Monday, December 7, 2009

Birthday Novelty Singapore

Lo Schizzo - Ifix Tchen Tchen

In the late 70's and early 80's, proliferated pornographic novels, a sort of copy of the other erotic picture stories in which they told stories more or less trivial or obvious.

Among these, published in France and then imported into Italy, there was "Supersex" where the lead actor, Gabriel Pontello, embodied a alieno caduto sulla terra che, per sopravvivere nell'atmosfera terrestre, si era impossessato del corpo di un ispettore di polizia, per cui le varie storie erano incentrate su crimini e misfatti vari.

L'alieno protagonista poteva emanare un fluido misterioso che scatenava una pazzesca libidine e che eliminava ogni freno inibitore in tutti i presenti che si scatenavano in orge e giochetti vari.

Al termine di ogni amplesso, Supersex lanciava il suo " IFIX TCHEN TCHEN! " che era un grido di piacere e di liberazione allo stesso momento, ed indicava, appunto, l'arrivo dell'orgasmo condito da lanci di schizzi violenti del suo fluido organico che andavano ad imbrattare i corpi ed i visi perfetti di splendide actresses.

sketch that was blatant, external marker, a real actor's signature.

Today, 30 years later, the fashion sketch came strongly into fashion in the kitchen, no more black and white as the glossy magazines of the time, but orgy three-dimensional and color sketches and sketch of condiments, sauces, gravies, marks or signs that the dishes that we get.

Some call them "the signature of the chef in his own creative impulse."

Squirting All the great chefs as the little chef in the province, teachers, courses and even the pastry kitchen. There are sketches
anche ai buffet su tarte e tartine o dalla casalinga che ha preparato una cena un po' speciale per i suoi invitati.

Schizza Bottura, schizza Cracco, schizza Berton e schizza persino Adrià.
Anzi, mentre schizza idrogenizza istantaneamente in nuvola, chè lui è un Maestro anche dello schizzo.

Contemporaneamente, a certi deschi, spariscono oliera acetiera e saliera, il gustatore non può più schizzare in proprio, deve assogettarsi allo schizzo di altri, calibrato, colorato e perfettamente disposto, di traverso, di lato, in un angolo, tutto intorno o fin'anche al centro.

La auto masturbazione è esclusa.

Moreover said as De Sade: "Fixed on the sofa, my dear. The rest I think."

And some chefs, like many Pontello the kitchen, give off a magic fluid, capable of instilling a real lust, and well in advance, to their guests who already enjoy in their minds the orgy of flavors, aromas and which is preparing the final sketches.

Perhaps, in 2020, recalls the first decade of 2000 as "the era of the sketches" similarly to when we remember the '80s and cream.

Or maybe not, and sketches of today will be forgotten in the rapid turn of a mouthful.

Without even allow time to exclaim: IFIX Tchen Tchen!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Free First Time Auditions Vids

Tortelli di Zucca .....a modo mio!!!!










After tantisssssssimo time I could post a recipe, the time to write something I was not able to get it but sometimes I cooked, I can not stay away from the stove.
course, although I have not posted anything does not mean that I went to take a look in the various blog friends and I must say that I have seen wonderful recipes and I think too greedy. We come to these
recipe ravioli with a form different from the usual ...

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of homemade pasta
  • 50 g pumpkin 50 g cheese
  • fresh nutmeg
For the filling combine the pumpkin, before we baked in the oven and cool made with ricotta cheese and nutmeg.
After having stretched the dough cut into rectangles of desired size, then put a bit in the middle 'of filling chiurede with another rectangle of dough and wrap tightly to the sides. To get the butterfly shape to make a pressure on the sides towards the inside of the rectangle.
I've served with butter and sage, I hope you enjoy and good appetite.

* as usual I prepared for my use gluten free products

Thursday, November 26, 2009

How To Build Sweater Drying Racks

PRIMO COMPLEANNO CTS VIAVAI NUORO


Friday 27 at the CTS VIAVAI of Nuoro, in Angioy 13, will celebrate the first year of the Student Tourist Centre in Nuoro, from 20.00

The evening will have music as a soundtrack DJ Milan and Luca Papini Massimo Maricosu Nuoro, you can admire the photographic exhibition result of the work of the photographer Antonia Dettori with the course participants "Photographing the trip" was held in the seat in the 2009 CTS. The designer (and equal member of the CTS) Puggioni Paul will present his "light of an Author and handcrafted materials with which he re-invented, and some pieces made in collaboration with the Design Workshop nuorese Bam.
During the evening you can participate in the buffet every region of a plate where you can enjoy a taste of typical dishes from each Italian region.
In addition to the courses scheduled for 2010 (one of nature photography, one of techniques for self massage, one English and one German), managers CTS VIAVAI reward even the most creative members, ie those which by Friday 27 send to 'address nuoro@cts.it a description in 10 lines of a journey with them, but also those who still are not members and that 27 leave your data, thus participating in the extraction of the original signed CTS awards.


The Student Travel Association, for years now turns to a much wider range of students only and is not just a traditional travel agent but also as a cultural association in which anyone can feel the card in "duty" to give their ideas, ask to be not only meet their needs in tourism (Tours, individual travel, cruises, hotels, bed & breakfasts, spas, honeymoons ...) but also cultural (study tours, training courses, etc.), artistic (organization of exhibitions and events), environmental (ecocamp, workshops etc) and much more!

For information on 'event you can contact the office of CTS in Nuoro num 078432490 or email nuoro@cts.it.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Olivia Palermo's Huge Black Ring

Quando il pomodoro non c'era - Viaggio (ragionato) nelle salse ed intingoli

A look in the menus of restaurants or homes today, in Liguria tomatoes seem to exist forever. Instead we arrived very late or rather later, and again after it was imposed on our plates.

He began to be grown only as ornamental plants, as in most of the rest of Italy, and up to half of the 800 was not used in the Ligurian cooking if not, rarely, in the form of "salad" (famous is become the heart of ox Albenga outside of our region, over the years only 80 of 1900). When

GB Ratto, in 1865, wrote and printed the cook Genovese, tomato appeared for the first time in alcune ricette del libro, che risentiva, comunque, di notevoli influenze toscane.

Ma fino ai primi del '900 la cucina ligure era di fatto una cucina sostanzialmente "in bianco", come si è mantenuta in molte sue ricette ancora oggi.

Come ho già avuto modo di dire, la cucina ligure attuale si è sviluppata come contaminazione, nel corso dei secoli, di altre cucine, sia la piemontese, soprattutto nella riviera di ponente ed a Genova, sia con le cucine, i metodi e gli ingredienti che sono arrivati via mare nel corso dei secoli.

Gli influssi orientali si sono fatti sentire dapprima con le colonie genovesi in Crimea, ed i contatti con i popoli mongoli, ed in seguito con le varie ondate arabe che si have followed in the Mediterranean.

many preparations that we derived from the east today with good reason can be defined in Liguria, as a result of further development of methods and contamination of ingredients on our territory, and among them some of our sauces, sauces or should I say, the most famous.

So we make a little journey into the world of Ligurian sauce, as they used and how proposals are still at the table, all, strictly, no tomato.

All sauces proposals below do not have an encoding is determined as well as ingredients that dose, as individual households often amend them to ensure their own use. So, we reported that ingredients and dosages maggiormente trovano riscontro nella media delle ricette.

Nota: non verrà presentato il pesto, in quanto già se ne è lungamente discusso .



Agiadda (Agliata)
Zona di diffusione: Vessalico, tutta la valle Arroscia, entroterra ponentino, con varianti in tutta la Liguria fino a Sarzana.

Di questa salsa ne esistono varianti diverse, a seconda se ci si sposta più sulla riviera di ponente che in quella di levante, ed anche il nome cambia da agiadda ad aié.

Degli ingredienti originali, il primo che viene a mancare dirigendosi verso Genova è l'uovo, che rende questa salsa così simile all'aiolì francese.

Its main ingredient, however, is the garlic, and possibly Vessalico, which has organoleptic properties specifically identified.

Sephardic version
The preparation starts from simple ingredients but the difficulty lies in the "frame" of the yolk, as in a mayonnaise, is obtained by adding slowly, wire, oil, extra virgin olive oil of course.

