Evening star., 1948-02-27
Spices and Skullduggery

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cinnamon, they never came back
to tell tales of any kind, but perished
in their search. Coupled with the
untimely end OF these brave souls,
the stories told deferred further
searching and for centuries the
Arabs kept their closely guarded
secret, relinquisning 1t only upon
conquest by a neighboring power.
Centuries ago q conquered land
paid tribute to King Solomon yearly
of several hundred pounds Of pepper,
for then this plant grew only In Asia.
The Portuguese later had almost as
much of a stranglehold ON this COM
modify as did the Dutch on nutmegs,
and were equally forceful in the
methods used to retain 1t. ANY ma
tives found growing pepper for their
own use or profit were promptly put
to death, along with their whole
family, their small crops were
burned, and buildings OF any kind
destroyed. Needless to say, this
ruthless punishment discouraged
raising the plant except on planta-
tions owned by the Portuguese or
their overseers.
Growing in clusters on q climb
ing tropical shrub somewhat re-
sembling q grape vine, the peppers
look like wrinkled, bright red ber-
ries about the size Of pea. When
picked from the bushes before ripe
these berries, or peppercorns, are
the source Of black pepper, the most
used of any known spice. After
drying on racks in the sun, or in
slow ovens, the peppercorns are
placed in bags for shipping. The
berries which ripen on the bushes
are stripped of their skin and dried,
to make the white pepper of COM
Imerce. Each pepper plant yields
two crops a year, taking about 500
peppercorns to make one ounce OF
black pepper when ground. AL
though for years indigenous to In
dia and Ceylon pepper is now
grown in the West Indies but not
in sufacient quantity to supply the
needs of the Western Hemisphere.
The East Indies have been called
the Spice Islands, and rightly 20
for they still yield most OF the
worlds crop but in our own West
Indies we have a Spice Island, too,
Molucca. Long before q cruise boat
on the Caribbean reaches this is
land its passengers catch tine heav-
enly spicy fragrance which comes
| from it. and its gorgeous hambuoy-
ant flowers give a rare treat to
the eyes, while one is all but over
powered by the odor of spices when
it's reached.
Growing high up in tall trees are
the cloves always picked by hand If
gathered before fully matured.
When the tiny buds show family
pink, barefoot native boys, paid the
enormous" price of few pence
day, shinny up the trees trunks
to pick them, dropping them gently
into a fine net spread beneath the
tree. Venturesome climbers go al
most to the trees tops, carefully
shaking the branches from which
shower down the small buds pro-
tected from brrising by their creamy
petals. These buds, too, are sun
dried on frames covered with fine
netting and after several days look
like nothing so much as tiny bits
of dark brown bark, which are
shipped without powdering, in loose
sacks. -se
AIIspice, native to the West Indies,
gets its name because it seems to be
tantalizing mixture Of many diff
ferent spices. It's a. favoriteS crop
with the lazy natives because 1t re-
uuires little or no cultivation, and
4 IS equally as good when left TO dry
on its own tall bush as when picked
by hand before ripening. 1t grows
on the pimento plant and is tiny
nut, never very valuable COM
mereially since there seems an in
exhaustfble crop always available.
Ginger, the. last important spice,
is the tough fibrous root OF the
ginger plant, dug from the earth
while still green, and once grown ex-
clusively in China and India, where
1t was q favorite confection. ia
maica, the source Of most OF our
ginger, not only ships out the roots
either green or dry, but specializes
in sleeping it to make medicinal
liquid, much used for stomach all
ments. Whether green or dry, sew
eral washings are given the root to
free it from the earth which clings
to it before it can be used or sent
out of the island. The roots are
more often shipped without being
powdered, but in any form ginger
is must" for all spice cabinets.
AS with many of the good things
with which we supply our tables,
spices story is romantic, and its
appeal almost universal, and now
that we have learned why the black
pepper and other spices deemed al
most necessary to good cooking,
vanished from grocers' shelves dur
ing the war we may appreciate
them more highly since they are
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