The Spice Market

   "Let food be thy medicine, and let thy medicine be food." Hippocrates

Doum, Carob, Star Anise and Senna

Sometimes you find yourself painting a subject which absolutely captivates you, and this week has been one of those weeks for me. 

Yes, I know I tend to get pretty excited over most of my subjects, but the spices from the Egyptian market have been a joy to paint. It’s not just the rich colours and the variety of textures that have me spellbound, I’ve been reading up about them too, and spices are quite simply fascinating.

Nowadays we give little thought to these aromatic seeds and dried roots, but once upon a time, the Spice Trade was the world’s greatest industry. In fact, the spice trade has shaped the world as we know it- empires were created and destroyed, great fortunes were made and let us not forget, it was the quest for a new spice route that led Christopher Columbus to discover America.

Spices come mainly from the Middle East and Asia, and for many centuries, the Arab traders dominated the market. The wonderful tale of Sinbad the Sailor was inspired by the spice trade- he was said to have been a trader of cloves and cinnamon. Spices were brought from Arabia and Asia across land by camel to Alexandria in Egypt, and from there were shipped to Europe.  

Such was the value of these spices (frankincense , myrrh, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns to name but a few), that the source of these spices was kept a closely guarded secret. To deter any rivals, the Arabs told fantastical tales about the dangerous creatures that the spice traders had to encounter. 

Herodotus, a Greek historian in  5 BC wrote that cinnamon sticks were collected by huge and ferocious birds from an unknown land, and used to make their nests on sheer cliff faces. To get the cinnamon sticks, the Arabs would bring dead donkeys and oxen as bait. The birds would swoop down and seize the meat, carrying it up to their nests. However, the nests would not be able to hold the weight of the meat, and would fall to the ground, enabling the cinnamon sticks to be gathered by the waiting Arabs.

In fact, cinnamon is the inner bark of Cinnamomum iners , a fairly common shrub that grows in Arabia!

With all these wonderful tales, it’s no wonder that I have been enjoying painting these spices! 

As this painting is for the SBA exhibition “Poisonous and Medicinal Plants” in Germany, I’ve also been researching their medicinal uses.

The spices in the market are presented in large baskets, which prompted me to paint this collection in a circular format.  Although they all differ in colour, I kept the same colour palette throughout to bring harmony to the composition. The smells were divine, always a bonus.

 Doum fruit,  Hyphaene thebaica  It has been shown to significantly lower high blood pressure, lower bad cholesterol, and raise the good cholesterol. You can read about that here

Carob, Ceratonia siliqua    Known as “nature’s candy”, carob is a healthy alternative to chocolate. It helps to regulate the digestion process, while serving as a natural anti-allergic, antiseptic, and anti-bacterial agent. It also helps regulate blood glucose.

Carob, Star Anise and Senna

Star Anise Illicium verum  Traditional used in the treatment of rheumatism, star anise is also the source of one of the main ingredients of Tamiflu, used for the recent influenza outbreaks.  

Senna, Senna alexandrina  is mainly used as a laxative

Cloves and Desert Gourd

Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum. Clove oil is widely used in dental treatments for it’s anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and mildly anesthetic affects. In medieval times it was used to preserve meat.

Desert Gourd, Citrullus colocynth A powerful purgative with anti-inflammatory properties. Extracts from this plant are being used a therapy for the prevention of breast cancer cells

Kaff Maryam and Galangal

Kaff Maryam, Resurrection Plant Anastatica hierochuntica  Traditionally used for menstrual cramps and to ease childbirth. I wrote about this plant on my blog here.

Galangal Alpinia officinarum  The word "galangal" comes from the Arabic form of a Chinese word for ginger, liang-tiang. The galangal rhizomes were widely used for their stimulant and digestive effects in medieval Europe, and were said to smell of roses and taste of spice. This dried root has an important medicinal use- it contains high concentrations of the flavonol galangin, which has been shown to slow the increase and growth of breast tumor cells.

Cinnamon, dried Hibiscus , Cardamon

Hibiscus, karkade Hibiscus sabdariffa  Made from the dried flower calyces, this is usually made into a refreshing tea which is proven to reduce blood pressure 

Cardamon Elettaria    Has antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, digestive, diuretic, expectorant, stimulant and tonic qualities, and is also a rich source of vitamins and minerals

Cinnamon Cinnamomum iners  has powerful anti-viral properties and has been used in the treatment of diabetes. However it has also recently been shown to inhibit the development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice

Nutmeg,  Myristica fragrans   has anti-fungal, anti-depressant, aphrodisiac, digestive, and carminative functions. It is also a good source of minerals like copper, potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, zinc and magnesium, as well as being rich in vitamins B and C and folic acid.

