S:     Hello. We are Mrs. Harper’s 2^nd and 3^rd grade Gifted Education class at Boeblingen Elementary Middle School.   Today we will be talking about spices, the Silk Road and some background history of the spices that you might have in your kitchen.

T:     There have been some of the greatest adventures in history about how spices spread across the world. For example, Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo both had voyages that included spice trading with different people, cultures and countries.

S: The Silk Road was a trade route. It started in Turkey and ended in China. Merchants traded spices and other goods on this route.

T: Let’s start finding out information about the spices that we use and eat.

R: Most mustard seed comes to the US from Canada. Mustard is considered one of the most ancient spices. There are 3 types of mustard: yellow, brown and oriental. In 1720, a woman in England found a way to grind the seed in to flour and this is the way it was used as a spice and in cooking. Americans are the largest users of the mustard seed.

G: Now we are going to talk about Rosemary. The origin of rosemary is by the Mediterranean. The leaves look like green needles. The ancient Greeks used it to strengthen the brain and memory. Greek students would braid it into their hair to help them take their exams. Today, rosemary is used to flavor pizzas, chicken and other meats as well.

S: Hello, I choose cloves to be our topic.  Cloves are the dried, unopened, nail-shaped flower buds of a type of evergreen. Clove is a main flavor to ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Cloves were very expensive and played an important part in world history. Wars were fought to win rights to the Clove businesses, which earned lots of money. In the Moluccas, where Cloves were first found, parents planted a Clove tree when a child was born.

S: We will get right back with you after a quick joke…

************JOKE BREAK****************

K: So, Fred, why does Santa Claus have 3 gardens?

J: Gee, Doc, I don’t know……why?

K: So he can ho, ho, ho

Clapping!

S: Back to the show…..

H: Now, we want to tell you about the spice Cinnamon. Cinnamon comes from a small evergreen tree.  You can buy cinnamon in sticks or ground up. Cinnamon is sometimes used as medicine.

K: I’m going to tell you about vanilla. Vanilla is a member of the orchid family. Vanilla is used in ice cream, soft drinks and cookies. One of the places that vanilla comes from is Mexico.

T: The website www.mccormick.com (external link) was an excellent resource for some of our research. Anyone can find information and recipes on this website.

J: You can also do some ingredient searches on the recipe website, www.allrecipes.com (external link) to help you find a dish to make with a certain spice.

This podcast was brought to you by Mrs. Harper’s 2^nd and 3^rd grade class.