Marco Polo's (1271-1295) Journey, Part VIII: From India to Venice and the Spices Nutmeg and Mace

Marco Polo was on the last leg of his journey home from China to Venice, stopping off in India.

Rangoli are traditional patterns used to decorate Hindu homes in India on special occasions. I found this easy version with dried lentils, rice,  peas and beans at Nurture Store.

First I helped them trace a plate and using a ruler, draw a geometric design in the circle

They then glued beans, lentils, pasta and spices on their patterns.

Quentin's

Alex's

James'

Another interesting project you can do is to make pictures of Indian Slippers. Handmade shoes, slippers and sandals are popular in Indian Bazaars. Traditional cobblers stitch the shoes using leather and fabric. You can create these Slippers of India from Painted Paper, using painted paper, metallic markers and yarn for tassels.

Slippers of India project from Painted Paper

After visiting several seaports in India, he and his party sailed across the Arabian Sea and to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, landing at the port city of Hormuz.

 

Indian Dal
Dal is the Indian word for lentils. it is cooked almost daily in every Indian home. As a result, there was many different ways to prepare dal. Often they used red lentils and served it over rice.

Sailing the treacherous coast of Southeast Asia and India, Marco returns to Venice after 24 years, rich in gems and wild tales of unimagined lands.

The last spices in our spices unit are nutmeg and mace.

from My Diverse Kitchen

The nutmegs Myristica are evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. Two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace. Nutmeg is the actual seed of the tree, roughly egg-shaped and while mace is the dried "lacy" reddish covering or arillus of the seed.

 Indonesian Nutmeg Tea Cookies (Kue Kering)
8 ounces butter (two sticks), at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Cream the butter with a whisk or electric hand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 to 6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and egg until thoroughly incorporated. Stir together the flour, salt, and freshly grated nutmeg in a separate bowl. Add the nutmeg flour to the creamed butter mixture slowly while stirring by hand, just until combined.
Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each piece of cookie dough into a cylinder about 8 inches long and 1 inch wide. Wrap the log in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Prepare a baking sheet for each cookie dough log. Cut each log into 16 equal pieces, about half an inch thick, and space evenly on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 10 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Sugar-Mace Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground mace

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream sugar and butter. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well.
Stir together flour, baking powder, mace, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend into creamed mixture. Divide in half. Cover and chill 1 hour.
On lightly floured surface, roll each half to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at for 7 to 8 minutes.
Yield: about 52 cookies

Game: Elephants and Horses
The sultan of Delhi had a huge army of a hundred thousand men mounted on elephants. Babur had only twelve thousand men, but they were mounted on quick horses. This game comes from The Story of the World Activity Book Two.  We found out that it is not really a good indoor game, but if you are studying this time period in the summer, this would be a good game to play outside.
You need 6 or more players for this game. You will need as many scarves as you have players. Choose two players to be the horses. The other players are the elephants. (Twice as many elephants as horses.) Have everyone tuck a scarf in their back pocket or wasitband. The horses are allowed to run normally but the elephants must hop on one foot by holding it with one of their hands. The only have the other hand free to catch a scarf. The object of the game is to remove all the scarves of the other team. Once all the scarves are removed from one of the teams, wins. Which is better...numbers or quickness?
Another activity is a sand painting project which can be found at The Tiger Chronicle.

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• You might also be interested in Traveling Man, The Journey of Ibn Battuta, 1325-1354, James Rumford. This is a gorgeous book. Based on Ibn Battuta's own account of traveling from Morocco to China, from the steppes of Russia to the shores of Tanzania, is illustrated with pictures, maps and beautiful Arabic calligraphy. His trip was not many years after Marco Polo's journey.

