Editing Spice (section)

===Middle Ages===
[[File:Le livre des merveilles de Marco Polo-pepper.jpg|thumb|"The Mullus" harvesting pepper. Illustration from a French edition of ''[[The Travels of Marco Polo]]''.]]
Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the [[Middle Ages]],<sup>[[Spice#cite note-5|[5]]]</sup> the most common being [[black pepper]], [[cinnamon]] (and the cheaper alternative [[Cinnamomum aromaticum|cassia]]), [[cumin]], [[nutmeg]], ginger, and [[cloves]]. Given medieval medicine's main theory of [[humorism]], spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food,<sup>[[Spice#cite note-6|[6]]]</sup> on a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent [[pandemic]]s. In addition to being desired by those using [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|medieval medicine]], the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages, believing spices to be from and a connection to "paradise".<ref>{{Cite book |author=Schivelbusch, Wolfgang |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/24702170 |title=Tastes of paradise : a social history of spices, stimulants, and intoxicants |date=1992 |publisher=Pantheon Books |isbn=0-394-57984-4 |oclc=24702170 |access-date=December 4, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630115421/https://worldcat.org/title/24702170 |url-status=live }}</ref> An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the [[King of Aragon]], who invested substantial resources into importing spices to [[Spain]] in the 12th century. He was specifically looking for spices to put in [[wine]] and was not alone among [[European Monarchs|European monarchs]] at the time to have such a desire for spice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Freedman|first=Paul|date=June 5, 2015|title=Health, wellness and the allure of spices in the Middle Ages|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|series=Potent Substances: On the Boundaries of Food and Medicine|volume=167|pages=47–53|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2014.10.065|pmid=25450779}}</ref>

Spices were all imported from plantations in Asia and Africa, which made them expensive. From the 8th until the 15th century, the [[Republic of Venice]] held a monopoly on spice trade with the Middle East, 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&nbsp;tons of other common spices were imported into Western Europe 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=Adamson, Melitta Weiss|title=Food in Medieval Times|url=https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218|url-access=limited|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn|year=2004|isbn=978-0-313-32147-4|page= [https://archive.org/details/foodmedievaltime00adam_218/page/n89 65]}}</ref> 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 European cuisine include [[Aframomum melegueta|grains of paradise]], a relative of [[cardamom]] which mostly replaced pepper in late medieval north French cooking, [[long pepper]], [[nutmeg|mace]], [[spikenard]], [[galangal]], and [[cubeb]].<ref name="freedman" />