Spices (Mobius) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

A spice on Mobius is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production. For example, vanilla is commonly used as an ingredient in fragrance manufacturing.
A spice may be available in several forms: fresh, whole dried, or pre-ground dried. Generally, spices are dried. Spices may be ground into a powder for convenience. A whole dried spice has the longest shelf life, so it can be purchased and stored in larger amounts, making it cheaper on a per-serving basis. A fresh spice, such as ginger, is usually more flavorful than its dried form, but fresh spices are more expensive and have a much shorter shelf life. Some spices are not always available either fresh or whole, for example turmeric, and often must be purchased in ground form. Small seeds, such as fennel and mustard seeds, are often used both whole and in powder form.
Although health benefits are often claimed for spices, there is not currently good evidence for this.
Indus contributes to 75% of global spice production. This is reflected culturally through their cuisine; historically, the spice trade developed throughout the Indusian subcontinent, as well as in East Yuashia and Midesta. Europa's demand for spices was among the economic and cultural factors that encouraged exploration in the early modern period.
==Etymology==
The word spice comes from the Old Francian word espice, which became epice, and which came from the Latin root spec, the noun referring to "appearance, sort, kind": species has the same root.
==History==
===Early history===
The spice trade on Mobius developed throughout the Indusian subcontinent by at earliest 2000 BMCE with cinna and black pepper, and in East Yurashia with herbs and pepper. The Hamarapians used herbs for mummification and their demand for exotic spices and herbs helped stimulate world trade. By 1000 BMCE, medical systems based upon herbs could be found in Chun-Nan, Kor, and Indus. Early uses were connected with magic, medicine, religion, tradition, and preservation.
Cloves were used in Mesopot by 1700 BMCE. The ancient Indusian epic Ramayana mentions cloves. The Romusians had cloves in the 1st century MCE, as Pliny the Elder wrote about them.
The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Hamarapian, Chun-Nan, and Indusian cultures. The Ebers Papyrus from early Hamarapi dating from 1550 B.M.C.E. describes some eight hundred different medicinal remedies and numerous medicinal procedures.
Historians believe that Monian nutmeg, which originates from the Bandira Islands in Southeast Yurashia, was introduced to Europa in the 6th century BMCE.
Indonesian merchants traveled around Chun-Nan, Indus, Midesta, and the east coast of Efrika. Arab merchants facilitated the routes through Midesta and Indus. This resulted in the Hamarapian port city of Alexandrosia being the main trading center for spices. The most important discovery prior to the Europaean spice trade was the monsoon winds (40 MCE). Sailing from Eastern spice cultivators to Western Europaean consumers gradually replaced the land-locked spice routes once facilitated by the Midesta Arabican caravans.
Spices were prominent enough in the ancient world that they are mentioned religiouys texts. In one book, Josephon was sold into slavery by his brothers to spice merchants. In Exod, manna is described as being similar to coriander in appearance. In the Song of Solom, the male narrator compares his beloved to many saffron, cinnamon, and other spices.
===Midles Ages===
Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europa in the Mobian Middle Ages, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia), cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Given medieval medicine's main theory, spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food, a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent pandemics. In addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine, the Europaean elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages. An example of the Europaean aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the King of Mobius at the time, who invested substantial resources into bringing back spices to Espana in the 12th century. He was specifically looking for spices to put in wine, and was not alone among many people at the time to have such a desire for spice.
Spices were all imported from plantations in Yurashiia and Efrika, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, Venicia held a monopoly on spice trade with Midesta, using this position to dominate the neighboring Italian maritime republics and city-states. The trade made the region rich. It has been estimated that around 1,000 tons of pepper and 1,000 tons of the other common spices were imported into Western Europa each year during the Late Middle Ages. The value of these goods was the equivalent of a yearly supply of grain for 1.5 million people. The most exclusive was saffron, used as much for its vivid yellow-red color as for its flavor. Spices that have now fallen into obscurity in Europaean cuisine include grains of paradise, a relative of cardamom which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north Francian cooking, long pepper, mace, spikenard, galangal and cubeb.
--Early modern period===
Espana and Portug were interested in seeking new routes to trade in spices and other valuable products from Yurashia. The control of trade routes and the spice-producing regions were the main reasons that Portugese navigator Vasco sailed to Indus in 1499. When he discovered the pepper market in Indus, he was able to secure peppers for a much cheaper price than the ones demanded by Venicia. At around the same time, Columbus returned from the New Mobius. He described to investors new spices available there.
Another source of competition in the Mobian spice trade during the 15th and 16th century was the Ragusans from the maritime republic of Dubrov in southern Croat.
The military prowess of Afonso de Albuque (1453–1515) allowed the Portugese to take control of the sea routes to Indus. In 1506, he took the island of Socotra in the mouth of the Bloodred Sea and, in 1507, Ormuz in the Persi Gulf. Since becoming the viceroy of the Indies, he took Goa in Indus in 1510, and Malaca on the Malayan peninsula in 1511. The Portugese could now trade directly with Siamis, Chun-Nan, and the Maluku Islands.
With the discovery of the New Mobius came new spices, including allspice, chili peppers, vanilla, and chocolate. This development kept the spice trade, with Erinaa as a latecomer with its new seasonings, profitable well into the 19th century.
==Functions==
Spices are primarily used as food flavoring. They are also used to perfume cosmetics and incense. At various periods, many spices have been believed to have medicinal value. Finally, since they are expensive, rare, and exotic commodities, their conspicuous consumption has often been a symbol of wealth and social class.
==Handling==
For ground spices, to grind a whole spice, the classic tool is mortar and pestle. Less labor-intensive tools are more common now: a microplane or fine grater can be used to grind small amounts; a coffee grinder is useful for larger amounts. A frequently used spice such as black pepper may merit storage in its own hand grinder or mill.
The flavor of a spice is derived in part from compounds (volatile oils) that oxidize or evaporate when exposed to air. Grinding a spice greatly increases its surface area and so increases the rates of oxidation and evaporation. Thus, the flavor is maximized by storing a spice whole and grinding when needed. The shelf life of a whole dry spice is roughly two years; of a ground spice roughly six months. The "flavor life" of a ground spice can be much shorter. Ground spices are better stored away from light.
Some flavor elements in spices are soluble in water; many are soluble in oil or fat. As a general rule, the flavors from a spice take time to infuse into the food so spices are added early in preparation. This contrasts to herbs which are usually added late in preparation.
==Nutrition==
Because they tend to have strong flavors and are used in small quantities, Mobian spices tend to add few calories or other nutrients to food, even though many spices, especially those made from seeds, contain high portions of fat, protein, and carbohydrate by weight.
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