Herbs & Spices

Asafoetida

Asafoetida powder is a crucial ingredient in Indian vegetarian cooking. It is used as a digestive aid, in food as a condiment and in pickles. Its odour is so strong that it must be stored in airtight containers. It is used in most vegetarian and lentil dishes to both add flavor and aroma and reduce flatulence. Asafoetida has certain medicinal uses and most commonly is used as a digestive aid. It is also said to be helpful in cases of asthma and bronchitis. It is a fine powder containing 30% asafoetida resin, along with rice flour and gum arabic.Asafeotida sap is mixed with gum arabic, wheat, rice flower and turmeric to make the powder we use in cooking. A folk tradition remedy for children’s colds: it is mixed into a foul-smelling paste and hung in a bag around the afflicted child’s neck. Its major applications are for digestive weakness, food allergies and candida.

Bay Leaves

The bay leaf is useful in hearty, homestyle cooking. When you are making bean, split pea and vegetable soups, meat stews, spaghetti sauce, and chili, a bay leaf can be added for a more pungent flavor. They are used in soups, stews, meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes. Bringing together other flavors, giving them depth, and adding richness is what bay leaves do best. They also played an important part in the temple at delphi, dedicated to apollo. Before delivering their prophecies, the priestesses would eat whole bay leaves. Since they are mildly narcotic, this might have helped induce the trance states. As bay leaves are very fragile, they must be handled with appropriate care.

Bishop’s weed

Bishop weed or ajwain is a very popular indian spice which is used as to add flavor to many dishes. Bishop’s weed has been used in ayurvedic medicine as an antiseptic, a spice, and a preservative, as well as for respiratory and gi ailments. It is used in the unani system of medicine as an enhancer of the body’s resistance. It is a famous remedy for chest congestion occurring due to accumulated cough. It is also effective in common conditions like rhinitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, etc.

Cardamom (Large & Small)

Cardamom is considered to be the `queen of spices’. India is the largest producer and exporter of this spice, accounting for more than 60% of the total world production and total world trade. The demand for large cardamom in the export market is increasing steadily. Cardamom oil is a precious ingredient in food preparations, perfumery, health foods, medicines and beverages. They are available in different colors. The color depends on how they are processed: green cardamom is sun-dried (preferred in india); brown cardamom is oven-dried (most popular elsewhere in asia and in europe) ; and white cardamom (united states) is bleached. Large cardamom quality characteristics are different from that of small cardamom. The fruit is 4 to 6 times size of small cardamom. Valued for its acceptable taste, flavour and aroma, large cardamom is used in rice preparations and meat dishes, besides a wide range of beverages and sweets.

Cassia

Cassia is also a genus of plants in the family fabaceae. Cassia is the dried husk (bark) of a small, bushy evergreen tree. Botanically, it is considered inferior to cinnamon but still widely used as a flavoring agent. There are different varieties of cassia, obtained from different species of cinnamomum and originating from different sources. These include ‘chinese’, ‘indonesian’, ‘saigon’, ‘vietnamese’ and ‘indian’. Most of the spice sold as cinnamon in the united states and canada (where true cinnamon is still generally unknown) is actually cassia. Cassia bark is a popular ingredient in foods, beverages, perfumery, toiletries and cosmetics, while the oil of cassia finds extensive application in liquors and beauty products.

Celery

Celery has become a common household staple along with carrots, onions and potatoes. Its crunchy texture and distinctive flavor makes it a popular addition to salads and many cooked dishes. It grows to a height of 12 to 16 inches and is composed of leaf-topped stalks arranged in a conical shape that are joined at a common base. Celery is an excellent source of vitamin c. It helps reducing cold symptoms or severity of cold symptoms. In temperate countries, celery is also grown for its seeds, which yield a valuable volatile oil used in the perfume and pharmaceutical industries. Celery seeds can be used as flavouring or spice either as whole seeds or, ground and mixed with salt, as celery salt. Celery salt can also be made from an extract of the roots. Celery salt is used as a seasoning, in cocktails.