The Travels of Marco Polo (1271-1295), Part VII: South East Asia, Medieval Indian Ocean Trade Routes and Cloves

After traveling through the heart of Asia, taking 17 years in total, the Polos began their homeward journey by taking the sea route along the coast of Annam (modern Vietnam), past the Malaya Peninsula (Malaysia), and into the islands of Indonesia.

photo source: That Artist Woman

Wayang Kulit is a unique form of Indonesian shadow puppet theatre that was around when Marco Polo went through the area. The puppets are crafted from buffalo hide and mounted on bamboo sticks. When held up behind a piece of white cloth, with an electric bulb or an oil lamp as the light source, shadows are cast on the screen. The plays are invariably based on romantic tales, especially adaptations of the classic Indian epics, "The Mahabarata" and "The Ramayana". That Artist Woman has a wonderful post on making a puppet which includes templates (and here.)

They spent five months on the island of Sumatra, waiting for the monsoon rains to end. While they were stranded there, Marco noticed that the North Star had dipped behind the horizon (he was now in the southern hemisphere). One of the spices so prized there was cloves.

Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to Indonesia and India and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world. The English name derives from Latin clavus 'nail' as the buds vaguely resemble small irregular nails in shape. Cloves are harvested primarily in Indonesia, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; they are also grown in India.

Lemon Clove Cookies
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon Cloves, Ground
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract

Lemon Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
1/4 teaspoon Lemon Extract

Mix flour, cloves and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and lemon extract; beat until well blended. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well mixed.
Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 9 inches long. Wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut dough into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
For the Lemon Glaze, mix confectioners' sugar, water and lemon extract in small bowl untill well blended. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Let stand until glaze is set.

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The Travels of Marco Polo,(1271-1295) Part V: Traveling Through Tibet

He tells us, too, of Tibet, that wide country "vanquished and wasted by the Khan for the space of twenty days' journey"—a great wilderness wanting people, but overrun by wild beasts. Here were great Tibetan dogs as large as asses. -A Book of Discovery

Marco Polo described the Buddhist monks in the mountians of Tibet.

photo from Craft Knife

If you would like to learn more about modern Buddhist monks, Craft Knife has a wonderful post all about theTibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center and a group of Gomang monks who visited the center from their own monastery in South India. She and other homeschoolers were invited to spend the day with them. They made little prayer flags, worked on sand art and (clay) butter art. The monks also performed a Snow Lion dance. This was such an enjoyable introduction to Buddhist monks.

We also enjoyed making mandalas.

Child in Harmony made lovely autumn mandalas, and although we were a little late to catch the fall colors, we made mandalas with the same idea in mind.

We collected leaves and flowers from our backyard...



and pressed them between the layers of a laminating pocket.

We also looked at Tibetan palace doors, which are so beautiful. The tassels on the door represented the different levels of Lamas who could enter the palace.

Painted Paper gave me the idea of making an art project out of these doors.

(top left) James, (tr) Quentin, (bl) Sam, (br) Alex

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The Spice Trade: Cinnamon

For our study of spices, we have been studying cinnamon this week. Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree belonging to the family Lauraceae, native to Sri Lanka, or the spice obtained from the tree's bark (similar spices derived from them, such as Cassia and Cinnamomum burmannii, are called cinnamon too). Cinnamon is harvested by growing the tree for two years and then about a dozen shoots will form from the roots. These shoots are then stripped of their bark, which is left to dry. Only the thin inner bark is used; the outer woody portion is removed, leaving metre-long cinnamon strips that curl into rolls ("quills") on drying. These quills are then cut into 5–10 cm lengths for sale. As we all know, cinnamon in is used as a spice. Americans usually use it in desserts, but other countries often use it in more savory dishes. We have used it in several projects this week. First we mapped where Sri Lanka is, and colored pictures of the cinnamon plant.

Cinnamon Cookies
These cookies are easy to make and taste like soft snickerdoodles.

Cinnamon Cocoa
Sometimes called Mexican Hot Cocoa because of its popularity in Mexico, is easy to make by just adding 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to your usual hot cocoa recipe.



Cinnamon  Teatime
We had the two above treats at a teatime.





Cinnamon Dough Ornaments



Cinnamon Salt Dough Ornaments

Cinnamon Spiced Nuts

We served them warm in paper cones.



Friday's plan is to make Cinnamon-Pumpkin Rolls
to have Saturday morning...

or, perhaps regular Cinnamon Rolls instead.

