Cinnamon: Origin and impact in Spanish cuisine

Recently, I was looking for inspiration at an old recipe book featuring traditional recipes of the center and southern parts of Spain. I couldn't help but notice the mention of cinnamon in many, many recipes. As a matter of fact, cinnamon trees don't grow in Europe, so I started thinking about how cinnamon was initially traded to Spain.

Anciently, camels carried spices from India and Orient to Babylon, Carthage, Alexandria, and Rome. For hundreds of years, traders also used ships that sailed along the Indian coast, past the Persian Gulf, along the coast of South Arabia, and finally through the Red Sea into Egypt. The Silk Road/Route embodied the trade of all sorts of goods and peoples, including spices. Centuries ago, trading was subject to constant robberies, storms and shipwrecks, and piracy. Despite the setbacks, however, spices were in such great demand (especially during the highly developed Greek and Roman eras) that the profits outweighed the risks.

According to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) Invasive Species Compendium description: "Cinnamon (C. verum) and cassia (C. cassia) were among the first spices sought after by most early European explorers in the 1400s and 1500s. The Portuguese, occupying Sri Lanka in 1536, and the Dutch, taking over in 1656, established virtual monopolies on the trade."

Furthermore, the Spanish Association of Manufacturers and Packers of Spices and Condiments (Asociación Española de Elaboradores y Envasadores de Especias y Condimentos) declares that:

"Most of the major spice plants - cinnamon, peppers, ginger, cloves, nutmeg - are native to the Asian tropics; allspice, vanilla, and chili peppers come from the West Indies and Central America; the Mediterranean basin has produced many of the aromatic seeds - coriander, fenugreek, fennel, anise, poppy, mustard - and the colder regions have provided caraway, dill and juniper.".

In Spanish [La mayor parte de las plantas de especia más importantes - canelas, pimientas, jengibre, clavos, nuez moscada- son originarias de los trópicos asiáticos; la pimienta inglesa, la vainilla, y los chiles proceden de las Indias Occidentales y de América Central; la cuenca mediterránea ha producido muchas de las semillas aromáticas - el cilantro, la alholva, el hinojo, al anís, la adormidera, la mostaza- y las regiones más frías han aportado la alcaravea, el eneldo y el enebro.]

Turns out we owe to Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese explorer, the spread of cinnamon, black pepper, and many other spices, in Europe. De Gama was the first European to sail around Africa: from Lisbon, Portugal, in July 1497, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and anchored at Malindi (today's Kenya) on the east coast of Africa.

The following year, after repeating the voyage and sailing for 23 days, on 20 May 1498, he arrived in India, landing on the Malabar coast, in Kozhikode (Kerala) to be exact. European traders were looking for a direct route to the places where spices were plentiful and cheap, cutting out the middlemen. Vasco de Gama positioned the Portuguese as the dominant European power for almost 100 years, until the Dutch, and then the Brits took over.

In 1600, the British East India Company was created and its major objective was obtaining spice cargoes. The British worked slowly in their attempt to gain power away from the Dutch, and finally, in 1780, England and Holland started a war that severely weakened Dutch power in India. By the 1800s everything that once belonged to Portugal and Holland was controlled by the British.

There are numerous old Spanish recipe books that mention cinnamon. I'm astonished by the descriptions, the use of words, and most importantly, the combinations. However, what strikes me the most is that spices were already known, and used, in Europe, and in particular, in Catalonia before Vasco de Gama was even born. The famous "Llibre de Sent Soví" (Sent Soví book) dates from 1324 and includes over 200 recipes of Catalan cuisine. The book was capital in further developing regional European cuisines. Some claim it was written in Catalan, while others argue it was indeed written in Valencian. The truth is, Catalan (and Valencian) from the 1300s are not exactly the same languages we speak today, there are vast differences in pronunciation and grammar.

Many combinations include cinnamon, saffron, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg for sauces and adobes. The ingredients, or spices, even though are used in today's Spanish cuisine separately, or in particular dishes, are not known to be part of what "Spanish" cookery is, or represents. As a matter of fact, one would think these are more autochthonous of Middle Eastern and Asian cuisine.

Some old Spanish recipe books that have caught my eyes include:

• Martínez Montiño, Francisco. Arte de cozina, pasteleria, vizcocheria, y conserueria. - En Madrid : por Luis Sanchez, 1611. Available at the National Library of Spain website for download.

• Hernández de Maceras, Domingo. Libro del arte de cozina. - Valladolid : Maxtor, [2004].

• Altamiras, Juan. Nuevo arte de cocina, 1745.

• Calvillo de Teruel, María Rosa. Libro de apuntaciones de guisos y dulces, c. 1740. Available at the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid website for download. Fun fact: this was the first Spanish cooking book written by a woman!

Today, many dishes, and especially desserts, have a distinct element that comes from using spices. For example:

• Brunyols (or "bunyols") de l'Empordà (literally in English "Emporda fritters") incorporate seeds of anise or anise-fenugreek.

• Leche frita (fry milk), crema catalana (Catalan creme), arroz con leche (Rice with milk), natillas (a sort of pudding), and an endless repertoire of desserts add a step that requires infusing milk with cinnamon and lemon peel.

• Mantecados/polvorones, a traditional sweet enjoyed during Christmas, includes cinnamon powder, and sesame seeds. There are many types of "polvorones". To me, the sweet smell of polvorones is intrinsically attached to Christmas. However, my mom starts buying polvorones in November. By the time Christmas arrives, we are done eating them!

• The famous turron de Xixona also includes cinnamon (as well as an obscene amount of honey)!

• Paella uses saffron to give that yellow/orange colour to the rice.

• The traditional recipe of Cocido de garbanzos madrileño (literally "Madrid's chickpea stew") uses cloves to give a distinct aroma to the meat. Nevertheless, there are many stew recipes in Spain that use cloves and a mixture of different spices.

• In Catalonia, sweet cocas (sweet dough cakes) are often sprayed with anise liquor, or anise-fenugreek seeds.

• The sweet hornazo of Huelva (an hornazo is a type of tort) consists of a thin dough filled with cabello de ángel (spaghetti squash preserve), aniseed, sesame, and cinnamon.

• Some variety of morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) use cinnamon and pinenuts

The list of dishes and recipes goes on. Many times the recipes have been passed from generation to generation, from grandparents to grandchildren, and so on. If anything, reading about the history and origin of spices makes me realise how connected we are all. For example, the time the Caliphate spent in the Iberian peninsula - about 800 years -, has indeed determined many of these recipes, and the general like for honey and cinnamon, amongst many other spices, since Medieval times.

I'm curious: what is your favourite spice/condiment? What's the most popular spice in your home country?

Let me know in the comments below!

Bon app!

M