Ingredients:

egg yolk 2 cloves of fresh garlic strictly Vessalico (Arroscia)
extra virgin olive oil salt


Preparation:
gets pounded garlic in a mortar until a homogeneous mixture.
Now add a pinch salt, egg yolk, and with great skill in working with the yolk, the oil "flush" (ie making it drop slowly from the spout dell'oliera), until a creamy density.

The sauce should be as "soda" can be cut with a knife.

A variant, always present in the west, is to incorporate the egg yolk but hard, do not mount as seen previously.

egg-free version
Arroscia Leaving the Valley, instead of oil is replaced with the vinegar and egg in place, it disappears, the bread, turning the sauce into something different but still similar :

Ingredients: vinegar


garlic bread

dry white wine salt.

Preparation:
you put in a mortar the garlic and bread crumbs and mache.
You add the salt and dilute with vinegar and wine.
The mixture is then boiled for a few minutes, before seasoning.

This sauce can accompany boiled or boiled vegetables, like green beans with garlic typically Genoese, or the cod.

However, there is a recipe a bit 'in particular is used as the liver and the breast of veal, which was one of the parts of the veal consumed typically in Genoa until a few decades ago:

Figaeto in aggiadda
Ingredients: Calves liver

extra virgin olive oil bread

a little stern, or spleen of veal


salt Preparation:
Cut the liver into thin strips and arrange them in a pan after heating oil.
Stir with a wooden spoon the livers and cook over high heat. Before the mortar
the crumb of a good vinegar-soaked bread and a little stern, or calf spleen, bleached first with a quick boil.

Pour the mixture into a bowl and thin with a little more vinegar.
When the liver is almost ready, place it on one side of the pan and pour in the remaining free preparation.
Then mix with a spoon, stirring vigorously for no more than one minute.
Salt to taste when serving. Serve hot.



Marò or Pestùn de fave (broad bean sauce)
Area of \u200b\u200bdistribution: Western Liguria

From the sea and more specifically by the Saracens seems to stem this other sauce, made with beans and the bright light green.
The etymology of the word indeed lends itself to two different origins: Mar
one o'clock in Arabic salsa, and the other sailor to sailor, because of this sauce seemed to do with heavy use on boats.

Even in the recipe for this sauce ingredients may vary but la più antica è la seguente.

Ingredienti:
500 g di fave fresche
8 foglie di menta
aglio
olio extravergine di oliva
sale grosso
pepe
aceto.

Dopo aver pulito le fave, liberandole anche della seconda pellicina, si pestano (tradizionalmente) nel mortaio con le foglie di menta, l'aglio e un pizzico di sale grosso.

Pestare bene sino ad ottenere una pasta omogenea. Versare il tutto in una terrina ed aggiungere il pepe ed uno goccio d'aceto.

Diluire con l'olio ed amalgamare fino ad ottenere una consistenza semiliquida.

Esiste una versione più ricca e più moderna, che utilizza anche il pecorino grattugiato e la maggiorana dough.

You can accompany grilled meat or fish, or season of the excellent trenette. It seems that the original use is consumed with goat and sheep roasted.



Machetto (pasta with sardines)
Area of \u200b\u200bdistribution: Western Liguria, now throughout Liguria

Even among this sauce originates from the sea, and also has a match in France, pissala povenzale. The source is certainly very old, just think of the Roman garum or Vietnamese nuoc mam derived from the fermentation of small fish.

In the west with this pasta are seasoned focaccia, from which time the pissalandrea or macchetusa, or sardenara a seconda della zona di produzione.

La salsa anticamente veniva composta da sardine, specie le parti di scarto, come la testa, ma anche tutto il pesce, comprese le interiora, mentre al giorno d'oggi alle sardine si preferiscono le acciughe ed è stata modificata dall'introduzione del pomodoro tra gli ingredienti.

La versione originale è questa.

Ingredienti:
500 g di sardine medio piccole
olio di oliva extravergine
sale grosso.

Preparazione: le sardine vengono tritate e disposte in vasi di vetro, mescolando qualche minuto ogni giorno, sino ad ottenere una pasta omogenea. A seconda del grado di fermentazione che si vuole ottenere possono occorrere pochi giorni sino a qualche week.

Machetto When ready, add extra virgin olive oil to soften the taste and help conservation.

With this sauce you prepare delicious canapés are served along with cocktails and hors d'oeuvre, you can flavor breads, pasta fin'anche.



Pesto garlic
coverage area: Val Pentemina north of Genoa

Again a sauce made of garlic, but with variations: garlic is added to the oil and the grated cheese a time derived from the local cheeses, ripened, that every family produced for own consumption.

All blends with the cream: once you used the cream of milk, leaving the rest surfaced milk in a large bowl (the enamel bowls), for one night. A variant

a bit 'more acceptable to our modern palates includes the addition of pine nuts and a lower amount of garlic.

is a sauce that traditionally accompanied the polenta. It goes very well but also pens, quarantine and potato ravioli with herbs.

It is not known exactly because of its origin, since the ingredients are the same as pesto, as might have been born without basil pesto, given the lack of it for most of the valley, but it is only a ' hypothesis.

Note that in Tigullio Pesto prescinseua added the soles, or ricotta, or even a bit 'fresh cream.

is also likely to have origins similar to those of "aioli" Provencal garlic-based sauces of Mediterranean Spain (aioli) and Greece (skordhalià).

In practice even this gourmet sauce, like pesto, has small variations, such as lack of brown to the amount of garlic.

difficult to find today, is found almost exclusively in Pentema, a small fraction of the Trebbia, par excellence the country of the World, famous for its museum of rural history and the crib trying to revive the fortunes of a country in state of semi-abandonment.

Ingredients: 2-3 cloves of garlic


two handfuls of pine nuts 50 g of parmesan cheese
two tablespoons of cream (not the sweetened)
30 ml oil


salt to taste Preparation: Grind the
' garlic, without the skins, in a mortar, along with pine nuts.
join the grated Parmesan cheese and a pinch of salt.
Pour the oil and mix with the cream.

Before serving, dilute slightly with water from the pasta. To remember that if you were to increase the garlic sauce gives a much stronger flavor, good will then increase in proportion to the other ingredients.



Sarsa de noxious (walnut sauce)
coverage area: All of Liguria

ancient Persia was already widespread use of this sauce that is still present in Eastern and Balkan cuisine.

was presumably at the time of the Genoese Republic, which transported by sea, if not the sauce, the recipe definitely.

The "SARS de noxious" then made a long journey before reaching us from where he was soon used to create a great dressing for a creamy, ivory colored with a sweet taste which clearly recognizes the taste walnut.

pansoti Ideal for seasoning (herb ravioli, tipici liguri) dalla caratteristica forma triangolare, gli gnocchi di castagne, ed altro.
Anche questa salsa, come il pesto, presenta delle piccole variazioni nella letteratura e nella pratica gastronomica, come l'assenza di pinoli o la presenza a piacere della maggiorana.

Ingredienti:
250 g di gherigli di noci già puliti
un cucchiaio (g 25) di quagliata (prescinseua)
50 g di pinoli
tre cucchiai d'olio extravergine di oliva
la mollica di due panini
sale.

Preparazione:
pelare i gherigli di noci, dopo averli scottati in acqua bollente. Inzuppare la mollica del pane nell'acqua o nel latte e strizzarla: ciò impedisce che la noce formi olio e renda amara the sauce.

Put the walnuts in a mortar, the breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pine nuts, and for those who want the marjoram.
Chop well and pour into a bowl where the mixture is diluted with milk curdled, drained of its whey and oil.

Mix ingredients until they are all well blended and the sauce will look like a cream.



Sarsa de pigneu (pine nut sauce)
Area of \u200b\u200bdistribution: Genoa, now a large part of Liguria

addition to the walnut sauce, white sauce, ivory and other more delicate flavor lends itself to the first for seasoning lasagna and pansoti: the sauce with pine nuts.

do not know when it has evolved and since it was introduced in our kitchen, but given the ingredients, the sauce could again be very old.

Ingredients: 250 g

a tablespoon of pine nuts (25 g) of curd (prescinseua)
a tablespoon of olive oil
the two rolls of bread soaked in milk
salt.

