Know Your Spices

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.

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.

Extracts of mint leaves inhibit the release of certain chemicals, which aggravate severe nasal symptoms associated with hay fever and seasonal allergies. A study has found that rosmarinic acid reduces symptoms of asthma when compared to a control group that did not receive a supplement.

Indians and Chinese are believed to have produced ginger as a tonic root for over 5000 years to treat many ailments, and this plant is now cultivated throughout the humid tropics, with India being the largest producer.

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.

The seeds are used in colic flatulence, dysentery, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, chronic cough and enlargement of liver and spleen, rickets, gout and diabetes. It is also used as a carminative, tonic, and aphrodisiac. Fenugreek oil is used in the manufacture of hair tonics.

Aside from its many culinary uses, fennel and its seeds offer a wide array of health benefits and may provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects. The fruits are aromatic, stimulant and carminative. Here are some of the medicinal uses of Fennel.

Curry leaves are very useful when added for a pleasant aroma to our dishes, they can also provide many significant health benefits. A lot of the health benefits provided by curry leaves are actually more strongly experienced when the leaves are used outside of cooking. By combining them with things like milk or tea, you can experience far more potent effects.

Cumin has long been used in traditional medicine. Also modern studies have confirmed some of the health benefits cumin is traditionally known for. Here are some of the health benefits of Cumins.

Coriander is widely used in culinary, flavourings and preservatives. Additionally it has multiple medical benefits like fever, stomach disorders, and nausea. Read here for more details….

The use of clove in whole or ground form is mainly for culinary purposes and as a flavouring agent in food industry. It is highly valued in medicine as carminative, aromatic and stimulant. The antiseptic and antibiotic properties of clove oil are used in medicine especially in dentistry, oral and pharyngeal treatments. It offers many health benefits.

The “True Cinnamon” Cinnamon is the dried inner stem bark of Cinnamomum Verum. Cinnamon plants are grown as bushes. It is found to help diabetics in digestion of sugar. It has astringent; stimulant and carminative properties and can check nausea and vomiting. The cinnamon bark oil has anti-fungal properties and cinnamon leaf oil is widely used in perfumery and cosmetics