Orlandosidee Exquisite Spices since 2005
Welcome to Orlandosidee Exquisite Spices - Selected spices , for restaurants, health food stores and private customers.
OrlandosIdee, the European distributor of spices and herbs, proposes a list of more than 200 different spices and herbs. We have done a thorough research, concentrating on the quality of the products we are selecting. All spices and herbs included in the list OrlandosIdee are imported to Germany. The heart of Europe where already the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, concentrated their trade in spices. The history of these common ingredients in almost every kitchen, however, is much older, and runs parallel to that of many ancient civilizations.
Spices have been mention in the old Testament and in ancient Chinese texts. Archeologists have found spices in tombs from Egypt 3000 years before Christ. Here they were used to exploit their preservative properties, during embalming and to appease the gods with their perfumes.
During the Roman Empire the spice trade was in the hands of the Arabs, skilled sellers, careful not to reveal to their buyers, where they came from, the treasures with which they bargained. Spices were so expensive and exclusive that only the richest people could afford cooking with them.
Spices as health food
Easy to think of Indian food, spicy par excellence! But in reality the use of spices has deep roots in our own culture. Oriental spices were in fact introduced in the Mediterranean by the ancient Greeks, who used the poppy seeds to make bread, fennel as an ingredient for acidic sauces, coriander to flavor food and wine, mint to flavor meat.
Spices are not just ingredients that can give a touch of flavor, and since ancient times have played an important role in the fields of health and medicine. The fragrances of spices were used to perfume the body, and already in a papyrus dated 1550 BC - The Ebers Papyrus - are described on the basis of spices and herbal remedies, the same that today we can easily find in a kitchen. The Sumerians used them as medicinal remedies, and in ancient Greece, Hippocrates, whose oath is still spoken by every new doctor, spoke of herbs and spices in his writings. In the sixteenth century the most popular spice was nutmeg: not to be used in the kitchen, nutmeg was considered a miracle cure against the plague.
