Today we take spices for granted.  There they are, always handy on the spice shelf, as ordinary as our daily newspaper; and if we run out, they are as near as the neighborhood grocery or supermarket.  We can scarcely imagine a time when spices weren’t commonplace and familiar.  Yet the fact is that in nearly all of recorded history, man’s fate has been closely bound up with his hunger for these marvelous spices.

A trace of this urgency linger in our subconscious memories.  To most of us the word spices still conveys an impression of vague and wonderful adventure; and when we speak of the “spice of life”, we mean something more than privacy–we mean romance.

The first known reference to spices occurs in the scriptures of the ancient Assyrians.  According to their version of the creation, which they chiseled into stone tablets 5,000 years ago, the gods who made the earth were so impressed by the difficulty of the task that they held a sort of celestial committee meeting before they began their work.  And while they discussed the problems of the creation, they drank sesame seed wine.

Long before the Assyrians, men were well acquinted with spices. Archaeologists believe that they knowledge of seasoning extends back at least 50,000 years.  Very likely the first experience with seasoning came when primitive men wrapped meat in leaves before coking it on hot coals.  Their purpose was to protect the meat from dirt and ashes; however, they soon learned that certain leaves imparted a pleasant new flavor to the meat.

Of course it was not only a pleasure flavor that made spices important. Primitive men often had to eat foods that were strong-tasting or even spoiled; and later on civilized men, too suffered greatly from unpalatable and refridgerating foodstuffs, spices made it possible to eat foods which otherwise would have been inedible.

Pepper, Red  ( Capisicum frutescens); Red Pepper and Cayenne; native to tropical America and West Indies; known in pre-Inca days; Columbus found hot red peppers in Cuba and introduced them to Europe; fruit of pepper plant; has no relation to Black and White Pepper; Red Pepper available crushed and ground; Cayenne are available as a blend; orange-red to deep red in color; has a hot, pungent flavor; use with caution; in some sections of the United States whole red pepper may be purchased as Chili Tepines.

So, it seems we all take the spices we use of the shelve in our daily food preparation for granted and just assume that they have always been around for the taking.  Remember when you make your next meal, what spices do you end up pulling of the pantry shelf to Spice Up your favorite dish.

Peppers of Key West is just one of those places we all go to, to find the spice we need to add to our daily meals, whether it be Blair’s Death Rain Habanero Spice, or Hog’s Breath Blackening we need these spices to make amazing dishes!