Black pepper & and the Age of Discovery

Last week I caught half of 'Michael Wood -The Story of India -Spice Routes and Silk Roads' He made it sound so romantic about the discovery of the western monsoon opening a sea route for Greeks and Romans with southern India. Most people may have forgotten one of the reasons for the early voyages of discovery...BLACK PEPPER. They were crazy for this simple vine...which became known as 'black gold'

The race for the coveted spices from Indian sub continent, and the Spice Islands of Indonesia was fought by the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and the English. And its also really a history of colonialism...sad but true.

However this did lead to some quite fantastic new flavours being passed around these trade routes. Most notable being the chilli pepper. Finding its way from South America to India and even as far away as Korea and the Cook Islands. I adore this subject and have numerous books on the subject, amongst all my cook books.  I simple can't imagine life without my spices...