The Spice Market,  ©Shevaun Doherty 2014

"All that man needs for health and healing has been provided by God in nature, 

the challenge of science is to find it." Theophrastus

The Fruits of Doum

Marianne North's Doum and Date palms on the Nile above Phillae

I’m very excited about the SBA’s exhibition, “Medicinal and Poisonous Plants”, in Frankfurt this October. The theme is one that really appeals to me, and has given me the perfect excuse to paint and research some medicinal plants that I have been wanting to paint for ages.

Egypt has long been famous for it’s herbs and spices, and in every Souk (market), you can find a spice shop- a wonderful Aladdin’s cave of spices, medicinal herbs, aromatic incenses, fragrant essential oils, all stored in large colourful baskets. Buying your wares involves a fair amount of haggling and friendly banter, along with the obligatory cup or two of fresh mint tea. I left with a bag full of exotic treasures.

First onto the drawing board is the very peculiar fruit of the Doum palm, Hyphaene thebaica, also known as the gingerbread tree. The tree is not as common as it once was, in fact, I have only seen in growing in the south of Egypt, but in ancient Egypt, every Egyptian of standing would have had these trees growing in his garden. 

Doum tree painting on the tomb walls of Sennedjem http://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/artisans/sennedjem1/e_sennedjem1_01.htm

The Doum Palm was considered a sacred tree, and symbolised of male strength and virility.   In fact, the fruit of this tree was of such importance that eight baskets full of dried doum fruit were discovered in Tutankhamum’s tomb, left to provide him with sustenance in the afterlife.

I am also painting the dried fruit. It’s rock hard with a shiny sienna-coloured appearance, and even though it’s dry, it smells delicious. Pliny describes it in his Natural History Book-

“... the wood of the cucus is held in very high esteem. It is similar in nature to the palm, as its leaves are similarly used for the purposes of texture: it differs from it, however, in spreading out its arms in large branches. The fruit, which is of a size large enough to fill the hand, is of a tawny colour, and recommends itself by its juice, which is a mixture of sweet and rough. The seed in the inside is large and of remarkable hardness, and turners use it for making curtain rings. The kernel is sweet, while fresh; but when dried it becomes hard to a most remarkable degree, so much so, that it can only be eaten after being soaked in water for several days. The wood is beautifully mottled with circling veins, for which reason it is particularly esteemed among the Persians.”

I never knew that the ancient Egyptians used curtain rings!

I paint little squares of all the possible pigments first, to help me select the right colours

Despite being dry and hard, you can eat it. The only way that I can describe it is like biting into MDF to find it dissolving in your mouth and tasting a bit like the honeycomb centre of Maltesers. I haven’t tried soaking it. It’s usually made into a very sweet drink. The ancient Egyptians were correct to appreciate it’s health-giving properties- studies conducted by Egypt's Mansoura University found that it significantly lowered high blood pressure and great reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease. In fact, it’s an all-round “super-fruit” packed with many nutritious and medicinal properties.

It is extremely hard and took me a long time to scrape the doum nut clean for the dissection. The “nut” is also rock hard, and has been described as “vegetable ivory”. Apparently there once was a factory set up over here to make buttons from it, in the days before plastic took over the world.

Building up the layers of colour slowly (not finished)

Painting here has proved a bit of a challenge, mainly because it’s so dry and hot. This year I brought a small bottle of ox gall with me, and although it doesn’t extend the drying time of the paint, it certainly helps improve the spreading of the washes. In between layers of paint, I’m having to pull a damp brush over the whole surface just to soften the edges of the paint. My new Rosemary flats are perfect for this.

I painted a few practice doum fruit, and then tried out a Carob seed pod, Ceratonia siliqua. I’ve often seen these pods but was put off by the rather pungent smell. However having read about all the amazing health benefits, and the fact that it’s being used more and more as an alternative to chocolate, I decided to try some. It’s delicious. The pods are quite edible dry and nicely chewy, but it’s more usually made into a really refreshing drink. Again, it’s one of those "super-foods", having analgesic, anti-allergic, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiviral and antiseptic properties. The seeds are interesting too. A resinous gum can be extracted from them which, in ancient Egyptian times was used to bind mummies. Nowadays this extract is used as a thickening agent, emulsifier and stabilizer in beverages, candy, desserts, ice cream, salad dressings, cheeses, jelly, baked goods and other products. The seeds were also used as a measurement of gold during Roman times … twenty four seeds being equal to the weight of one gold coin, which eventually gave us the phrase “24 carat”.

I added a few more practice pieces to my study page- karkade (the dried calyces of hibiscus flowers Hibiscus sabdariffa ) which are used to make a refreshing drink)

Carob seeds, Cardamom pods (Elettaria cardamomum) and  Star Anise (Illicium verum) 

Senna pods (Senna alexandrina) and dried Desert-gourd (Citrullus colocynthis) 

I’m going to enjoy painting this piece- the colours, the textures and the smells. My practice page is almost done, now it's time to start on the real thing.

"Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close 

Something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow