HERB AND SPICES

• Impart aroma, color and taste to food preparation• Aromatic fruits, flower, bark • Mask undesirable odor• Used as medicines, natural dyes, perfume,

cosmetics• Chemically alcohols, aldehydes, amines,

esters, ketones, terpenes,

Essential oils• Aroma due to essential oils• Can be extracted through fractional distillation• Essential oils common in leaves, flowers, bark,

root, stem, glands etc.• Fatty oils: Produced only in seeds• Volatile lipid (oil) soluble portion of fluid of

plant with odoriferous compounds produced through steam distillation of plant matter

• Secondary plant product• These oils are characterized as terpenes• Unsaturated hydrocarbons with isoprene

molecules (C5H6)• Complex mixture• Orange oil 34 alcohols, 30 esters and 20

aldehydes, 14 ketones, 10 carboxylic acids, and 36 varieties of Terpenoids compounds• Life Blood of plants: Circulate through plant

tissues, pass through cell wall, carrying nutrients to cells and waste products out

• When applied, carry oxygen to cell and waste products out

• Natural Cleanser• Act as hormones within plant body• Maintain homeostasis• Antimicrobial• Repel Insects• Act as herbicide• Desert bushes secrete oil• Protection in Lima beans against spider mites

• Tendency to identify good bacteria and nourish them

• Alkalize body in contradiction to antibodies• Shield from sunlight in desert plants• Platyphyllol from cajeput oil a good blocker of

UV light and used in commercial skin blocks• Haze in Western United States during dry

period a cloud of essential oils preventing plant from dehydration

• Help in pollination through smell• Communication between plant and animal

either through smell or sight• Most insects color blind• Small terpenes (mono) important constituent

of essential oil• Large Terpenoids (tetraterpenoid) give color

to carrot, tomato etc• Catnip plant loved by cats secret pheromones

• Pheromones message carrying molecules i.e., aldehydes, ketones , esters etc.

• Jasmine attracts certain night flying insect so strongest fragrance released after midnight

• When a flower ages, pollination completed, loses its scent because its purpose is fulfilled

• Essential oils are end products of metabolic pathways

• In flowers, they serve as pollinators due to their alluring scent

• Discourage herbivores, insects, bacteria and Fungal pathogens• Antimicrobial properties• Kill food borne bacteria• Onion, garlic

SpicesBotanical Name

Edible parts

Major Source/Origin

Aniseed Trachyspermum ammi

Seed Mexico, Netherlands

Basil Ocimum basilicum Fruit France, USA

Bay Leaf Laurus nobilis LeafTurkey, USA

Cordamom Elettaria cardamomum

FruitIndia

Large Cordamom

Amomum subulatum

Fruit India, Nepal, China

Chilli Capsicum frutescens Fruit India, Japan

Cinnamon Cinnamomum verum Bark

Sri lanka, India

Clove Syzygium aromaticum Buds

Indonesia, Malaysia

Coriander Coriandrum sativum Fruit

Agentine, India

Cumin|

Cuminum cyminum Fruit India, Iran

Fennel Foeniculum vulgare Fruit

Argentine, Bulgaria

Garlic Allium sativum

Bulb Argentine, India

Ginger Zingiber officinalis Rhizome India, Nigeria

Mint Mentha piperita Leaf

Bulgaria, Egypt

Mustard Brassica nigra Seed

Canda, Denmark

OnionAllium cepa Bulb

Agentine, Romania

Black pepper piper nigrum Fruit Brazil, India

Poppy papaver somniferum Seed

Netherlands,Poland

Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis

Leaf France, Spain

Saffron Crocus sativusPistil of flower Spain

Sage Salvia officinalis Leaf Albania

Star anise Illicium verumFruit China

Tamarind Tamarindus indica Fruit Indonesia

Thyme Thymus vulgaris Leaf

France, Spain

TurmericCurcuma longa

Rhizome China

Vanilla Vanilla planifolia

Fruit/Beans Indonesia

Aromatherapy

• Healing using essential oils• Connection of mind, body and spirit to

overcome sickness• Essential oils can be absorbed through nose,

lungs and skin that trigger physiological responses

• Oil can affect immune system and endocrine system, mood, memory, emotions and performance

• Oils antiseptic, anti-inflammatory

• Using Vicks (active ingredients camphor, menthol, eucalyptus oil) aromatherapy

• Lavender oil useful

• Some oils toxic due to high ketones content

Commonly used Essential oils for Aromatherapy

Essential oils Common uses Bulgarian rose Antiseptic Eucalyptus Anti-inflammatory Ginger Bronchitis Lavender Antiseptic, Relaxation Pine Asthma Rosemary Depression Sandalwood Acne, Depression

Bulgarian rose

Cinnamon

• Fragrant Bark from Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree

• Native to India, Sri Lanka• Outer bark is scraped away and inner cut into

fragments• Used for baking, medicines, perfumes, scents

Cinnamomum zeylanicum

Black and White Pepper

• Obtained from dried berries of Piper nigrum• Family Piperaceae

• Peppercorn or ground form

Piper nigrum

Ginger and Turmeric

• Ginger (Zingiber officinalis) rhizome of family Zingiberaceae

• Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

• Both medicinal plant due to antimicrobial properties

Saffron

• World most expensive spice

• Delicate stigma of Crocus sativus

• Zafaran (Arabic word) yellow

• Stigma from 150,000-20,000 flowers yield 1kg of spice

Crocus sativus

Herbs

• Aromatic leaves

• Mint (Lamiaceae) important source of herb

• Peppermint, oregano, sweet basil, thyme

• Herbs reflect cultures

• Menthol constituent of peppermint oil

Oregano

Thyme

• Brassicaceae (Mustard family)

• Seeds of Brassica nigra, B. alba used as herbs

• Mustard produced from seeds of B. alba

• Antimicrobial properties

• Used in aromatherapy

Herbs as Dye

• Direct dyes soluble in water and picked up by fibres

• Turmeric and safflower direct dye• Mordant dyes do not impart color directly• Need to be treated with mordant• Mordant fixes the dye to the fabric• Lichens contain alum, a mordant

Books Recommended

• Chemistry of Essential oils by David Stewart