Preparation:
Crush the pine nuts in a mortar together with the breadcrumbs. Adjust salt and add the other ingredients.
Mix everything together adding the oil to soften the whole.

E 'should be noted, as up to the 800, in Liguria, on the tables of the people, the oil that was used was walnut oil or nuts, because olive oil was too expensive for local use and preferred to sell outside the territory. From this use, perhaps, have evolved as the two sauces just proposals.



Sauce kernels
Area of \u200b\u200bdistribution: the hinterland of Savona

I make an exception for this particular sauce, since the presence of tomato is scarce, is a most recent addition, since originally the sauce prepared smooth and tomatoes.

Outside the hinterland of Savona is not known, and then present it with pleasure.

Its taste is delicately flavored and the color is golden sauce is a typical country Balestrino.
E' ottimo con le tagliatelle casalinghe, e ricorda una cucina semplice, frutto dell'utilizzo dei prodotti che la natura dei boschi circostanti offre, con l'aggiunta di soli pochi altri ingredienti, atti più ad amalgamare che a dare sapore.

Anche l'origine di questo sugo è più orientale come usanza, visti i gherigli delle noci utilizzate e le mandorle.

Ingredienti:
1 tazza di gherigli di noce, mandorle, e nocciole sgusciate
2 spicchi d'aglio
2 fette di pane raffermo
olio
conserva di pomodoro q. b. (molto, molto poca, 1 cucchiaio è
sufficiente)

Preparazione:
Far soffriggere in una casseruola, ben unta, le noci, le mandorle, le nocciole insieme agli spicchi d'aglio e al pane raffermo spezzettato.

Pestare il tutto nel mortaio, riporre quindi nuovamente nella casseruola con un cucchiaio di conserva di pomodoro, allungata con mezzo bicchiere di acqua tiepida.
Far cuocere a fiamma molto bassa sino a quando l'olio si separerà dal resto.

Condirci tagliatelle o pasta fatta in casa. Volendo rispettare filologicamente la tradizione, non aggiungere il pomodoro.



Salsa di carciofi
Zona di diffusione: ponente e Genova

Si pensa che l'origine di questa salsa sia il ponente ligure, anche se a Genova è abbastanza diffusa, ed inoltre Genova acquistava i carciofi direttamente dalla Sardegna, once.

is used to flavor homemade pasta or lasagna.

Ingredients: artichokes

3 1 / 2 onion
1 / 2 cup dry white wine 1 tablespoon flour


parsley 1 clove of garlic oil



salt Preparation: Brown the chopped onion and
's garlic in oil, add the artichokes, cut thin, so a higher flame add the white wine and a tablespoon of flour and let evaporate.

Lower the heat and cook with salt, a quarter of an hour.
before serving chop the parsley over pasta with a drizzle of olive oil.

We end this series with a sauce used with the first fish, a preparation which is still called "fish paste SAE".



Pasta fish sae
Area of \u200b\u200bdistribution: the whole of Liguria

The preparation is simple: melt a bit 'of anchovies in oil on low heat, without sizzle, in quantities adjusted according to the diners.

When the anchovies are transformed into a thick sauce, like a paste, add chopped garlic and parsley, which has very little star on the fire so it does not bake.

You Drain the pasta and season with the sauce, excellent tonic for a day of work.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Samsung Combi Channel Settings

A qualcuno piace "hot"! Le rotte delle spezie (parte decima)

In the eighteenth century began to codify the first collections of popular cuisine, no longer only reserved for the nobility, those who later will be called cookbooks cooking "traditional". It will be necessary, however, wait for the 800 and 900 because the recipes begin to stabilize and assumed a truly local in character.

Meanwhile, the food that came from America began to take hold slowly and with them the spices, especially South America. Among them there are the chili, because of its easy cultivation even in regions south of Europe, and given the low cost of cultivation, they soon came to support the pepper, if not to replace it, People in the kitchen.

Gia in the 700 dietetics had ceased to look to the past, and the hot spices of the East had begun to lose their charm. The only one that should not be stopped, but, rather, an increase over time until today, pepper is the spice that is still the most traded worldwide.

very briefly summarize 5000 years of history of spices, we saw how they went through in everyday earlier, and for a long time, through the use derived from medical and religious philosophies of antiquity, peeping into the kitchen only a later, to get to the explosion of flavors in the late Middle Ages and regressing back into the modern age.

The study of the two researchers, who gave birth to this brief tour, associated with the consumption of spices to their antiseptic properties, which undoubtedly is present, and argues that they are used mainly for this reason.

Probably, however, that reason alone is not enough to justify the enormous spread of the spices have had over the millennia, as at the local level are no spices or herbs that perform this function very well, and in many cases have antiseptic properties far better than the imported spices.

Limiting the analysis to cookbooks cooking "traditional" little more than a century of life, irrespective of movements of peoples, their customs, history and economy of the spices in a global, binding strongly to study a historical period very close and not sufficiently representative.

Another aspect concerns the distribution of the use of spices depending on the latitude of a certain course: much greater in the tropics and much less in the northern or southern, associating this parameter only to a greater shelf life of foods because of the heat and humidity.

to this unique approach can be moved two objections, both valid.
in the tropics is present the vast majority of plant species on our planet, and in proportion, so even the majority of spices and herbs that are used in the kitchens of those regions.

The evolution of human communities, from gatherers to farmers, has incorporated in the kitchen foods that were first collected and further cultivated in the territory of residence, and of course these foods are part of the spices and herbs, to an extent greater than greater is their local presence.

The second consideration is the geographical development of large companies in the past, all born in regions where the spices (especially food) were abundant and have millennia had time to digest certain flavors and export to and beyond the borders of their empires.

In conclusion, I believe that the question "why you use the spices in the kitchen", it is not possible to give a clear answer, found in the 800 recipes and 900, but it will be found in all aspects of economic competition , religious, philosophical, medical, cultural, we have seen during this brief history.

Stabbing Headache Dizzy

V EDIZIONE DELLA PENTOLA DELLE IDEE


Where Shall I Get Preethi Mixie In Uk

CORSO DI SPAGNOLO AL CTS VIAVAI DI NUORO

the presentation of the course is September 28 at the cts Angioy Via Nuoro, 13 (opposite the site of the new Sardinia) at 20:00 H

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Do Gas Stations Sell Blunt Wraps

A qualcuno piace "hot"! Le rotte delle spezie (parte nona)

The eastern end of the monopoly

From 1200 onwards, there was a progressive increase in imports of spices on the one hand, and a parallel decrease in their price on the other.

Proponents of the depreciation of the spices will be two important historical moments: the birth of the Maritime Republics around the twelfth century and the opening of the route to India by the Portuguese at the beginning of '500.

For centuries the Arabs (and Persians to the north) and the Indians were the absolute owners of the spice trade, but from about 1200 to begin to split their profits with Venice and Genoa, one for the Eastern Mediterranean and the other to the west and the area of \u200b\u200bthe Black Sea

From this point on, the Arabs will lose more ground in the monopoly of trade and will be overtaken by the merchants Jews and Muslims West, and finally by the Christians.

When the maritime republics began to decline, around the sixteenth century, the Portuguese tried to install their monopoly on all trade with India by sea, being able to establish direct routes around Africa at the end of '400 .

With various systems of the Portuguese strongholds, works on all the way from Africa to the coasts of Japan, will attempt to keep prices high, but will still be in competition with the east and that will give up completely in front of the English and Dutch commercial fleets century later.

In London the price of the pepper halves in the very moment when Britain takes possession of the final trade routes to India and the European Centre for importing spices went from Venice to Amsterdam.

The moment in which the economic and spices will become easily accessible to all, and could thus be greatly increased use, we are witnessing in Europe at a completely opposite phenomenon: almost completely disappear by the Treaties of cuisine of the rich bourgeoisie and the nobility.

France, immediately after the Renaissance, stands as a guide of elegance and refinement in all the European courts and immediately begins to dictate his style in the kitchen. Style that will be copied as a synonym of good taste at the table from other nations.

