Your spice rack's secret history
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Your Spice Rack's Secret History — Daily trivia Tuesday, September 29, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Which flavor comes from an orchid that growers pollinate by hand, flower by flower?
- AChocolate
- BVanilla
- CCaramel
- DCoconut
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Vanilla
Vanilla. The hand method was invented in 1841 by Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old enslaved boy on Réunion, and he died destitute.
Q 02Which explorer's crew named chilies 'peppers' because they burned like black pepper?
- AFrancis Drake
- BFerdinand Magellan
- CMarco Polo
- DChristopher Columbus
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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus. Chilies aren't even related to black pepper: they belong to the nightshade family.
Q 03Medieval Nuremberg burned people at the stake for faking which spice?
- ASaffron
- BPaprika
- CSumac
- DCayenne
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Saffron
Saffron. It's the red threads of crocus flowers, and every thread is picked by hand.
Q 04Amid a mid-2000s pandemic scare, Roche bought up star anise harvests to make which drug?
- AValium
- BAccutane
- CTamiflu
- DKlonopin
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Tamiflu
Tamiflu. Its starting chemical, shikimic acid, came mostly from star anise, and Roche at times bought up to 90% of the world's crop.
Q 05Herodotus wrote that giant birds carried which spice up to their cliff nests, until Arabians made the nests fall?
- ABlack pepper
- BCinnamon
- CGinger
- DCardamom
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Cinnamon
Cinnamon. He said Arabians laid out chunks of dead oxen, and the clay nests broke under the meat the birds carried up.
Q 06Short of adrenal glands, a Hungarian scientist tested paprika instead and found it rich in which vitamin?
- AVitamin C
- BVitamin A
- CVitamin D
- DVitamin K
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Vitamin C
Vitamin C. The scientist, Albert Szent-Györgyi, won the 1937 Nobel Prize partly for his work on it.
Q 07Why do historians reject the idea that medieval cooks hid rotten meat with spices?
- ASpices made meat spoil faster
- BSpices hadn't reached Europe yet
- CChurch law banned spiced meat
- DSpices cost more than fresh meat
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Spices cost more than fresh meat
Spices cost more than fresh meat. Anyone rich enough to cook with them could simply buy good meat.
Q 08Chilies reached India only with Portuguese traders. Which fiery curry takes its name from their marinade?
- AKorma
- BJalfrezi
- CVindaloo
- DTikka masala
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Vindaloo
Vindaloo. It began as the Portuguese carne de vinha d'alhos, meat marinated in wine and garlic.
Q 09To hold on to a nutmeg island, the Dutch gave up their claim to which colony?
- ANew Amsterdam
- BSuriname
- CCuraçao
- DCape Colony
Show answer
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam, capital of New Netherland, already renamed New York. The Dutch prized Run because nutmeg then grew almost only in the Banda Islands.
Q 10Pepper was once a precious luxury. What is a 'peppercorn rent'?
- AA sky-high rent
- BA token rent
- CRent that rises yearly
- DRent owed to a church
Show answer
A token rent
A token rent. A 2022 law caps ground rent on most new long home leases in England at one peppercorn a year.
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