Spice Lore

Curry

Curry was adopted from the Tamil word kari meaning 'sauce', which is usually understood to mean vegetables or meat cooked with spices with or without a gravy. According to this theory, kari was first discovered in the mid-17th century by members of the British East India trading with Tamil (Indian) merchants along the Coromandel Coast of Southeast India.

One curry legend has it that a 19th century British attempt to create a curry spice mix resulted in the invention of Worcestershire sauce. It is believed that this spice became popular in Britain because of the large number of British civil servants and military personnel associated with the British rule of the Indian subcontinent. Following World War II, it became even more common there and in America as a result of an influx of South Asian immigrants.

5 Fun Facts About Curry:

1. The word curry comes from a Tamil word kari or karil, meaning spices or sauteed vegetables.

2. The meaning changed when Portuguese traders used it for the sauces with which rice was served.

3. The first curry recipe in English appeared in Hannah Glasse’s The Art Of Cookery in 1747.

4. The British acquired Bombay in 1661 and Calcutta in 1690 opening the spice trade to a much wider market.

5. The earliest known curry was made in Mesopotamia around 1700 BC.