2006... In the dwindling years of the 15th century, Europeans had only a vague understanding of where coveted spices such as pepper and cinnamon originated. At the time, Muslims controlled the trade in spices, shipping them west from India to the port...

A spy at work.(spice trade)
February 1, 2006... When you sprinkle cinnamon on your oatmeal or put hot peppers on your pizza, you probably do not think about spies and pirates. Maybe you should. In the 16th century, Portugal had a monopoly on the Asian spice trade that other countries...

Make some spicy saffron yogurt.(ACTIVITY)
February 1, 2006... No spice is more sought after than saffron. It is valued for its taste, scent, and even its yellow color. Alexander the Great of Macedonia to the north of Greece dyed his hair with it; Hindu sages and Buddhist priests wear saffron-color robes...

Spicing tea.
February 1, 2006... The tea shrub, a member of the Camellia family, is one of the 365 plants described in Basic Herbs of Shen Nong, an ancient catalog that laid the groundwork for Chinese herbal medicine. Shen Nong, the mythical second Chinese emperor of the 28th...

Sri Lanka's cinnamon.
February 1, 2006... In 1505, the viceroy (governor) of Portugal's enterprises in Africa and Asia sent his son Lorenzo de Almeida to capture the Maldives. These are a chain of islands southwest of India's Malabar Coast. Somehow, the ships took a wrong turn. Instead...

Nutmeg takes Manhattan.
February 1, 2006... About 600 miles off the coast of Australia in the Banda Sea lies tiny, volcanic Run Island. In the 1600s, it was the most talked about island in the world. It held one of the world's greatest riches: not gold or silver or even diamonds, but...

Zanzibar: riches built on cloves.
February 1, 2006... For three centuries, European countries searched for the islands in Asia where the most desirable spices grew and then fought each other to control them. Tiny Zanzibar, just off the coast of East Africa, was generally overlooked. It had a good...

The wedding gift.(as spice boxes)
February 1, 2006... Among the cooking utensils women in India receive as wedding gifts from their parents is the spice box. Daughters treasure this gift and have it occupy a special place in their kitchens. Older women bequeath their spice boxes to their daughters...

The new world of spices.(FROM PAST TO PRESENT)
February 1, 2006... In 1492, Christopher Columbus was searching for a shortcut to the Spice Islands when he bumped into the islands of the Caribbean. He sent glowing reports back to Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, but in his log book he admitted...

Pizza, pizza!(recipes)
February 1, 2006... You're just home from school, and you're hungry. You want pizza for dinner. How long will you have to wait to get it? Thirty minutes? If you lived in the age of discovery, you would have had to wait a few months--all because of the spices in...

Ask Calliope.
February 1, 2006... Who is Vittorino da Fletre? What kind of school did he open? Where? --Adrienne, 12, Web post Vittorino da Fletre was an Italian teacher who, in 1423, opened a school in Mantua, Italy. His goal was to develop each student's character...

On the net.(American Spice Trade Association's websites providing information about spices )(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... For the American Spice Trade Association's history page, with links to a reference library and recipes, click on: www.astaspice.org/history/frame history.htm For a great site that has a wealth of information on every aspect of...

Books.(Nathaniel's Nutmeg: Or, the True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History)(The Scents of Eden: A History of the Spice Trade)(Spice: The History of Temptation)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 1, 2006... Nathaniel's Nutmeg: Or, the True and Incredible Adventures of the Spice Trader Who Changed the Course of History, by Giles Milton (Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999, www.fsgbooks.com) offers readers an exciting text that details nutmeg's impact on...

Cobblestone resources.(OFF THE SHELF)
February 1, 2006... Materials that complement this issue's topic, "The West Enters the Spice Trade," and are available from Cobblestone Publishing include: Queen Victoria (CAL0305) Silk Road (CAL0202). Food: From Field to Table (APP0111) Abbasid...

Salem's friendship.
February 1, 2006... On May 28, 1797, the paint was fresh and the carvings were crisp as Friendship eased into water for the first time. Its tallest mast soared more than 100 feet (about the height of a 10-story building) above the deck, which was also just over...

Plotting friendship's course.
February 1, 2006... In the 18th and 19th centuries, ships heading to China and the East Indies from the United States either traveled around Cape Horn (South America) or the Cape of Good Hope (Africa). Check out the logbook entries below from the first voyage of...

Life on board.(Friendhsip's voyage )
February 1, 2006... Life on board a merchant ship was not easy. Crews had to endure dangerous seas, hard work, poor diet, and hazardous conditions. The weather could be unpredictable and dangerous. On one voyage, Friendship encountered a fierce storm soon...

The friendship replica today.(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... From 1998 to 1998, a new Friendship was constructed. To create this replica experts studied an accurate, finely detailed model (right and below) of the original that belongs to the Peabody Essex Museum. Crew members had made the model during...

Meet friendship's newest team.(John Newman)(Jeremy Bumagin)
February 1, 2006... Abaigeal Duda spoke with crew members of the new Friendship: On what part of Friendship are you working now? John Newman: We are working on the foremast, which is usually located in the bow (front) of the ship. It was taken down to...