Se si vanno a leggere i trattati di cucina francesi editi tra il 1550 ed il 1650 ci si rende conto che il gusto dei francesi a tavola cambia profondamente in questo secolo. Delle spezie orientali che infarcivano i piatti medioevali prima e rinascimentali dopo, vengono più o meno abolite zafferano, zenzero, galanga, pepe lungo, pepe di Guinea (i famosi “grani di paradiso” medioevali), il macis, il lentisco ed altre ancora. La cannella cessa di essere utilizzata nei piatti salati e da quel momento in avanti verrà riservata solo alle preparazioni dolci.

Delle antiche spezie verranno mantenute, e comunque in misura minore, solo il pepe, il chiodo di garofano e la noce moscata.

I viaggiatori francesi complained even before 1650, in their stories, " dishes blacks spices and saffron " that met from Spain to Poland. At

oriental spices, cooking in the treaties, they are replaced local flavors: herbs, but not mint and hyssop, allium such as onions, shallots and chives in Spain, all types of mushrooms when it also began the technique of cultivation, Provence and condiments such as capers, anchovies, lemons and bitter oranges imported from Liguria (the famous Seville oranges).

From spicy and sour taste of the Middle Ages, the vinegar is used a bit 'all over the world before you go to taste preference for fat sauces and seasonings with butter becomes the fat of fine cuisine. The flavor is masked by an excessive exaltation of the seasonings you switch your flavor of each dish.

An illustrative example is what he wrote in 1654 Nicholas de Bonnefois, regarding the preparation and cooking of foods: "Try much as you can to diversify and distinguish by the taste and shape what you do to prepare: a Potage Santa soup is a good bourgeois, well-fed good meat choices, and restricted in a little stock, no ground beef, mushrooms, spices or other ingredients, but that is simple, because it brings the name of health, that the cabbage has all the smell of cabbage, that the porri del porro, alle rape della rapa e così le altre, e vedrete che i vostri Signori staranno meglio, saranno sempre di buon appetito, e che voi ne riceverete gli elogi. Quanto ho detto sulle Minestre, intendo che valga per tutto, e che sia la norma per tutto ciò che si mangia ”.

In un altro trattato, all’inizio del capitolo relativo al manzo, nella Cuisinière bourgeoise , Menon scriveva: “ Non entrerò nei dettagli di quella che chiamiamo la carne di scarto . Questa carne è in uso solo presso il popolino, che si ingegna in preparazioni ricche di sale, pepe, aceto, aglio e scalogno per coprirne il gusto insipido ”.

What was refined in earlier centuries, spices and seasonings acids, they become vulgar and vice versa, is left to the taste "strong" and sought instead to "fine and delicate."

made by historians are several hypotheses to explain this radical change of taste, and the almost total abandonment of oriental spices.
The first identifies the decline in the cost of spices the simultaneous decline of the same prestige and nobility, to show off its finesse, turn to other substitutes in place of oriental flavors become banal.
Another hypothesis attributes the decline of interest in spices to the decline of Hippocratic medicine and its diet, that in the seventeenth century entered a long period of decline.

But maybe the explanation is not determined by one factor, whereas in the meantime he was witnessing a global change of mentality in relation to knowledge, worldview, and the perception that European companies had of themselves. The Enlightenment

accelerates the sinking of ancient medicine, ancient beliefs about the production of the humoral body and the benefits of using spices "hot" or "dry" considered effective according to the dietary greek-Arab.

ranged medieval Europe the center of the world in the Middle East, dominated by Islam and since God's land, geographical and political insurmountable barrier to Asia and Africa inside. The Indian Ocean was the world of the unknown and the wonderful, myths and dangers, and Europe absorbed the medieval oriental fairy tales steeped in legends and imaginary monsters.

But since the end of the fifteenth century, the world, for Europe, and expands the boundaries and barriers fall to coincide with the first achievements of the trade routes. Furthermore, with the conquest of America, the economic center moves from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and the prestige of oriental products starts to suffer a sharp decline. The organization

Indiana and Arabic, which has worked almost continuously for about 4000 years in the Indian Ocean, and has traded spices, but also culture, knowledge, philosophy, ceases suddenly supplanted by a business model all over Europe, and from that point on will dictate the movement of global spices and decree success or failure of this or that spice in the kitchen

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Alpha Kappa Alpha Community Service

A qualcuno piace "hot"! Le rotte delle spezie (parte ottava)

medieval Europe and spices

In Europe was witnessing two major factors: the disintegration of ' Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity.

European order after the 476


Tra il II ed il IV secolo, le invasioni barbariche riuscirono a demolire completamente prima i confini e poi la struttura stessa dell’Impero Romano, suddividendo l’Occidente in una miriade di stati indipendenti e soggetti ad organizzazioni nel commercio e nell’economia politica diverse tra loro.

Il sapere si rifugia nei monasteri, che diventano i centri ed i custodi gelosi e spesso occultatori, delle antiche arti filosofiche, mediche e scientifiche.

Per secoli la pratica medica regredisce in Europa, ed i manoscritti alto medioevali offrono solo un insieme di regole pratiche per formulare una diagnosi tramite l’osservazione del polso e delle urine, descrizioni sommarie diseases of the greek name increasingly crippled lists medicinal herbs and recipes that draw on different sources.

dietary practices, inherited from the Greeks and Romans, were modeled on the principle of the four humors produced by the body and the transformation properties of food by manipulating them in the kitchen. The writings

survivors were mangled and adapted to a more "Christian" world, and many ancient knowledge was lost or hidden from the centers of power in the monasteries.

St. Basil, the founder of a large hospital in 370 at Caesarea, wrote that "not all illnesses are of natural origin, because some are sent directly by God to test our faith or to punish any sin we commit. "

the man of the people of the Middle Ages, medical dietetics in a cultural sense it matters little, remember only what is useful to support his experience in the more immediate health problems and refers to remedies based on ancient beliefs in the properties of heat and fire.


Strait on the one hand the Christian faith, and the other from East exerted a mysterious charm still very powerful, learning replaces lost the popular beliefs: the only contact with the precious stones that came from the East was considered capable protect the body from old age, spices not only expelling fluids unhealthy, but they burn them, and through the medieval imagination far beyond the kitchen and the pleasant, almost completely detaching and becoming de facto remedy doctor and a universal panacea.

But what about the kitchen and use of spices that was so extensive during the Roman Empire?

The kitchen in medieval Europe

collection of recipes from the apex of the second century AD until the early writings of medieval kitchen of the fourteenth century it will take centuries, so there are only general guidelines on nutrition of the people. The

stratification of social classes impacted all aspects of daily life, including food. The nobles and clergy were reserved for the finest foods than for the people.

the records of the Abbey of Corbie supply for 716 years, ahead of purchases are pepper, cumin, followed by cloves, spikenard and Indian costus. Two hundred years later, in another register of the same abbey also appear galanga, ginger and cinnamon.

Trade with India had not stopped, but had become vastly more expensive due to the fact that trade routes did not cross the largest unified empire, but often and often passed in lands not subject to close scrutiny and therefore unsafe. For the man of the people of the Eastern spice becomes something unattainable and must be replaced with other flavors, cheaper, collected in the fields.

The books of account of the fourteenth century some merchants of Montauban, country French at the foot of the Pyrenees, we find the social stratification related to the purchases.

farmers, artisans and laborers do not buy spices, and if this occurs very rarely, bought the only spice and pepper. Going up in the hierarchy, the merchants or the bourgeois constant supply of this spice, while the clergy and nobility also purchased ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Half a kilo of pepper in 1300 cost the equivalent of a sheep, while a pound of nutmeg over a cow.

the people to find the heat to be essential for good digestion, addressed to the fields and made abundant use of garlic and onion.
Instead of oriental spices, too expensive, J. Dubois in 1544 in his book Diet for a healthy diet, for the population, recommended a powder made from rosemary, sage, hyssop, savory, thyme, marjoram, bay leaves and heads of thistle, which is flavored with vegetable soups and soups .

Centuries later and sing to seek the mixture of "herbs of Provence" to be added to homemade soups and roasts.

The spices in the kitchen had become strictly the prerogative of the powerful and merchants, as well as other consumer products now considered, like sugar or olive oil, for example, in Liguria you will start to consume a permanent population of just over l ' 800.

kitchen treaties of the fourteenth century are written by chefs at the service of kings or noble of high rank, and are a food court, more or less uniform across Europe and makes abundant use of spices.

