Question

What was Europe’s most desired Indian spice and where did it come from?

Answer 1

One of the most desired spices, undoubtedly is cinnamon, because it has specific properties,such as preservative, particularly to preserve meat due to its antibacterial characteristic, another reason for being used by physicians to treat cough and sore throats among others.

It comes from Sri Lanka, before called Ceylon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum). Spices were so expensive, that this inspired Cristopher Columbus to find an alternative route to India to obtain them, because this would be a cheaper enterprise than buying them from middlemen and European monopolies.