Tag Archives: Spice Trade

All of Our Travels, Cambodia, Croatia, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Slovenia

2014 in Review – Part 2

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Our experiences in 2014 have been rewarding beyond our dreams. Taking the time to look back over all of our blog posts, Facebook posts, and photos has made it all seem even more unbelievable. It’s hard to believe all that we’ve done and the amazing places that we’ve visited. We are truly grateful to have spent the year exploring and learning together, living abroad, and making friends.

There was so much to cover in our year-end review, that we felt that our recollections needed to be broken up into two parts for easier reading. If you haven’t read Part 1, which covers January – June, then you can find it here. Otherwise, read on as we cover our adventures from July – December. Continue reading 2014 in Review – Part 2 →

All of Our Travels, Malaysia

Penang’s Tropical Spice Garden

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Our guide stops along the path to pick and crush a leaf. He hands it to us with a friendly challenge, “Can you name it?”. We breathe in the unmistakable sweet-spicy fragrance that we associate with the Thanksgiving desserts of our childhood. “Clove”, we respond confidently. “Very good”, says our guide. He points out the unopened flower buds on the tree and explains that those will become the dried, nail-shaped, spice that we see in the spice aisle at the grocery store.

TropicalSpiceGarden_14 Continue reading Penang’s Tropical Spice Garden →

All of Our Travels, Malaysia

Getting to Know Malaysia

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For millennia, spices were valued as highly as gold and silver — sometimes higher. Their lucrative trade drove world leaders to wage wars, inspired the Age of Exploration, established vast empires, and helped to create an early form of globalization.

With spices so plentiful and easily accessible today, it can be hard to believe how prized and closely controlled they once were. Pepper was (and is) the most popular and sought after spice. It was so highly valued that there was a time when you could pay the rent with it and the Goths listed it amongst their ransom demands when they defeated Rome. Other spices such as cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg were also highly valued. In fact, the Dutch sold Manhattan (New Amsterdam) to the British in return for a tiny, nutmeg-rich island. Continue reading Getting to Know Malaysia →