The most used are ginger, cinnamon, saffron and cloves. Black pepper is poorly mentioned, probably because its diffusion in the lower social strata diminishes the prestige. Appear also to a lesser extent for the canteens and more refined, cardamom, mace, nutmeg and pepper along.

A comparison of a collection of kitchen end of the fourteenth century "The Mesnagier de Paris" and its corresponding Eastern Europe shows that, in the court and the rich bourgeoisie, many spices that were used in the Middle East, differing only the use of coriander and cumin, completely abandoned in Western Europe for several centuries.

The rich spicy dishes put in the various cafeterias real competition, and the spice had become the expression most evident of a certain social status, sought as an expression of economic welfare dell'anfitrione.

But in just two hundred years, as we shall see, the whole system is destined to collapse and oriental spices, with indisputable protagonists, almost completely disappear from European recipes.

France, promoting the culinary culture of the elite in Europe and worldwide, the new rules will dictate the use of spices, and the center of the world will move again, abandoning forever the Middle East.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

Age Of Empires Roma Full

A qualcuno piace "hot"! Le rotte delle spezie (parte settima)

the highs and lows in the spice monopoly in the fall of the Roman Empire

The Romans, as we have seen , managed to break the monopoly of Indian-Arab and to establish direct communication with India for the import of spices.

the next two centuries, greatly increasing traffic (and subsequent export) of goods and raw materials in both directions. From Myos Hormos (now Quseir south of the Gulf of Suez) each year from 120 ships with destination ports in western India. It started around July of Egypt, taking advantage of the monsoon in October and then to the east, Please use for those opposed to Egypt in December and return to spring. In less than a year, the ship departed with the goods of the Mediterranean and returned laden with Eastern spices, to share the following July.

The direct trade between the Roman Empire and India came to the east coast of India: near Arikameddu, near Pondicherry, was discovered a Roman colony, a real settlement, with furnishings from Italy .

Rome came to China, although not in a systematic way, but ambassadors will be exchanged between the two empires.

Spices Indian Chinese travel with the goods, both by sea and by land. In contrast, in India were imported textiles, artifacts and the very popular Italian wine and Neapolitan coral, which reached the their coasts. From Rome

spices were then spread throughout the empire, to Spain, the coasts of North Africa and northern Europe. The price of pepper in Rome in 77 AD was 45 denier for the "long", 18 denier and white pepper for the money only for nine black pepper.

In this regard, Pliny the Elder had to say: "there is no year in which India does not drains 50 million sesterces to the Roman Empire" and other moralists on pepper: "It is surprising that the use Pepper has become so popular, seeing that other substances that we use is the sweetness or their appearance that has attracted our attention, the pepper has nothing in that if a recommendation as to beg other fruits, such as having a certain unique quality hotness, and this is why now we import from India! Who was the first that made it a kind of food? And who, to my surprise, was not content to prepare himself for a meal that would serve only to satisfy a strong appetite? ".

Under Trajan, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent, reaching to the east until it reaches the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, controlling both the route to the spices in the Indian Ocean, that the various silk roads between the China and the West. The demand for luxury goods and spices rises more than ever, and huge quantities of spices reach the eastern Mediterranean and from there will be traded to the north and Western Europe.

But in 226 AD in Persia Sassanid monarchy took over the well-organized, and this time the overland trade with Asia becomes undisputed monopoly of the Persian merchants. At the same time, Rome lost the advantage in the Indian Ocean, since its take over as Indian and Arab traders.

privileged traffic of Rome with the East, back in the hands of intermediaries, again increasing transportation costs and mediation real spice.

The collapse of the Roman Empire, the role of intermediary for the import of spices goes to Byzantium, but the demand for goods from the East is no longer comparable with respect to what occurred a few centuries earlier. Byzantium, however, will have little chance of direct contact with the Orient, bordering as it was with Sassanid Persia, and the attempt of Justinian, to restore traffic in the Red Sea without encountering luck.

Between 622 and 632 AD a new political force, military and religious begin to expand in the Near East: Muslims. Within a few decades crisis began in the business of Byzantium and took in hand the organization of trade also dictated prices. The direct trade with India is completely broken and mediated entirely by the Arabs that very soon they start a business with Spain and China.


Between VII and VIII century, the Islamic world will extend from the Atlantic to India and the commercial center will return to being the Persian Gulf, where there's now even Chinese junks.

The court in Baghdad and the Caliphate of Cordoba exceed in magnificence and splendor all the cities of the West. The use of spices and treaties of dietary Arabs will multiply, thanks to the technical paper that the Arabs have learned to Samarkand, in the course of their conquests.

Abbasid aromatic taste of the cuisine will remain unchanged for centuries in the Near East, as well as many techniques for processing and storing food, which will be passed in the Mediterranean in later centuries.

In a collection of 72 recipes, published in Baghdad in the heyday of his court, meat, poultry, vegetables, cereals and legumes, you meet the following herbs and spices: coriander
dry (in 96 % of prescriptions), cinnamon (96%), vinegar (64%), cement (64%), cumin (61%), pepper (56%), onions (54%), herbs (cilantro, mint, dill 46%), rose water (46%), ginger (36%), Saffron (35%), sugar or sweet juice (25%). A kitchen sweet, velvety, aromatic and spicy.

The daily consumption of spices in Baghdad between 700 and 1000 AD was not reserved for the wealthy, as will happen in the Middle Ages in Europe. The stores were full of products for sale in the West, the population was living a renewal of dietary reborn thanks to the medical arts, from classical to decline, and was simultaneously subjected to the influence of Ayurvedic medicine in India through a number of large colonies in Iran.

Despite the consumption of spices was so large, the Arabs tried to always stays between luxury goods, to be able to generate high profits, compared with much lower acquisition costs in neighboring India.

But what was in Europe, the relationship with oriental spices during the Middle Ages?

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Sunday, September 13, 2009

Why Are Some People Hornier Than Others

A qualcuno piace "hot"! Le rotte delle spezie (parte sesta)

continue with the journey of the Periplus Maris erythraea and reach, this time to India, in a journey of 2000 years ago.

The Periplus Maris erythraea - Part Two (From Egypt to India)



19. On the left bank than Berenice (Saudi Side), browsing for two or three days from Mussel Harbor (Myos Hormos) east across the adjacent gulf, there is an other fortified port, which is called "white village", from which part of the road to Petra, which is under the control of Malichas, King of the Nabataeans.
This port is a market town for small sailing ships arriving from Arabia, and a centurion (Roman officer) was stationed here to collect 25% of the imported merchandise, backed by armed force, and a strong .



20. Directly below this place is the adjoining country of Arabia, bordered with his hand sinistro una lunga parte del Mare Eritreo (lato destro del Mar Rosso). Nel paese vivono diverse tribù, che parlano lingue differenti, alcuni parzialmente, altri totalmente. La terra oltre il mare è punteggiata di caverne dove vivono i “mangiatori di pesce”, ma nell’entroterra si trovano comunità di briganti che parlano due lingue, vivono in villaggi ed in campi nomadi, dai quali fanno partire attacchi per depredare le navi che navigano in questi luoghi, e quelli che sopravvivono agli arrembaggi sono catturati come schiavi.
Ed anche loro (i predoni) sono continuamente presi prigionieri dai capi e dai re d’Arabia; e vengono chiamati Carnaites.
La navigazione è pericolosa lungo the entire stretch of the Arabian coast, because there are no ports, anchorages are difficult, dangerous, due to storms and rocks, and terrible anyway. So we keep the navigation in the middle of the bay (away from the coast) and pass through as quickly as possible the country of Arabia until they reach the Burnt Island, directly under which there are regions of peaceful people, nomadic cattle herders , sheep and camels.

21. In these places, in a bay at the foot of the left side of this gulf, there is a market town on the beach, called Muza, whether by legislation, far from Berenice for those sailing southward, a total of about 12,000 stages.
And the whole harbor is crowded with Arab ship captains and sailors, and is teeming with activities and business affairs, is maintained active trade between the "far shore" (the Somali coast to the Horn of Africa) and Barygaza, sending their vessels there.