Cinnamon Snowflakes

We might also make Cinnamon Candies  like we did last year this time.

Other Christmas ornaments that can be made from cinnamon are Holiday Spice Picture Frame, in which cinnamon sticks frame a wallet-sized photo, Cinnamon Star Ormament, in which cinnamon sticks form a star, Cinnamon Stick Bundles, in which a few cinnamon sticks are bundled together like firewood and decorated.

Also, Cinnamon Scented Pine Cone Firestarters.

Do you have any ways you like to use cinnamon? 

You might also want to see

Part I of Spice Trade: Pepper

The Travels of Marco Polo, Part IV: China: In The Realm of Kublai Khan (1271-1295)

"The Polos had entered the realm of Kublai Khan. His palace was still a thousand miles to the east but his influence reached far. As their caravan moved...(on)...Marco met with the Khan's subjects and heard stories about the great ruler." -Marco Polo for Kids

The Kublai Khan

"In Changanor, the Polos were met by couriers sent by Kublai Khan. The Khan had been told that the Polos were near and it was his wish that they hurry to his court...he was very eager to see his Italian visitors again. He ordered his couriers to escort the Polos to his summer palace and instructed the people in towns along the path to give the travelers every comfort..The Polos stayed at the Khan's palace as his esteemed guests Marco quickly absorbed the language and customs of the court. He learned everything he could about the Khan and his kingdom" - Marco Polo for Kids

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is one of the things that is sited as the reason why many do not believe that Marco Polo made it to China. In ancient times, before China was a united country, small cities throughout Asia had built such walls to keep themselves safe from invasion. In the third century BC Emperor Shihuangdi rose to power and ordered his subjects to build a Great Wall. He ordered his people to link together different walls of the wide spread towns to make one Great Wall. Hundreds of thousands of subjects worked for 14 years to completed it, making it a 3,000 mile long wall.
So, how could Marco Polo have missed it? Have not mentioned something so grand?

Emperor Shihuangdi was a very cruel ruler and after his death the people of China revolted against his government. The peasant who led the revolt became the next emperor, the first of the Han Dynasty. The Great Wall, which symbolized to them Shihuangdi's cruel rule, fell into disrepair. The crumbling remains allowed Genghis Khan's hoarders to invade China years later.

The Silk Road & Spice Trade
The incentive for exploration of the West into the East was for trade. The Silk Road not only was the trade route for silk but also for many trade goods.

Spices were one of the most sought after trading goods.

While we are with Marco Polo in China, I thought it would be a good time to look at silk and the Silkworm and at spices. For the next few weeks we will be taking a spice a week and studying it. This week I thought we would look at pepper.

Marco Polo's travels followed the Silk Road and the routes of Spice Trade

The Silk Road
Silk and The Silk Worm



We printed out these Silkworm Sequencing Cards so that they could learn the steps in the silk-making process. We talked about how the moth lays her eggs on the leaves of a Mulberry tree. This was particularly interesting to us since we had just identified a Mulberry tree in our yard this past summer.
We then took a caterpillar from a set of soft, squishy plastic insects and compared him to the caterpillar.

We then talked about how the caterpillar when it is ready to become a pupa spins a cocoon of silk around himself.
We then wrapped our plastic caterpillar in dental floss.

(Sorry this is a bit blurry.)
Here is our caterpillar in a pupa stage.

Next we talked about how the silk worm growers next put the cocoons in hot water to loosen the silk. We began unraveling our floss.

This was quite a fun task.

Next the silk was wound onto a spool to be used for weaving into cloth.

The Spice Trade

Pepper

I am delighted that learning about spices intertwines so well with the Christmas season. There are so many recipes and crafts using them that tie in with Christmas.

We made Black Pepper Butter Cookies.

They were very buttery tasting with just a little kick at the end. I must admit, however, that it seemed to appeal more to the adults than the small children.

We also are making peppercorn Christmas ornaments,which are so easy to make.

Other Spice Trade Posts:

Cinnamon

Ginger

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