Medieval Spices

You can find a number of discussions of various medieval spices within My Medieval Kitchen Blog posts.  The following is an ongoing comprehensive listing of medieval spices with descriptions, potential sources and hints for use.

• Anise- the seed of a plant in the carrot/parley family with a flavor similar to fennel, licorice, and star anise
• Black Pepper- pepper, piper noir, noiez- common pepper, the berry of a vine plant which is matured cooked and dried, spicy with its “heat” derived from piperine
• Caraway- the tiny dried fruits “seeds” of a plant in the carrot family, with a flavor closely resembling the aroma of the carrot plant with a slight undertone of anise, cumin and citrus. Frequently used in rye bread.
• Cardamom- a highly floral/aromatic seed pod of a plant in the ginger family with papery outer pod ranging from green to brown and tiny hard dark seeds inside.
• Cassia See Cinnamon
• Cinnamon- also cassia, canel, canelle, qanelle- bark of the cassia tree, usually ground for use, sweet and spicy tasting
• Cinnamon flowers- also flour(s) of canel(usually “whole” or in conjuction with another call for cinnamon)- flowers or buds from the cassia tree, more mild and aromatic than cinnamon itself
• Cloves- also clowes clowes de gylofre, gilofre- dried flower buds of an Indonesian myrtle tree very strong in flavor slightyly sweet and spice, with a numbing effect.
• Coriander- also colyandre, coriandrum, coliandrum, cellendres, “corn, seeds or grains” -not to be confused with the herbal use of the plant known as cilantro or leaves of coriander- seeds of the coriandrum plant
• Cubeb- tailed pepper, quybibes- a relative of black pepper, a berry which is slightly milder and more pungent that its cousin, stems stay attached leaving a “tail”
• Fennel seed- the fruit/seed of a plant in the carrot/parsley family, larger but with a similar, slightly milder sweeter flavor to anise
• Galangal- also galyngale- the pinkish woody rhizome of a close relative of ginger (possibly also a cyprus) which is woodier than ginger and has a stronger, more citursy, woodsy and peppery taste with a slight ginger flavor.
• Ginger- also gngn, gyngere, zinzin, zinziber- the rhizome of an asian plant with a bright spicy citrusy flavor
• good powder(s)- A spice blend, likely something found at spice markets already made, or simply a reference to a blend of good spices, perhaps similar to "season to taste" but meaning that the cook should use spices
• Grains of paradise- a close relative of cardamom, small dark hard seeds from the large pink teardrop shaped pod of a west african plant with a peppery spice and mild aromatic flavor
• Long pepper- a close relative of black pepper, this vine bears a catkin-like cone with hundreds of tiny little fruits, the entire cone is dried and ground, producing a hotter and slightly woodier flavor than black pepper.
• Mace- the dried thin covering of the nutmeg seed, sometimes may refer to the intact nutmeg seed. As in “maces hool” -a very similar flavor to nutmeg, slightly milder, it lends a bright orangish color
• Nutmeg- the olive sized hard seed of a tree native to the spice islands, ground/grated as a spice with a bright sweet powerful aromatic flavor, with numbing characteristics and in large quantities causing hallucinations. Th fruits are sometimes eaten as well.
• Powder Blanc-white powder, often sweet, using a blend of sweeter, lighter coloered spices, i.e., ginger, sugar, white pepper, etc. sometimes employing dark spices but it low quantity.
• Powder douce- sweet strong blend of spices- referenced a number of places as being the spices and sugar used in making ypocras- think ginger bread and pumpkin pie
• Powder fine-possibly another common spice blend 'fine' likely indicates either more delicate flavors or rarer, more exspensive spices, some versions are similar to powder fort, but clearly should not be quite so strong,and some have sugar as well
• Powder fort- strong spice- spicy powerful flavors, think pepper and clover, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamoms, etc.
• Saffron also safroun- the stamen of crocus sativus, a light floral aromatic flavor and smell, give a golden yellow color
• Sandalwood also saundres, saundry- the ground wood of the red sandalwood, used primarily for its red color
• Spikenard also nard, musk root- an herb in the valerian family with strong aroma, used in incense, often described as sweet bitter and pungent tasting, somewhat similar in flavor to sassafrass
• White pepper-the unripe dried seeds (berry removed) of the pepper plant, similar in flavor to black pepper but somewhat milder and woodier- sometimes called elephant butt pepper by a favorite chef of mine, due to its similarities in flavor to animal fodder.