Get to work! New non-fiction books: How Christmas spices founded the world economy

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Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger – Advent is a fragrant time. At public Christmas markets or in private kitchens, smells compete with each other: outside – scented candles or mulled wine, inside – cinnamon stars from the oven or oranges with cloves. All of these scents have one thing in common: they come from distant warm lands and are designed to make the scent-less winter a little more pleasant.

“Many of us associate cloves with Christmas,” writes Norwegian journalist and author Thomas Reinertsen Berg (52) in his beautifully illustrated, stunning book on the origins and trade of spices, which was recently published in German. He traces this connection to the Nordic custom of putting 24 cloves in an orange at the beginning of December: one is pulled out each day to count how many are left until Christmas Eve.

“However, the tradition of this “Advent calendar” has a long history and has nothing to do with Christmas,” says the author. It comes from those times when in Europe they believed that citrus fruits, strewn with cloves and suspended from the ceiling, purified the air so well that one could protect oneself from the terrible plague. Reinertsen Berg: “In the 16th century, oranges studded with cloves hung in the windows of people who could afford such a luxury.”

Because carnations and the like have long become expensive goods. “Spices were status symbols, like precious stones, glass, or valuable materials,” writes Reinertsen Berg. Accordingly, European colonial powers sent ships to bring home the sweet smells. “No other commodity has contributed as much to the connection between East and West, South and North, as spices.” Ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and pepper have played a special role in world history.

But why exactly? None of this is impressive: ginger is just roots, cinnamon tree bark, cardamom seeds, nutmeg seeds, clove buds and pepper berries. But in addition to the above-mentioned sign of wealth, they were credited with erotic, medicinal and religious properties. “Spices have been considered sacred since God asked Moses to bring cinnamon and cassia to the fire as an aromatic offering,” writes Reinertsen Berg.

“God has no nostrils,” criticized the Christian preacher John Chrysostom (349–407). And in today’s secular world, spices have become even more distant from sacred nonsense and are now used everyday in the kitchen to add heat to dishes. “But,” says Reinertsen Berg, “they still bring the aroma and taste of the southern latitudes to tables in the northern hemisphere.”

Source: Blick