Chapter 5 Vanilla Secret

Once I went to the flower market and brought home a pot of rosemary, a pot of basil and a pot of mint.Soon, the air in the room was infected by the special scent of rosemary, which had a vaguely lyrical meaning, which fit well with the damp spring atmosphere. Buying these three kinds of herbs at home is not only for displaying, but more importantly, for cooking.Rosemary is great with potatoes and beef, and can also be used to make herbal tea; perilla leaves can be used in cold salads, porridge, scrambled eggs, and is a good friend of fried snails; as for mint leaves, homemade Mojito (a Mint leaves, lime, rum cocktail) can help you refresh the whole summer.

Close your eyes and recall the western food you have eaten, you will find that in almost every dish, the presence of vanilla is very strong, and it clearly stimulates your senses (even the mysterious formula of Coca-Cola also has cinnamon and nutmeg of a place), which is rare in traditional Chinese food.The reason for this difference is that the Europeans in the Middle Ages ate extremely poorly, using a lot of pepper, cinnamon, cloves and ginger to cover the taste of rough and stale meat.It's a pity that most of these spices are produced in the tropical regions of the Far East. After passing through the land route (spices are also important commodities traded on the Silk Road), the price is comparable to gold after taxation by various countries.As a result, navigators built sailing ships, trying to bypass the African continent and reach Southeast Asia, establishing contact with the spice country.In the end, they succeeded, opening the era of great navigational discoveries, and thus changing the pattern of the world.To be a bit hypocritical, it can be said that spices have reshaped the planet, and it is also a sign of the rise of Europe.

Modern people who devote their energies to such non-poetic commodities as stocks, real estate, oil and finance will never be able to understand the mystery of people's strong enthusiasm for finding "seemingly less important" spices at that time.But it is this energy that seems to be a fuss that gives spices a deep-rooted retro romance—think about it, a wooden three-masted sailboat full of spices, compared with a large ship full of cheap jeans and T-shirts, Absolutely heaven and earth.Spices not only provide us with sensory stimulation, but also an emotional and emotional supplement and need: In the history of Western literature, spices have always been an important feature of sacred and happy places, and are closely related to religious traditional rituals.

Curry is a synthesis of common spices.Every time I eat a good curry, I get goosebumps.When the first spoonful is put into the mouth, the aromas of pepper, cloves, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, mustard seeds and turmeric powder expand rapidly like the Big Bang, which immediately excites people.The spiciness of chili and garlic that followed was enough to make the forehead covered with sweat, and the sweetness and moisturization of coconut milk immediately made the stimulation disappear, leaving only the inseparable aroma.Every bite is like magic in the mouth, so wonderful that it is basically numb and can't distinguish things.More than 20 kinds of spices in traditional curry will evoke a pleasure beyond taste, an echo of the past era of incomparable luxury and wealth, an indescribable complex passion and vitality.

In 1721 BC, a fire broke out in a small town by the Euphrates River.The fire destroyed the house and scorched the earth.New cities were built on the scorched earth, and then destroyed with the decline of the empire, and this continued for thousands of years.One day, an archaeological team dug up a blackened clay pot in the desert, and what was contained in the pot was a small handful of cloves.