22. A three days' journey inland, than Muza, there is a town called Saua in the middle of the region called Mapharitis, there is a chief vassal called Cholaebus living in this city.

23. And after another nine days (walk) meets Saphir, the metropolis, where he lives Charibael, king of two tribes, the Homerites and those who live after them, called Sabaites; through continual embassies and gifts, is a friend of the Emperors (Roman).

24. The market town of Muza has no port, but has a good roadstead and anchorage points, due to the sandy bottom, where the anchors are taken into safety. The imported merchandise consists of purple fabrics, fine workmanship that is of coarse, dressed in Arab style, with sleeves, plain, ordinary, ornamented, or interwoven with gold threads, saffron, sweet, muslins, cloaks, blankets, not many, some normal and others made fashionable local bands of different colors, fragrant ointments in moderate quantity, wine and wheat, not much. For the country producing cereals for a moderate amount, and a large quantity of wine. And the king, and heads are donated horses, pots of gold and fine silver, fine clothes and copper vessels. From this region are exported: myrrh selected, and myrrh "gebana-Minaean, alabaster and all goods already mentioned to Avalites and ports of the" far shore ". The trip to this port is best done in September, but nothing prevents you from before.

25. After sailing from this port for nearly 300 stadiums, the coast and the Arab countries of the Berbers, from the Gulf of Avalites starting to get closer, you find a channel, not long rebound, forcing the passage of the sea and closes in a narrow strip, divided the island for sixty stadia in width Diodorus.
So navigation is threatened by strong currents and strong winds from the crests of the mountains nearby. Directly in the Strait on the coast, there is a village of Arabs, subject to the same chief, called Ocelis, not so much a market town as an anchor and a place to stop for those sailing in the Gulf.

26. Ocelis addition, the sea expands eastward again, and soon you will see the open ocean, after about 1200 stadia is Eudaemon Arabia, a village on the coast, also in the realm of Charibael, and having good anchorages, harbors and good, better than those of Ocelis, the village located at the entrance of the bay, where the land begins to recede.
It 'called Eudaemon ("prosperous") because at the beginning of its foundation when the journey was not direct from India to Egypt, and when it still did not challenge the navigation to the ports of Egypt through this ocean, but all were in this place, receiving ships and goods in both countries, as well as hours Alexandria (Egypt) receives the merchandise either to or from Egypt. But not long before now Charibael has destroyed this place.

27. After Eudaemon the Saudi coast without interruption, and meets a gande bay that extends for 2000 or more stages, along which the Nomads and "fish eaters" live in villages. Immediately after the head projecting from this bay, there is another market town on the coast, in the reign of Eleazus Cana, the village Frankincense, And in front of the city there are two deserted islands, one called Bird Island, the 'other Dome Island, 120 stadia from Cana.
hinterland of the port city stands the Sabbath, where he lives the King All the frankincense produced in the country is transported by camel caravans in this place to be stored, and also to Cana on rafts supported by inflated skins, as used in this place, and on boats.
Cana also trades with the ports of the "far shore" with Barygaza and Scythia and Omman and the neighboring coast of Persia.

28. Some are imported from Egypt 'wheat and wine, as Muza, dressed in Arab style, with no garnish and municipalities, and many false (it was already in use plenty of the fake goods on the import-export company that was punished with sentences rather severe), and copper and tin and coral storax (resin exudation of liquidambar, similar to maple) and other goods similar to those of Muza, and for the King, usually, worked gold and dishes silver, also horses, pictures (male statues), and clothes made of thin cloth, good quality goods for export, produced by the natives, are frankincense and aloes, and all other goods are also traded by other ports. The journey to Cana should be initiated in the same month of that for Muza, or even better than before.

29. After Cana, the land receding greatly, according to a very deep bay where there is a great point of exchange, called Sachalites, Frankincense, and the country, mountainous and prohibited, wrapped in thick clouds and fog, has large forests of frankincense; the trees are not of great height or thickness; collect the drops from the incense in the cortex, as well as our trees exude gum in Egypt. The frankincense is gathered by the slaves of the king and those who are sent to this work as punishment. These places are very unhealthy and pestilential, even for those who sail along the coast, but nearly fatal for those who work there who are dying often the demand for food.

30. In this bay there is a huge cliff overlooking the east, called Syagrus; where there is a strong, for the defense of this country, and a port and a storehouse for the frankincense that is collected, in the face of this Chapter, far out at sea, there is an island, between it and Cape of Spices, but closer to Syagrus: it is called Dioscorides, and is very large but desert and marshy, where there are streams and large crocodiles and many snakes and lizards, which eat the meat and the fat melts use it instead of olive oil. On the island there are fruit trees, or wine or grain. The inhabitants are few and they live on the coast looking north towards the mainland. Are foreigners, a mix of Arabs and Indians and Greeks, who emigrated to trade there.
The island produces the true sea turtles, and tortoises, turtles and white which are very numerous and preferred for their large shells, and turtle mountain che sono le più grandi di tutte e con il guscio spesso; queste non possono essere tagliate a pezzi perché sono troppo dure; ma quelle di valore sono tagliate e dai loro gusci si ricavano cofanetti, e piccoli piatti e piatti per dolci e questo tipo di articoli. Viene anche prodotto, nell’isola, il cinnabar (resina aromatica), quello che viene chiamato indiano, e che è raccolto in gocce dagli alberi.

31. Così come Azania è sottomessa a Charibael ed ai capi di Mapharitis, questa isola è sotto al dominio del Re del Paese Frankincense. Le mercanzie vengono portate lì da Muza e da quelli che vogliono provare a scommettere un viaggio da Damirica (costa del Malabar nel sud dell’India) e da Barygaza; portano rice and wheat and Indian clothes, and a bit 'of slave women, and in return get a great quantity of tortoise shells. Now the island is cultivated in the name of the King and there is a garrison.

32. Immediately after Syagrus the bay of Omana cuts deep the coastline, for six hundred furlongs, and after Omana meet the mountains, high, rocky and steep, where people live in caves for more than 500 stages, and after this there is a port, established to receive the incense "frankicense" by Sachalitic and the port is called Moscow, and ships coming there regularly from Cana, and other ships return from Damirica Barygaza and if the season is late, winter there, and trading with real officers, exchanging their cloth and wheat and sesame oil for frankincense, which lies in heaps all over the region Sachalitic, unattended, as if the place was under the protection of the gods. The incense can not be loaded on ships by anyone, neither openly nor contraband, without lpermesso of the King, if a single grain were loaded without permission, the ship could not leave the port.

33. After the port of Moscow for 1500 stadiums, to a distance of ASIC, a mountain runs along the coast to the end of which, in a line, there are seven islands called Zenobian. After of these began a barbarous region which no longer belongs to the same King, but that now belongs to Persia.
Sailing along the coast, well offshore, in stages from 2000 Zenobian Islands, an island called Sarapis meet, about 120 steps from the ground. It is about 200 large stadiums and 600 long, three villages inhabited by the "fish eaters" who speak Arabic and wore corsets made of palm leaves. The island produces considerable quantities of tortoise-shell of fine quality, and small boats and ships are sent here from Cana.


34. Sailing along the coast, head north through the entrance of the Persian Sea, meet many of the islands known as Calaei, after about 2000 stadia, extending along the coast. The people are very treacherous, very little civilized.

35. At the end of Calaei Islands, a group of mountains called Calon, and follows them, not very far, imboccatorua the Persian Gulf, where you make a lot of diving for pearl oysters. On the left side of the Strait there are great mountains called Asabon, and to the right, in full view, another round and high mountain called Semiramis; among them, the passage in the narrow, its width is about 600 stadia;
addition to which this large and continues along the great sea toward the inside. Alla estremità di questo Golfo si trova una città-mercato costituita per legge, chiamata Apologus, situata vicino a Charax Spasini sul Fiume Eufrate.

