The History Of Spices Is Long

The history of spices is long, dating back 5000 years. During the era of Huangdi Shennong, tree bark and grass roots were collected as medicinal supplies to drive away epidemics and avoid pollution. At that time, humans had already attached great importance to the aroma emitted by plants, and had developed an interest in it by adding the fragrance of natural flowers. Therefore, in ancient times, these fragrant substances were used for worshiping gods and blessings, purifying the body and mind, as well as for sacrificial and funeral purposes. Later gradually used for diet, decoration, and beauty. China began using spices before the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.
In 1897, during the excavation of the tombs of Egyptian Emperor Manes and others dating back to 3500 BC, it was discovered that the beautiful ointment jar still had a fragrance, resembling resin or perfume. This item can now be seen in museums in the United States and Cairo. At that time, monks may have been collectors, manufacturers, and users of spices, oils, or ointments. India and other ancient civilizations were also the earliest countries to use spices.
The spice trade began in 1729 BC, and in 370 BC, Greek writings recorded spice plants still in use and proposed methods such as "adsorption" and "extraction". By the 14th century, Arabs were engaged in the spice industry and began using distillation to extract oil from flowers, as well as rose oil and rose water. After the Middle Ages, there was trade between Asia and Europe, and spices were one of the medicines. Chinese spices were exported to the West along the Silk Road. In the 13th century, Italian Marco Polo came to our country and attached great importance to spices. In the 15th century, Portuguese explorers Magellan and Gamma also came to China to explore spices.
Starting from the 18th century, due to the development of organic chemistry, exploration began on the composition analysis and product structure of natural flavors, gradually using chemical synthesis methods to imitate natural flavors. In the 19th century, synthetic spices emerged one after another after single spice. In this way, in addition to animal and plant spices, synthetic spice varieties starting from coal tar and other spices have been added, entering a new era of synthetic spices. This greatly increases the sources of spices used for flavoring, greatly reduces spice prices, and promotes the development of spices.
With the increasing variety of natural and synthetic flavors and the improvement of flavor mixing technology, the essence industry has developed rapidly. Essence is mostly used in flavor enhancement products, and few spices are directly used.