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The Nutmeg Trail offers a historical account of the spice trade with invaluable advice on the use of culinary spices - how to prepare and combine them, when to introduce them, and what delights to expect. Mouth-watering.' - John Keay, author of The Spice Routes
Feeling lazy, we had our garlic clove curry on its own with some ready-made naan and it was a fantastic meal. Whilst I agree that it could form part of a larger meal, we thoroughly enjoyed it on its own too. In this richly illustrated volume, Eleanor Ford uses recipes as maps as she takes readers on a culinary journey that weaves through history and around the world. She explores both the flavor profiles and the spread of spices-from cardamom to cinnamon, ginger to sumac-and provides fascinating insights such as how nutmeg unites the spice blends Indian garam masala, Lebanese seven spice, French quatre epices, Moroccan ras el hanout, and Middle Eastern baharat, lending its bittersweet, fragrant warmth to them all. The spice routes led to an early and enduring mingling of Asia and Europe, East and West. It knitted together a shared history. In The Nutmeg Trail, Eleanor Ford takes us on a mouthwatering culinary voyage to the fabled ‘spiceries,’ those semi-mystical islands of the East Indies. A heady blend of history, adventure, and deliciously authentic recipes, this book will make you hungry!”— Giles Milton, author of Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and Nathaniel’s NutmegWhat a deep dive this is into the world of spice. . . . And then the recipes! Recipes which allow the reader to travel from Asia to the Middle East along the spice route, taking in so much flavor and so much context on the way.” —Yotam Ottolenghi Seafaring was a historically dangerous endeavor, yet throughout antiquity people have been enticed into unknown waters by the allure of the exotic, and the prices such rarities could fetch. Across thousands of years, trading links from Indonesia fanned out through Asia and met with those spreading from the Middle East. Spices travelled from one end of the earth to the other. They came to hold great value, used in food, religion and medicine, and so the Indian Ocean was coursed by Chinese, Malayan, Pharaonic, Phoenician, Graeco-Roman, Arab, Jewish, Indian and European merchant seafarers all united by a common temptation. A transportive blend of stories and meals that are as enlightening as they are piquant.”— Publishers Weekly✰STARRED REVIEW ✰ A spirited and flavorful roundup of 100 recipes culled from Java, Sumatra, and elsewhere within the world’s largest archipelago.”— Publishers Weekly
Consider also a Mint sambal: Grind together in a food processor 30g (1/3 cup) grated coconut, leaves from a small bunch of mint, 1/2 red onion, 1 garlic clove, 3 green chillies with or without their seeds, and a pinch of salt. Add a squeeze of lime juice and a little water to loosen the blades. An extensive timeline chronicles the influence of spices from 50,000 BCE to the present. There are also fascinating spice facts, as of how Alexander the Great added saffron to his shampoo, how Japanese samurai ate chilies to increase their courage, and how peppercorns were used in fourteenth-century Italy as a form of currency. Eleanor Ford’s enticing cookbook The Nutmeg Trail explores the global history and use of spices—not just in cuisine, but in medicinal remedies, incense, and aphrodisiacs.
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A fragrant, intoxicating, and mesmerizing voyage into the history and global spread of spice. With recipes every bit as delectable as the prose.”— Tom Parker Bowles, food writer and author of The Year of Eating Dangerously
Ford notes that the spice trade lured explorers for centuries, with the value of certain spices exceeding the price of gold. Spice expeditions were both fascinating and exploitative: travels across oceans and along the legendary Silk Road spurred excessive demand and colonial aggression. Spice merchants invented encounters with dragons and fearsome serpents to exaggerate the dangers of their travels and increase the cost of their wares.
The vast network of sea routes that developed linking East and West makes up part of the trade system, along with the land-based Silk Road. Sometimes it is referred to as the Maritime Silk Road. Fogged with romance and cliché, this concept is a European conceit and comes with an assumption of the primacy of its own region as consumer. In reality, there has never been a simple passage leading from the steamy spice forests of Asia to kitchens in the West. Instead, we see an ever-changing web of trade with flow in all directions, some spices traveling great distances and some hardly traveling at all but finding a home in local cuisines. In this richly illustrated volume, Eleanor Ford uses recipes as maps as she takes readers on a culinary journey that weaves through history and around the world. She explores both the flavor profiles and the spread of spices—from cardamom to cinnamon, ginger to sumac—and provides fascinating insights such as how nutmeg unites the spice blends Indian garam masala, Lebanese seven spice, French quatre epices, Moroccan ras el hanout, and Middle Eastern baharat, lending its bittersweet, fragrant warmth to them all. Capable of transporting readers to tables around the world from their own kitchens.”— USA Today, selected as a top summer 2022 cookbook This book has real spirit, bold flavors, and beautiful words to boot. In short: it has it all.”— Meera Sodha, author of East, Made in India, and Fresh India
I am completely enraptured with The Nutmeg Trail. It is the perfect balance of being fascinating and mouthwatering at the same time.”— Georgina Hayden, author of TavernaThe eclectic collection of recipes from across the world will make the reader want to head straight into the kitchen to conjure up heady meals to share with their family and friends.”— Anissa Helou, author of Feast: Food of the Islamic World In The Nutmeg Trail, Eleanor Ford takes us on a mouth-watering culinary voyage to the fabled 'spiceries', those semi-mystical islands of the East Indies. A heady blend of history, adventure and deliciously authentic recipes, this book will make you hungry!' - Giles Milton, author of Nathaniel's Nutmeg A charming read from beginning to end. . . . a remarkable book perfect for anyone who loves the culinary arts and cooking, anthropology, history, and travel. The Nutmeg Trail invites readers into an ancient and exotic era that changed the course of history and the food of today.”— Culinary Historians of Canada
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