36. Navigando attraverso l’imboccatura del Golfo, dopo sei giorni si incontra un’altra città-mercato in Persia, chiamata Ommana. In entrambe queste città arrivano regolamente grandi vascelli da Barygaza, caricati con rame, legno di sandalo, tavole di tek, e tronchi di legno nero e di ebano. Anche l’incenso “frankincense” è regolarmente spedito ad Ommana da Cana, e da Ommana alle navi arabe, cucite insieme, come si usa nel posto; sono conosciute come madarata. Da ciascuna di queste città-mercato, vengono that is exported to Barygaza Arabia, many pearls, but inferior to those of India, purple, fashionable clothes in the place of wine, a large quantity of dates, gold and slaves.

37. After region meets another region Ommanitica Persian, another kingdom, and the Bay of Gedrosia from the middle of which sprouts a cape. Here is a river that allows the entry to vessels with a small market town at the mouth, call now and start, and inside a city, that is seven days' walk from the sea, which lies to the king;
is called ... (the city name does not appear in manoscritto ma probabilmente si riferiva a Rhambacia); Questa regione produce molto frumento, vino, riso e datteri; ma lungo la costa non si trova niente eccetto il bdellium (resina aromatica simile alla mirra).

38. Oltre a questa regione, il continente fa una vasta curva da est attraverso le profondità delle baie, che seguono lungo la costa della Scythia, che si trova a nord; è completamente paludosa; da questa costa sbocca il fiume Sinthus, il maggiore di tutti i fiumi che sgorgano nel Mare Eritreo, trasportando un enorme volume d’acqua; perciò per un lungo tratto in mare aperto, prima di raggiungere questa regione, l’acqua dell’oceano è più dolce;
Come sign approach to this region, for those who reach the sea, there are snakes that date back from the depths to meet, and a sign of the places just mentioned and in Persia, are those called harpies.
This river has seven mouths, shallow and marshy, so they are not navigable, except for one in the middle, in which, on the coast, you come to the market town of Barbaricum. Prior to this, there is a small island, and inland behind it, a metropolis Schito, Minnagara; Parties is subject to the principles that are constantly at war with each other.

39. Ships stationed at anchor in Barbaricum, but all their cargoes are brought to the metropolis through the river to the King You import a large amount of light clothing, and some false, embroidered linens, topaz, coral, storax, frankincense, glass vases, plates of silver and gold, and some 'wine. Conversely ginger is exported, bdellium, willow, nard, turquoise, lapis lazuli, silk fabrics, cotton fabrics, threads of silk, and indigo. And the sailors start with the winds Indians Etesian "in July. It 's more dangerous, but with these winds the voyage is more direct, and completed quickly.

40. Sinthus across the river there is another gulf, not navigable, running towards the north; Eirinon is called, its parts are called separately the small and the large gulf on either side the water is shallow, and mobile sand banks meet continuously, even at great distances from shore, so the coast is not very often is not in sight, the ships are likely to run aground, and if they try to stay the course (near the coast) may fail.
A promontory juts out from this gulf, by Eirinon a curve to the east, then south, then west, and ends by enclosing the gulf called Barac, which contains seven islands. Those who arrive at the entrance of this bay escape it stationed a little, and quickly headed towards the open sea, but those who head into the Gulf of Baraca are considered lost, because of high waves and violent and tumultuous sea and horrendous, with whirlpools and eddies. The fund sinks faster in some places and in others it is rocky and sharp, so that the tops of the anchors are cut, others ran aground on the bottom. As a sign of identification for those that approach these places, meet snakes, very long and blacks, and in other places on this coast and around Barygaza are smaller and bright green color that turns to gold.

41. After the Gulf of Baraca Barygaza is that of the country and the coast of Ariaca, which is the beginning of the reign of Nambanus and throughout India. The part adjacent to and inland Scythia is called Abir, but the coasts are called Syrastrene. It 's a good land, with wheat and rice and sesame oil and ghee, which are woven cotton clothes Indians. Many cattle grazing, and men are of great stature and blacks of the skin. The metropolis of this country is Minnagara, from which many cotton fabrics are sent to Barygaza. In these places, to this day, are signs of Alexander's expedition (expedition of Alexander the Great in 330 BC), as ancient shrines, walls of forts and great wells. Navigation proceeds along this coast from the promontory called Barbaricum Papic, as opposed to Barygaza, and before Astacampra, per 3000 stadi.

42. Dopo questi luoghi si trova un altro golfo esposto alle onde del mare, che corre verso nord, alla bocca del quale c’è un’isola chiamata Bavones; nel punto più interno si trova un grande fiume chiamato Mais. Quelli che navigano verso Barygaza attraversano questo golfo, che è largo 300 stadi, lasciandosi a sinistra l’isola che si vede dalla cima degli alberi (della nave) in direzione est, facendo rotta alla foce del fiume di Barygaza; e questo fiume è chiamato Nammadus.

43. Questo golfo è molto vicino a Barygaza e molto difficile da navigare per quelli che arrivano dall’oceano; si può passare a dritta o a sinistra, ma il passaggio migliore is to the left. In the transition to starboard all'imbocatura the Gulf there is a bench, long and narrow and full of rocks, called the Heron, which looks towards the village of Cammoni, and in front, left, projects the promontory that lies before Astacampra of which is called Papic, with bad anchorages due to the strong current and because the anchors are cut off because the ground becomes rocky. And even though the entrance to the gulf is made safely (from right), the mouth of the river Barygaza is very difficult, because the bank is very low and can not be won until there we found practically over. And even when you have found, the transition is difficult because of the bank at the river mouth.

44. Because of this, native fishermen, for the King, stationed at the entrance (the Gulf) in large well-built, and calls trappaga cotymba, and for the entire coast to Syrastrene, where lead ships of up to Barygaza. And the drive through the entrance of the bay between the banks with their crews, and tow up to fixed locations (real closed anvali), which rise to the top of the flood and ebb during the ships to carry anchors and from docks. These basins are located deeper in the river and are up to Barygaza, which is situated on the river, about 300 stages More on embouchure.


45. The entire country of India has many rivers, has many ebbs and tides and tidal waves, which increase with the new moon and full moon for three days, and that decrease in the interim periods of the moon. Barygaza But the phenomenon is much larger, up to suddenly see the bottom of the river, and then, parts of land becomes sea, and then suddenly dry where ships were sailing a few times before, and the rivers during storm surges caused by tide, when the full force of the sea is directed against them, are pushed strongly against the current, for many stages.

46. To Therefore, the arrival and departure of ships is very dangerous for those who are inexperienced or who come to this market town for the first time. For the power of water at the beginning of the tide, the anchors can not hold back the ships, so that large ships are propelled by the force of the oil, rotate the hips to the strength of the current, and are pushed against the banks and destroyed , and smaller vessels are turned over, and those who were moved by the tide, remain stranded in the water recede, and if not well standing on the keel, the next tidal wave will overwhelm completely filled with water. The tidal force is so great with the moon new, especially at night, that if you begin to enter when the water is low, in an instant will grow at the mouth of the river, with a noise like an army of complaints heard from a distance, and very soon the sea itself comes with power over the banks with a hoarse roar.

47. The hinterland of Barygaza is inhabited by numerous tribes, such as Arati, the Arachosia, I Gandaraei Poclais and people, where is Bucephalus Alexandria. Above these there is the belligerent nation of Bactria, led by their king. And Alexander (the Great), accampatosi in these parts, penetrated to the Ganges, leaving behind Damirica and the southern part of India, and today the old drachma are legal tender in Barygaza, come from this region, and bear inscriptions in Greek letters, and signs of those who reigned after Alexander, Apollodotus and Menander.

48. Inland from this place, and east is the city calls or Ozene, formerly a royal capital, are transported from this place tuttle things necessary for the welfare of the country Barygaza, and many things for our business: agate and carnelian, Indian muslins and warm fabrics, and many ordinary materials. Through this region and the upper area has brought the spikenard that comes through Poclais; comes the costus and bdellium.

49. Are imported wine, preferably Italian, ma anche laodicense ed arabo; rame, stagno e piombo; coralli e topazi; stoffe sottili e cose di tutti i tipi; cinture dai colori brillanti larghe un cubito; storax, dolce trifoglio, coppe di vetro, realgar, antimonio, monete d’oro e d’argento, sulle quali si crea profitto scambiandole con le monete correnti qui; olii ma non molto costosi e non molto. E per il Re vengono portati in questi posti vasi molto costosi d’argento, ragazzi che cantano, belle fanciulle per l’harem, vini di qualità, stoffe sottili della migliore tessitura, e balsami scelti.
Da qui vengono esportati nardo, costus, bdellium, avorio, agate, cornalina, lycium, stoffe di cotone di tutti i tipi, stoffe in seta, pepe lungo e all the other things that are brought here from various market-towns. The goods for this market-town coming from Egypt make the voyage preferably in the month of July.

