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Bio334Plnts&Ppl > Spices > Flashcards

Spices Flashcards

1
Q

Spices

A
  • Plant parts containing chemicals that produce smell and taste
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2
Q

What are characteristics of aromatic compounds?

A
  • Secondary metabolites
  • Found in many different plants and parts
  • Many functions in plant
  • Essential oils
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3
Q

What are functions of aromatic compounds in plants?

A
  • Scent attractant
  • Deterrent of herbivory
  • Pathogen protection
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4
Q

What are essential oils?

A
  • Volatile hydrophobic molecules
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5
Q

Common chemical group of aromatics?

A
  • terpenes

- Built with 5 carbon isoprene units

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6
Q

Spices were first trafficked to Europe by who?

A
  • Arab traders
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7
Q

Marco Polo accounted what?

A
  • An abundance of Eastern spices in 1200’s
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8
Q

Where do many pungent spices originate?

A
  • Tropical and Asian origins
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9
Q

When did spice explorations by sea begin?

A
  • 1400’s by major seafaring countries Portugal, Spain, Dutch, English
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10
Q

Who had dominance of spice trade in 1500’s

A

Portugal had India, China, Spice Islands

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11
Q

Who gained control of spice trade in 1600’s

A

Dutch

- Dutch East India Company

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12
Q

How did the British/English East India Company undermine Dutch control of spice trade after 1600’s?

A
  • Established other areas of spice production
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13
Q

What makes spices desirable?

A
  • Smell, flavour, and aid to cure foods
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14
Q

Black Pepper plant

A

Piper nigrum, Piperaceae, pepper family

- Climbing vine native to India

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15
Q

How is black pepper prepared

A
  • Green unripe berries dried, become black and shrivelled
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16
Q

How is white pepper made?

A
  • Using ripe black pepper berries, not unripe green

- Less pungent

17
Q

What is the world’s most widely used spice?

18
Q

What was pepper worth in Middle Ages Europe?

A
  • 10 times more than other spices
19
Q

What is the pungent compound of pepper?

A
  • Piperine, an alkaloid
20
Q

Nutmeg and Mace plant

A
  • Myristica fragrans, Myristicaceae
  • Nutmeg is stony seed
  • Mace is aril, membrane around pit
21
Q

Myristicin

A
  • Essential oil in nutmeg and mace
22
Q

Where is nutmeg/mace from?

A
  • Only grew in spice islands originally
23
Q

Banda Islands

A
  • Indonesia, previously known as Banda Islands
24
Q

History of Spice Islands through nutmeg

A
  • 1603 British arrived
  • 1616 Convinced inhabitants to acknowledge British king, became 1st English colony
  • 1620 British lose control after Dutch siege, led to Anglo-Dutch wars to control spice world
  • 1667 Treaty of Breda, relinquished Banda island to Dutch, British got another island that was originally Dutch
  • 1776 French smuggle out seed and break Dutch monopoly
25
Who broke Dutch monopoly on nutmeg/mace and how?
- French botanist Pierre Poivre | - Smuggled out seed in 1776 to grow in Mauritius
26
Cloves
- Eugenia caryophyllata, Myrtaceae, Laurel family - Un-opened flower buds - Spice Islands, similar history as nutmeg
27
Cinnamon
- Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Myrtaceae - Native to India and Sri Lanka - Inner bark of tree - Highly valuable and sought after
28
Saffron
- Crocus sativa, Iridaceae, Iris family - Stigma of flowers - Give orange-yellow colour and delicate flavour - Spain major producer
29
Hot Chili Peppers
- Capsicum spp., Solanaceae, nightshade family - Native to Central/South America - Pepper is the fruit
30
Where does the hot taste in chili peppers come from? How does it affect body?
- Capsaicinoids - Group of 7alkaloids concentrated in seeds - Capsaicin binds to same nerve receptor that perceives burning temperature hotness
31
Where does the word 'chili' originate?
- Mexican origin | - Long pod shape pepper
32
How many cultivated chili species are there? Name a few
- 5 Cultivated species and many varieties - C. annuum most common (cayenne, jalapeño, bell, paprika) - C. frutescens, more fiery
33
What are 2 new world spices?
- Hot chili peppers | - Vanilla
34
Vanilla plant
- Vanilla plantifolia, Orchiaceae, orchid family - Native to rain forest in Central America - Over 18,000 species, vanilla only crop product
35
Where was vanilla first discovered by Europeans and by who?
Spanish discovered in Aztec chocolatl
36
How is vanilla prepared as a spice?
- Fruit pod is vanilla bean - Curing process involves drying, heating, sweating (i.e. fermentation) - Takes months
37
What are the black specks in ice cream?
- seeds from natural vanilla
38
What is the primary component of vanilla extract?
- Vanillin, and some other compounds
39
Vanillin, what kind of compound and how artificially made?
- Phenolic, found in vanilla - Artificially synthesized from several substrates like lignin (wood component, wood pulp) - Genetically engineered yeasts can convert glucose to vanillin

Bio334Plnts&Ppl (30 decks)

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