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Around 1500 , the world experi￣enced an explosion of exploration which greatly transformed the world for the next several hundreds of years. During this time, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and other seafaring entrepreneurs sought new routes to India’s Malabar Coast and the Indonesian archipelago. The objective of their ef￣forts was mainly spice specifically pepper, cinna￣mon, nutmeg, clove, and a few others. In the en￣suing years, the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch would all seek to dominate the spice trade, employing an astonishing amount of blood￣shed and brutality to achieve their aims. They were undermined only by pirates, who would occasional￣ly plunder the spice boats, relieving them of their precious cargo.
The reason behind their desire to seek spice, was not only, and in fact, not even primarily, profits. In an age that poured its commercial ener￣gies into such un - poetical ends such as arms, oil, and mineral ores, the drive to obtain anything quite so quaintly insignificant as spice must strike us today as mystifying indeed. While historians of￣ten point to medieval Europe’s problems with ran￣cid meat, along with the mind -numbing repeti￣tiveness of its diet, as the source of spice’s early popularity, the main reason for desiring spice came down to one simple thing: mystery. Spices were, in a sense, magical if not divine, arriving by un￣known means from the vast blank spaces on the map, spaces populated by dragons, gods, and monsters. From mystery grew mystique. It was a seductive premise.
This article starts by examining the rise of Europe’s economy after the first millennium and the subsequent demand for Eastern luxuries. Ginger, mace, and other exotic ingredients quickly became status symbols among noblemen—not unlike furs or jewels—as well as staples in upper -class kitch￣ens, with nearly every dish deluged by seasonings, to the point where the medieval appetite for spice looked less like a taste than an addiction. It was also believed that ingesting spices was a way to im￣prove one’s health and that they could cure every￣thing from gangrene and paralysis to constipation and lung disease. Then there’s sex. Spice has long been associated with eroticism, including recent examples like the pop-music sex kittens the Spice Girls and the Spice soft-porn cable TV station. In the Middle Ages—when noblemen’s fear of infertil￣ity ran rampant—spices were widely believed to serve as aphrodisiacs. It was these very qualities, that led many medieval Christian leaders to de￣nounce spices—ginger in particular—arguing that their corrupting influence undermined monks’ vows of celibacy, with one mystic even comparing them to the forbidden apple of Eden. Others claimed their overuse could lead to drying out, derange￣ment, and even death. The most puritanical critics saw spice as nothing less than an affront to God, who had already met man’s basic needs by provi￣ding local foods, a gift cooks were now tampering with by introducing foreign flavors. Moreover, spice served as a medieval perfume, with the most spicy, most expensive varieties favored among the social elite. And spice was also used in mummifi￣cation and embalming techniques that continued in future centuries. For instance, the practice dates back to Ramses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who died in 1224 b. c.; an examination of his remains re￣vealed peppercorns stuffed up his large, and crooked nose, a discovery which startled scien￣tists.
Despite efforts by the Dutch to maintain their monopoly over spice plantations and prevent propa￣gation, products like cloves and nutmeg eventually spread to other regions of the world. This was largely due to Spanish and Portuguese smugglers—who reduced them to mere commodities and dimin￣ished their intrigue and notoriety, not to mention their cost. By the mid-1600s, pepper in particu￣lar had long since become available to the Europe￣an masses, prompting the nobility to lose interest. At the same time, crops like tomatoes and chilies, brought back from the New World, were broade￣ning the European diet and creating new options for cooks. A shift to simple, fresh, local ingredi￣ents—to foods that tasted like themselves—was un￣derway, a transformation nowhere as successful as in Italy, where simplicity remains the quintessence of its cuisine. As a result, the heavily spiced meals of the Middle Ages fell from favor. Once the province of aristocracy, spice became just the op￣posite. In the modern world, it tends to be the poor, not the rich, who eat spices.
While the history of spice from a Western point of view remarkably transformed the world, it should be noted that spice also underwent a quite different way of becoming modernized. In the re￣spect, spice in Chinese history constitutes a large part of the world history of spice.
Prior to the 15th century, pepper was regar￣ded as a rarity. In China it was as highly valued for medicinal purposes as ginseng and cassia bark are today. During the Tang dynasty, we find pep￣per mentioned side by side with stalactites, one of the most valuable drugs of the time. This is an in￣dication of how highly valued spice was. From that time onwards, the expression “800 piculs of pep￣per” came to be synonymous with riches and luxu￣ry. In China, the change in the value of pepper from being a precious commodity to one in common use came about as the result of several polices of Ming Emperor, including tribute trade, Zheng He’s voyages, and the scheme of supplying pepper instead of salaries to officials. The advent of direct dealings with the supply sources had a profound effect in China, and the circulation of other foreign commodities generally also increased greatly after these voyages.
From early Ming times, foreign trade, inclu￣ding that in pepper and sapanwood, was an Impe￣rial monopoly, closely guarded to ensure that all the profits went to the Emperor. One inevitable re￣sult of the importation into China of such huge a￣mounts of pepper, however, was that hitherto un￣developed exchange relations improved, though the equilibrium between demand and supply remained unsteady because of obstacles in the way of equita￣ble distribution. A sudden expansion of the selling market could only be expected to cause a dramatic fall in the price of pepper. This occurred much earlier than did the discovery of the direct passage to India by Vasco de Gama.
During the reign of the first Ming Emperor, Hong Wu, pepper and sapanwood were frequently given to subjects as a reward for services rendered, a practice first recorded in 1379 . During 1391 and 1392 , altogether 13 ,800 naval officers and soldiers on active service, and 12,000 soldiers engaged in ship-building were rewarded in this way, the lat￣ter receiving one catty of pepper each. In both ca￣ses these rewards, which were small in scale, were for completing tasks assigned. At the time of the enthronement of the second Emperor, Yong Le (1403), four catties of pepper, the highest pepper reward recorded, in addition to 30 ting of paper money, were given to a minor official for comple￣ting the Imperial seal. Considering the high value of paper money at that time, this showed that pep￣per was still treasured as a scarce commodity, and had not yet fallen into common use.
The effect of Zheng He’s voyages on the distri￣bution of pepper in the Chinese market is reflected by the form payments took in the early part of the Ming dynasty. In the 5th year of Yong Le (1407), following Zheng He’s return from his first voyage, came the first proclamation of an arrangement to supply the soldiers in all military stations in Peking with sapanwood in lieu of winter clothing. It is es￣timated that at least 250 , 000 army servicemen were involved. It was in 1420, after Zheng He’s fifth voyage, that pepper was first announced as a substitute for the clothing due to these same ser￣vicemen. However, the amount was by no means large:one catty and six ounces of sapanwood and four ounces of pepper were paid in lieu of a piece of thin silk material, and one catty of sapanwood and three ounces of pepper were paid instead of a piece of cotton cloth. The same scheme of suppl￣ying sapanwood instead of winter clothing was em￣ployed again the following year, 1421. At the same time it was proclaimed that part of the salary of all civil and military officials in Peking paid in the form of paper money was to be paid in sapan￣wood and pepper instead. Henceforth it was estab￣lished that the salary of officials should be paid partly in sapanwood and pepper, and it was clearly the pepper brought back by Zheng He’s fleet that was being used as substitute currency. Silver, pa￣per money, cloth, sapanwood, and pepper were interchangeable as currency.
Except for a very small amount retained for their own consumption, the officials would have had to sell most of their pepper on the market, which would inevitably accelerate the fall in its market price. By the mid-Ming period, spice that had been exclusively enjoyed by the upper classes, began to be popular among the commoners. The frequency of appearance of spice in dietary books, recipes, and daily life guides increased to an un￣precedented level. Pepper, especially, was broad￣ly used for cooking, pickling fruits, brewing, and making fragrant tea. The widespread application of perfume, as a typical merchandise from maritime trade, led to a profound transformation in people’s conception and style of everyday life.
The reason behind their desire to seek spice, was not only, and in fact, not even primarily, profits. In an age that poured its commercial ener￣gies into such un - poetical ends such as arms, oil, and mineral ores, the drive to obtain anything quite so quaintly insignificant as spice must strike us today as mystifying indeed. While historians of￣ten point to medieval Europe’s problems with ran￣cid meat, along with the mind -numbing repeti￣tiveness of its diet, as the source of spice’s early popularity, the main reason for desiring spice came down to one simple thing: mystery. Spices were, in a sense, magical if not divine, arriving by un￣known means from the vast blank spaces on the map, spaces populated by dragons, gods, and monsters. From mystery grew mystique. It was a seductive premise.
This article starts by examining the rise of Europe’s economy after the first millennium and the subsequent demand for Eastern luxuries. Ginger, mace, and other exotic ingredients quickly became status symbols among noblemen—not unlike furs or jewels—as well as staples in upper -class kitch￣ens, with nearly every dish deluged by seasonings, to the point where the medieval appetite for spice looked less like a taste than an addiction. It was also believed that ingesting spices was a way to im￣prove one’s health and that they could cure every￣thing from gangrene and paralysis to constipation and lung disease. Then there’s sex. Spice has long been associated with eroticism, including recent examples like the pop-music sex kittens the Spice Girls and the Spice soft-porn cable TV station. In the Middle Ages—when noblemen’s fear of infertil￣ity ran rampant—spices were widely believed to serve as aphrodisiacs. It was these very qualities, that led many medieval Christian leaders to de￣nounce spices—ginger in particular—arguing that their corrupting influence undermined monks’ vows of celibacy, with one mystic even comparing them to the forbidden apple of Eden. Others claimed their overuse could lead to drying out, derange￣ment, and even death. The most puritanical critics saw spice as nothing less than an affront to God, who had already met man’s basic needs by provi￣ding local foods, a gift cooks were now tampering with by introducing foreign flavors. Moreover, spice served as a medieval perfume, with the most spicy, most expensive varieties favored among the social elite. And spice was also used in mummifi￣cation and embalming techniques that continued in future centuries. For instance, the practice dates back to Ramses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who died in 1224 b. c.; an examination of his remains re￣vealed peppercorns stuffed up his large, and crooked nose, a discovery which startled scien￣tists.
