Western Kennedys Website
The History of Spices!
by Patricia Kennedy
We all have our favorite brands and tastes, but I wanted to share with you just a few ideas that have been handed down to me over the years from Mother and Grandmother.  Parsley was very important to them.  Mother always said that it improved digestion of food.  As you boys probably remember, I always talked about eating parsley.  Mother even believed that dried parsley was good for you, and I have always used an abundance of that in different recipes.  It seems to me also that dried parsley acts as something of a thickening agent.  Don't ask me why, but it does.  It is not like flour or cornstarch, but it helps to thicken a soup or stew. 

Also my mother taught me that a small amount of sugar (no more than about 1 or 1 � teaspoons brings out the flavor in food, rather like msg.  Many people are allergic to msg, so sugar is much better to use.  Also be careful about how much salt that you use.  Our family has high blood pressure.  Actually, I never add salt to vegetables and many other foods.  You need some salt, but go easy with it.

My favorite brand of spice is Spice Islands - probably part of it is in the name.  I begin to imagine all of the adventurers who went after the spices.  Seriously, you do want a good brand.  I have learned that if you keep the spices and herbs for a long period of time, they gradually lose their flavor.  You have to buy fresh jars from time to time.

My mother always used Eagle Brand Chili powder which she said was as close as you could come to chili powder from Mexico.  Mother and her family (her parents, Jim and Sophia Marlow, her brothers, Joe and J.B.) lived in Mexico around 1910.  Her dad had invested in a gold mine there.  A revolution occurred in Mexico in 1910 and all foreigners were force out.  Her family brought back several recipes from Mexico. 

Aunt Ginny is working on one that she remembered from Mother.  I will post it when she sends it to me.  You can still get Eagle Brand Chili powder in stores.  What I have found rather interesting is that our Mexican friends here in Hawaii all use that brand - so it must remind them of home.  Chili powder is a blend of several chilies.  It is the "pepper" of the Americas.  Christopher Columbus was disappointed that he could never find pepper growing on the Caribbean islands.  When the Conquistadores landed in Mexico the red chilies and the chili powder were as close as they could come to the black pepper from India.
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