Exploring the Benefits of Nutmeg and Cinnamon in Herbal Medicine

Nutmeg and cinnamon: the history behind their use.

Nutmeg (мускатный орех) and cinnamon (корица) are two aromatic spices that
have not only delighted our taste buds (вкус) for centuries but have also found a special
place in the realm (царство) of herbal (трав) medicine. Beyond their culinary
(кулинарный) appeal (использование), these spices harbor (приютить) a treasure
trove (клад) of health benefits, making them valuable additions to the world of natural
remedies (средство). When incorporated into (в составе) herbal medicine, nutmeg and
cinnamon can be used in various forms. They can be brewed into (сваренный в) teas,
added to tinctures (настойка), or used as flavor-enhancing (усилитель вкуса) ingredients
in various herbal remedies. For instance, a warm cup of nutmeg and cinnamon tea might
provide a soothing (успокаивающий) experience that aids relaxation and supports
digestion. Moreover, their aromatic nature can have calming effects on the mind,
potentially reducing stress and anxiety.

Cinnamon is a sweet spice produced from the inner bark (внутренняя кора) of trees of the
genus Cinnamomum, which is native to the Indian sub-continent. It was known in biblical
times, and is mentioned in several books of the Bible, both as an ingredient that was mixed
with oils for anointing (помазать) people’s bodies, and as a token (примета) indicating
friendship among lovers and friends. In ancient Rome, mourners (скорбящие) attending
funerals (похороны) burnt cinnamon to create a pleasant scent (запах). Most often,
however, the spice found its primary use as an additive to food and drink. In the Middle
Ages, Europeans who could afford the spice used it to flavor food, particularly meat, and to
impress those around them with their ability to purchase an expensive condiment
(приправа) from the ‘exotic’ East. At a banquet, a host would offer guests a plate with
various spices piled upon it as a sign of the wealth at his or her disposal . Cinnamon was
also reported to have health benefits, and was thought to cure various ailments (болезни),
such as indigestion (расстройство желудка).
Toward the end of the Middle Ages, the European middle classes began to desire the
lifestyle of the elite, including their consumption (потребление) of spices. This led to a
growth in demand for cinnamon and other spices. At that time, cinnamon was transported
by Arab merchants (торговцы), who closely guarded (охраняли) secret of the source of
the spice from potential rivals (соперник). They took it from India, where it was grown, on
camels via an overland route to the Mediterranean. Their journey ended when they
reached Alexandria. European traders sailed there to purchase their supply of cinnamon,
then brought it back to Venice. The spice then travelled from that great trading city to
markets all around Europe. Because the overland trade route allowed for only small
quantities of the spice to reach Europe, and because Venice had a virtual monopoly of the
trade, the Venetians could set the price of cinnamon exorbitantly (непомерно) high. These
prices, coupled with the increasing demand, spurred (стимулировать) the search for new
routes to Asia by Europeans eager to take part in the spice trade.

Seeking the high profits promised by the cinnamon market, Portuguese traders arrived on
the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean toward the end of the 15th century. Before
Europeans arrived on the island, the state had organized the cultivation of cinnamon.
People belonging to the ethnic group called the Salagama would peel (очищать) the bark
off (корневые) young shoots (ростки) of the cinnamon plant in the rainy season, when the
wet bark (мокрая кора) was more pliable (податливый). During the peeling process, they
curled (крутить) the bark into the ‘stick’ shape still associated with the spice today. The
Salagama then gave the finished product to the king as a form of tribute (награда). When
the Portuguese arrived, they needed to increase production significantly, and so enslaved
(делать рабом) many other members of the Ceylonese native population, forcing them to
work in cinnamon harvesting. In 1518, the Portuguese built a fort on Ceylon, which enabled
them to protect the island, so helping them to develop a monopoly in the cinnamon trade
and generate very high profits. In the late 16th century, for example, they enjoyed a tenfold
(десятикратный) profit when shipping cinnamon over a journey of eight days from
Ceylon to India.
When the Dutch arrived off the coast of southern Asia at the very beginning of the 17th
century, they set their sights on displacing the Portuguese as kings of cinnamon. The Dutch
allied (объединять) themselves with Kandy, an inland kingdom on Ceylon. In return for
payments of elephants and cinnamon, they protected the native king from the Portuguese.
By 1649, the Dutch broke the 150-year Portuguese monopoly when they overran
(захватить) and occupied their factories. By 1658, they had permanently expelled
(изгонять) the Portuguese from the island, thereby gaining control of the lucrative
(прибыльный) cinnamon trade.

In order to protect their hold on the market, the Dutch, like the Portuguese before them,
treated the native inhabitants harshly (грубо). Because of the need to boost production
and satisfy Europe’s ever-increasing appetite for cinnamon, the Dutch began to alter
(изменять) the harvesting practices of the Ceylonese. Over time, the supply of cinnamon
trees on the island became nearly exhausted (истощать), due to systematic stripping
(сдирание)of the bark (кожура кора). Eventually, the Dutch began cultivating their own
cinnamon trees to supplement the diminishing (уменьшение) number of wild trees
available for use.

Then, in 1996, the English arrived on Ceylon, thereby displacing the Dutch from their
control of the cinnamon monopoly. By the middle of the 19th century, production of
cinnamon reached 1,000 tons a year, after a lower grade quality of the spice became
acceptable to European tastes. By that time, cinnamon was being grown in other parts of
the Indian Ocean region and in the West Indies, Brazil, and Guyana. Not only was a
monopoly of cinnamon becoming impossible, but the spice trade overall was diminishing in
economic potential and was eventually superseded (заменять) by the rise of trade in
coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar.

The nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans (аромат), is a large evergreen tree native to Southeast
Asia. Until the late 18th century, it only grew in one place in the world: a small group of
islands in the Banda Sea, part of the Moluccas – or Spice Islands – in northeastern
Indonesia. The tree is thickly branched with dense (густой) foliage (листва) of tough, dark
green oval leaves, and produces small, yellow, bell-shaped flowers and pale yellow pear-
shaped fruits. The fruit is encased (обрамлять) in a flesh (мякоть) husk (шелуха). When
the fruit is ripe (созревший), this husk splits into two halves along a ridge (край хребет)
running the length of the fruit. Inside is a purple-brown shiny seed, 2-3 cm long by about 2
cm across, surrounded by a lacy (кружевной) red or crimson (малиновый) covering
(покрытие) called an ‘aril’ (кожура). These are the sources of the two spices nutmeg and
mace (мускатный), the former being produced from the dried seed and the latter from the
aril.

Nutmeg was a costly ingredient in European cuisine in the Middle Ages, and was used as a
flavouring (ароматизатор), medicinal, and preservative (концентрат) agent (средство).
Throughout this period, the Arabs were the exclusive importers of the spice to Europe.
They sold nutmeg for high prices to merchants based in Venice, but they never revealed
(раскрывать) the exact location of the source of this extremely valuable commodity
(товар). The Arab-Venetian dominance of the trade finally ended in 1512, when the
Portuguese reached the Banda Islands and began exploiting its precious (драгоценный)
resources.

Always in danger of competition from neighbouring Spain, the Portuguese began

subcontracting their spice distribution to Dutch traders. Profits began to flow into the
Netherlands, and the Dutch commercial fleet (флот) swiftly (быстро) grew into one of the
largest in the world. The Dutch quietly gained control of most of the shipping and trading of
spices in Northern Europe. Then, in 1580, Portugal fell under Spanish rule, and by the end
of the 16th century, the Dutch found themselves locked out of the market. As prices for
pepper, nutmeg, and other spices soared (впархивать) across Europe, they decided to
fight back.

In 1602, Dutch merchants founded the VOC, a trading corporation better known as the
Dutch East India Company. By 1617, the VOC was the richest commercial operation in the
world. The company had 50,000 employees worldwide, with a private army of 30,000 men
and a fleet of 200 ships. At the same time, thousands of people across Europe were dying of
the plague (чума), a highly contagious (заразная) (отчаянный) and deadly disease.
Doctors were desperate for a way to stop the spread of this disease, and they decided
nutmeg held the cure. Everybody wanted nutmeg, and many were willing to spare no
expense to have it. Nutmeg bought for a few pennies in Indonesia could be sold for 68,000
times its original cost on the streets of London. The only problem was the short supply. And
that’s where the Dutch found their opportunity.

The Banda Islands were ruled by local sultans who insisted on maintaining a neutral
trading policy towards foreign powers. This allowed them to avoid the presence of
Portuguese or Spanish troops on their soil, but it also left them unprotected from other
invaders. In 1621, the Dutch arrived and took over. Once securely in control of the Bandas,
the Dutch went to work protecting their new investment. They concentrated all nutmeg
production into a few easily guarded areas, uprooting and destroying any trees outside the
plantation zones. Anyone caught growing a nutmeg seedling or carrying seeds without the
proper authority was severely punished. In addition, all exported nutmeg was covered with
lime to make sure there was no chance a fertile (плодородный) seed which could be
grown elsewhere would leave the islands. There was only one obstacle to Dutch
domination. One of the Banda Islands, a sliver of land called Run, only 3 km long by less
than 1 km wide, was under the control of the British. After decades of fighting for control of
this tiny island, the Dutch and British arrived at a compromise settlement, the Treaty of
Breda, in 1667. Intent on securing their hold over every nutmeg-producing island, the
Dutch offered a trade: if the British would give them the island of Run, they would in turn
give Britain a distant and much less valuable island in North America. The British agreed.
That other island was Manhattan, which is how New Amsterdam became New York. The
Dutch now had a monopoly over the nutmeg trade which would last for another century.

Then, in 1770, a Frenchman named Pierre Poivre successfully smuggled nutmeg plants to
safety in Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. Some of these were later exported to
the Caribbean where they thrived, especially on the island of Grenada. Next, in 1778, a
volcanic eruption in the Banda region caused a tsunami that wiped out half the nutmeg
groves. Finally, in 1809, the British returned to Indonesia and seized the Banda Islands by
force. They returned the islands to the Dutch in 1817, but not before transplanting
hundreds of nutmeg seedlings to plantations in several locations across southern Asia. The
Dutch nutmeg monopoly was over.
Today, nutmeg is grown in Indonesia, the Caribbean, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea
and Sri Lanka, and world nutmeg production is estimated to average between 10,000 and
12,000 tonnes per year.

As with any herbal remedy, the wisdom of ancestral practices is best complemented by
contemporary scientific understanding. Research continues to uncover the intricate ways
in which nutmeg and cinnamon contribute to our health. Incorporating these spices into a
holistic lifestyle, alongside professional medical guidance, can harness the potential of
nature's gifts to nurture both body and spirit.