Despite efforts by the Dutch to maintain their monopoly over spice plantations and prevent propa￣gation, products like cloves and nutmeg eventually spread to other regions of the world. This was largely due to Spanish and Portuguese smugglers—who reduced them to mere commodities and dimin￣ished their intrigue and notoriety, not to mention their cost. By the mid-1600s, pepper in particu￣lar had long since become available to the Europe￣an masses, prompting the nobility to lose interest. At the same time, crops like tomatoes and chilies, brought back from the New World, were broade￣ning the European diet and creating new options for cooks. A shift to simple, fresh, local ingredi￣ents—to foods that tasted like themselves—was un￣derway, a transformation nowhere as successful as in Italy, where simplicity remains the quintessence of its cuisine. As a result, the heavily spiced meals of the Middle Ages fell from favor. Once the province of aristocracy, spice became just the op￣posite. In the modern world, it tends to be the poor, not the rich, who eat spices.
While the history of spice from a Western point of view remarkably transformed the world, it should be noted that spice also underwent a quite different way of becoming modernized. In the re￣spect, spice in Chinese history constitutes a large part of the world history of spice.
Prior to the 15th century, pepper was regar￣ded as a rarity. In China it was as highly valued for medicinal purposes as ginseng and cassia bark are today. During the Tang dynasty, we find pep￣per mentioned side by side with stalactites, one of the most valuable drugs of the time. This is an in￣dication of how highly valued spice was. From that time onwards, the expression “800 piculs of pep￣per” came to be synonymous with riches and luxu￣ry. In China, the change in the value of pepper from being a precious commodity to one in common use came about as the result of several polices of Ming Emperor, including tribute trade, Zheng He’s voyages, and the scheme of supplying pepper instead of salaries to officials. The advent of direct dealings with the supply sources had a profound effect in China, and the circulation of other foreign commodities generally also increased greatly after these voyages.
From early Ming times, foreign trade, inclu￣ding that in pepper and sapanwood, was an Impe￣rial monopoly, closely guarded to ensure that all the profits went to the Emperor. One inevitable re￣sult of the importation into China of such huge a￣mounts of pepper, however, was that hitherto un￣developed exchange relations improved, though the equilibrium between demand and supply remained unsteady because of obstacles in the way of equita￣ble distribution. A sudden expansion of the selling market could only be expected to cause a dramatic fall in the price of pepper. This occurred much earlier than did the discovery of the direct passage to India by Vasco de Gama.
During the reign of the first Ming Emperor, Hong Wu, pepper and sapanwood were frequently given to subjects as a reward for services rendered, a practice first recorded in 1379 . During 1391 and 1392 , altogether 13 ,800 naval officers and soldiers on active service, and 12,000 soldiers engaged in ship-building were rewarded in this way, the lat￣ter receiving one catty of pepper each. In both ca￣ses these rewards, which were small in scale, were for completing tasks assigned. At the time of the enthronement of the second Emperor, Yong Le (1403), four catties of pepper, the highest pepper reward recorded, in addition to 30 ting of paper money, were given to a minor official for comple￣ting the Imperial seal. Considering the high value of paper money at that time, this showed that pep￣per was still treasured as a scarce commodity, and had not yet fallen into common use.
The effect of Zheng He’s voyages on the distri￣bution of pepper in the Chinese market is reflected by the form payments took in the early part of the Ming dynasty. In the 5th year of Yong Le (1407), following Zheng He’s return from his first voyage, came the first proclamation of an arrangement to supply the soldiers in all military stations in Peking with sapanwood in lieu of winter clothing. It is es￣timated that at least 250 , 000 army servicemen were involved. It was in 1420, after Zheng He’s fifth voyage, that pepper was first announced as a substitute for the clothing due to these same ser￣vicemen. However, the amount was by no means large:one catty and six ounces of sapanwood and four ounces of pepper were paid in lieu of a piece of thin silk material, and one catty of sapanwood and three ounces of pepper were paid instead of a piece of cotton cloth. The same scheme of suppl￣ying sapanwood instead of winter clothing was em￣ployed again the following year, 1421. At the same time it was proclaimed that part of the salary of all civil and military officials in Peking paid in the form of paper money was to be paid in sapan￣wood and pepper instead. Henceforth it was estab￣lished that the salary of officials should be paid partly in sapanwood and pepper, and it was clearly the pepper brought back by Zheng He’s fleet that was being used as substitute currency. Silver, pa￣per money, cloth, sapanwood, and pepper were interchangeable as currency.
Except for a very small amount retained for their own consumption, the officials would have had to sell most of their pepper on the market, which would inevitably accelerate the fall in its market price. By the mid-Ming period, spice that had been exclusively enjoyed by the upper classes, began to be popular among the commoners. The frequency of appearance of spice in dietary books, recipes, and daily life guides increased to an un￣precedented level. Pepper, especially, was broad￣ly used for cooking, pickling fruits, brewing, and making fragrant tea. The widespread application of perfume, as a typical merchandise from maritime trade, led to a profound transformation in people’s conception and style of everyday life.