50. After Barygaza adiacende the coast extends in a straight line from north to south, and this region is called Dachinabades because dachanos in the native language, means south. The inland from the coast to the east coast comprises many desert regions and great mountains, and all kinds of wild beasts, leopards, tigers, elephants, enormous serpents, hyenas, and baboons of all kinds, and many populous nations to reach the Ganges ;

51. Dachinabades before you get to meet two places of importance special; Pathan, about twenty days south of Barygaza, beyond which, about 10 days to the east, there is another large city, Tagara. A Barygaza goods are transported by wagons and through large tracts without roads, Pathan cornelia in large amounts, and Tagara many common materials, all kinds of muslin cloth and warm, and other goods are transported from the coastal regions to the cities. And the entire stretch until the end of Damirica is 7000 stadia, but the distance is greater for the coastal region.

52. The market towns of this region are in order: Suppara, and the city of Calliena, which at the time of the head Saraganus has become a friendly market town, but since has fallen into possession of Sandares the port is blocked, and the Greek ships arriving there can be made Barygaza under escort.

53. After Calliena there are other market-towns; Semylla, Mandagora, Palaepatmoe, Melizigara, Byzantium, and Togarum Aurannohoas. Then there are the islands called Sesecriena Aegidi and those calls, and Caenitae, in front of the place called Chersonesus, where there are pirates, and after these encounters is the White Island. Then come Naura and Tyndis, the first market Damir, and then Muziris and Nelcynda, who now have great commercial importance.

54. Tyndis è nel regno di Cerobothra; è un villaggio in pianura in vista del mare. Muziris, dello stesso regno, abbonda di navi spedite qui dall’Arabia, e dai Greci; è situata su di un fiume, distante da Tyndis in totale 500 stadi, e su per il fiume per circa 20 stadi. Nelycinda è distante da Muziris circa 500 stadi ed appartiene ad un altro regno, i Pandian. Anche questo posto è situato su di un fiume, circa 120 stadi dal mare.

55. Si trova un altro villaggio all’imboccatura di questo fiume, Bacare; nel quale le navi sostano nel lungo viaggio da Nelycinda, ed ancorano in rada per caricare le mercanzie; perché il fiume è pieno di banchi di sabbia, and the channels are not free. The king of both of these market-town living within. And a sign of approaching these places from the sea snakes that have come to meet you from the depths, the color black, but short, with red eyes and blood.

56. They send large ships to these market-towns, taking into account the large amount of pepper and malabathrum (which you can load). Here are imported, first, a large amount of money, topaz, fine fabrics, not many, embroidered linen, antimony, coral, crude glass, copper, tin, lead, wine, not much, but at least as of Barygaza; realgar and orpiment (a mineral that forms together the realgar), and wheat for the sailors, for those who do not have contracts with merchants.
is exported pepper, which is produced in quantity in only one region near these markets, a district called Cottonara. Beyond that are exported large quantities of pearls, ivory, silk fabrics, spikenard of the Ganges, malabathrum (leaves of cinnamon) from the regions of the interior, transparent stones of all kinds, diamonds and sapphires, and tortoise shells, both from 'Chryse Island to the other islands along the coast of Damir. They make the journey to this place in the season favor those who depart from Egypt in July.

57. The entire trip as described, from Cana and Eudaemon Arabia, is made in small sailboats, sailing inshore, and Hippalo was the pilot who observed the placement of ports and sea conditions, the first discoverer (compared to Westerners) of how This route crosses the ocean. Etesian When the winds blow, the wind blows from the ocean off the coast of India, and this southwest wind is called Hippalus, the name of the person who first discovered the passage. From then until the present day ships start, some aimed at Cana, and some from the Cape of Spices, and those intended for Damirica take the bow off the wind considerably, while those who go to Barygaza and Scythia take place along the coasts no more than three days and the rest of the time retain the same route in the open sea, with a favorable wind, quite distant from the shore, surfing, and so beyond the gulf.

58. After Bacare is the Dark Red Mountain, and another district stretching along the coast to the south, and is called Paralia. The first place you come to is called Balita, has a small port and village on the coast. After this there is another place called the Cape where there Godmothers Godmothers and a port, here are the men who want to dedicate themselves to the rest of their lives, and bathe and dwell in celibacy, and women do the same and for this we say that a goddess dwelt here and bathed.

59. Villagers from proceeding towards the south this region extends up to Colchis, where there are the pearl fishers who are self-convicted criminal, and belongs to the realm of Pandian. After Colchians follows another district called the Coast Region, in a bay, and inland a region called Argaru. In this place, and nowhere else, are transported to the pearls gathered on the nearby coast, and from there are exported muslins, those called Argaritic.

60. Among the market-towns of these countries, and the ports where ships come from Damir, the most important are, in order from south to north, first Camara, then Poduca, then Sopatma, in which ships are the regions of the coast to Damirica, and other large vessels made in individual sections linked together Sangari calls, but those who make the trip to and from the Chryse Ganges are called colandia, and are very large. In these places you import everything that is manufactured Damirica, and most of the merchandise coming from Egypt, along with many of the things that are transported by Damir and those carried by Paralia.

61. Speaking of these regions, the route heads east, and outside, on the high seas to the west, lies the island Palaesimundu, Taboprane called by the ancients. The northern part is a day away, and the southern part tends gradually to the west, and almost touches the opposite shore of Azania. It produces pearls, transparent stones, muslins, and tortoise shells.

62. Apart from these places is the region of masala, which stretches for a large portion along the coast, here is a large amount of muslin. In addition to this region, sailing toward the east, and crossing the adjacent bay, you come to the region Dosarene, where ivory is called Dosarenic. In addition to this region, the route tends to the north, where there are many barbarian tribes, including Cirrhadae, a race of men with flat noses, very savage, another tribe, the Bargysi, and the tribe "faces of horse" and "long faces," which is said to be cannibals.

63. After this, the route turns east again, and navigating the ocean to the right and the left coast, you begin to glimpse the Ganges, and near it the last region to the east, Chryse. There is a fioume next to it called the Ganges, and suffers like the Nile flood. On its banks there is a market town that has the same name as the river Ganges. This place is transported through the malabathrum and spikenard of the Ganges and pearls, and fine muslins of race, which are called Gangetic. They say that they are gold mines near these places, and is a gold coin called caltis. And just across the river there is an island in the ocean, the last inhabited area to the east, under the same sun rise, it is called Chryse; and tortoise shells of the best anywhere in the Eritrean Sea.

64. After this region located far to the north, the sea ends in a land called This, and inside there is a great city called Thinae (China), which comes from raw silk and silk threads and silk fabrics transported on foot through Bactria to Barygaza, and also exported to Damirica by the river Ganges. But the land of This is not easily accessible, a few men come from it, and rarely. The region is under the Little Dipper, and is said to border the most remote part of the Pontus and the Caspian Sea, near which is Lake Maeotis, and all these lakes and seas are discharged into the ocean.

65. Each year the ends of the earth This comes a tribe of men with small bodies and flat faces, and peaceful nature, are called Besata, and are fully civilized. They arrive with their wives and children, carrying cases and the large basket of what looks like leaves of green grapes. They stop in a zone between their land and This and do a big party, spilling the contents of the baskets below them as mats, and then return to their land in the interior. And then the natives watching them come and collect their mattresses, and pull away from the braids the fibers which they call Petri. Relax the leaves closely together in several layers and make it into balls, piercing with fiber mats, and derive three things, those made from larger leaves are called "big balls malabathrum" those small, "medium-sized balls" , and those from the smallest ever, "small balls". So there are three types of malabathrum, and are transported to India by those who prepare them.

66. The regions beyond these places are difficult to access because of their winters, and much too great for the cold, and can not be seen well because of some divine influence of dei.

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