Know Your Spices
Year: 2021
Saffron is used as a culinary seasoning and to colour, cottage cheese, chicken and meat, rise, mayonnaise, liquors and cordials. It is also used in speciality breads, cakes, confectionaries, Mughlai dishes. Saffron is also used as a perfume in cosmetics. In medicine saffron is used in fevers, melancholia, and enlargement of liver and spleen. In Ayurvedic medicine it is used to heal arthritis, impotence and infertility. It has wide range of uses in Chinese and Tibetan medicines.
Quince fruit (Quince Apple) belongs to rose family with similar shape to apple and pear. Quince fruit (Quince Apple) belongs to rose family with similar shape to apple and pear. The skin is quite pale yellow color with several black spots. The tree can grow up to 12-20 feet and has a very good smell when the fruits are ripe. Quince is packed with nutrients such as Vitamins A, B, and C, minerals like copper, potassium, selenium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron, as well as fiber.
Piperine, the pungent principle in pepper oleoresin helps to enhance bio-availability and therefore used in pharmaceuticals. They have been used as carminative, reducing stomach and intestinal gas and have been found to stimulate the activities of the heart and kidneys. The major functional properties of pepper are analgesic, anti-pyretic, anti-oxidant and anti-microbial.
Garlic is used for flavouring various dishes practically all over the world. The other properties are anti-bacterial, fungicidal and insecticidal. In the area of medicine, it is used for various ailments of stomach, skin diseases. It has wider applications in indigenous medicines and is also considered as highly nutritive.
Mount Harmoukh & Lake Gangbal along with Lake NandKul which flow from the base of Mount Harmoukh find the mention in Nilmat Purana & Rajtarangni (authentic reference book for History of Kashmir) indicating people of Kashmir used to have this pilgrimage in 6th/7th century AD also. Many Sufi Saints have used “Harmoukh” in their poetry praising the “Omnipresent” Lord Shiva. A popular song “Harmoukh Bartal Praray Madono Yee dapham tee laagyo ..” meaning “I will wait at Harmoukh gates for You my Love, will offer whatever You ask…”
Obesity is a growing problem world wide and is linked to many health problems. Most of us have tried to lose weight some time or the other. So many weight loss clinics have mushroomed as people are growing more health conscious. You may also consult a dietician for consulting on diet for weight loss.
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