P.C spices??

[hawk]

I was just wondering what spices were avalible in the colonies say F&I days ?

 

[renovato]

I'm not much of a historian, but I know the British taste for mustard seed came across with the original settlers and the plant grew wild, so I assume it would be one of the earliest spices. By the mid 1700's, folks were growing a lot of herbs we'd be familiar with today. Thyme, sage, rosemary, savory, etc., along with onions and garlic.

I've seen recipes from the late 1700's that called for nutmeg, mace, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, etc. Apparently these were being imported at the time, but I don't know how far back the imports went. They were probably expensive and I think the common folk wouldn't have used them often. Maybe they used dried chilies in place of black pepper. I do that myself! :haha:

 

[Bountyhunter]

You could pack and use just about anything that you wished because by that time the colonies were trading with the English, French, Dutch, Spanish and others. All the common spices that are used today, were for the most part available then.

Upper New England did not tend to use the same spices as would have the lower colonies who were neighbors to Spanish held territories, and would have had access to the spices of Mexico, New Orleans and the Carribean and South America. It was by preference for taste more than anything as the Brit base of Noo England preferred more bland food than did the southern colonies.

The only thing was, they didnt go down to the supermarket and buy jars of green stuff imported from China, they obtained seed and planted all the spices that they could in their gardens then pulled them by the roots, and bundled them and hung them to dry for use in the winter and next spring.

Remember, the Spanish had colonized Santa Fe 100 years before the Limeys got lost and struck land at Plymouth Rock.... :stir:

At that time, the colonies had a class system as well as a caste system and so lower classes and castes would eat differently than those who thought that their crap didnt stink.