Chilli

Chilli is the fruit of plant belonging to capsicum genus. It is one of the most used spice for garnishing dishes. It is an indispensable spice used as basic ingredient in everyday cuisine all over the world. The chilli powder is made by crushing the dried chilli having chilli flakes and chilli pods. Dry chilly is extensively used as spice in curried dishes. It has been an important culinary spice to be included in different cuisines like italian food, mexican food, chinese food, french food, japanese food, and indian food. Chilli was used in variety of forms like green chilli sauce, salsas, red chilli sauce, chilli powder. Chilli is hot and stimulating with very less aroma when eaten. It is used as an ingredient in curry powder and in seasonings.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree, 10–15 meters tall, native to sri lanka and south india. Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity, and it was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a gift fit for monarchs and other great potentates. Cinnamon bark is widely used as a spice. It is principally employed in cookery as a condiment and flavouring material, being largely used in the preparation of some kinds of desserts, chocolate, spicy candies, tea, hot cocoa and liqueurs. In the middle east, it is often used in savoury dishes of chicken and lamb. In medicine it acts like other volatile oils and once had a reputation as a cure for colds. It has also been used to treat diarrhea and other problems of the digestive system. It is also used as an insect repellent.

Cloves

Cloves are the rich, brown, dried, unopened flower buds of syzygium aromaticum, an evergreen tree in the myrtle family. They are strong, pungent, and sweet. Cloves are native to indonesia and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world. The clove tree is an evergreen which grows to a height ranging from 10-20 m, having large oval leaves and crimson flowers in numerous groups of terminal clusters. Cloves spice is used throughout europe and asia and is smoked in a type of cigarettes locally known as kretek in indonesia. Cloves are also an important incense material in chinese and japanese culture. Cloves are used in spice cookies and cakes. They are a perfect breath freshener because it kills the bacteria that causes odor and leaves the mouth clean lasting and smelling. Cloves are also said to be a natural antihelmintic. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy when stimulation and warming is needed, especially for digestive problems. In overdoses, cloves can cause vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

Coriander

Coriander also commonly called cilantro is a soft, hairless plant growing to 50 cm tall. Coriander roots are used in a variety of asian cuisine. They are commonly used in thai dishes. It has been used as a folk medicine for the relief of anxiety and insomnia in iranian folk medicine. Coriander seeds are also used in traditional indian medicine as a diuretic by boiling equal amounts of coriander seeds and cumin seeds, then cooling and consuming the resulting liquid. Coriander seed is generally used coarsely ground or more finely powdered, depending on the texture desired. The commonest use of coriander seed is in curry powders, where it is the bulkiest constituent, often rough ground in india to give a crunchy texture. Coriander seeds are available in sealed packs. When these rounded seeds are crushed with a mortar and pestle, they give off a strong sweet smell somewhere between cinnamon, rose, orange, and clove.

Cumin

CuminCumin is a flowering plant that has been grown as a spice since ancient times. Cumin’s distinctive flavour and strong, warm aroma is due to its essential oil content. It can be used to season many dishes, as it draws out their natural sweetnesses. It is traditionally added to curries, enchiladas, tacos, and other middle-eastern, indian, cuban and mexican-style foods. It can also be added to salsa to give it extra flavour. It has a distinctive, slightly bitter yet warm flavor. Cumin seeds are often ground up before being added to dishes.

Curry Leaf

Curry Leaf Curry leaf is a popular leafy-spice used in asian-indian cuisine for its characterizing authentic flavor and distinct aroma. Curry leaf’s diverse menu offers ever popular dishes like butter chicken, chicken tikka, samosa and dosa as well as some distinctive signature dishes like chilli tofu, bhutta kurma that are a subtle blend of modern taste trends and ingredients, that are unique. Curry leaves are used extensively in south indian cooking. The leaves look a bit like bay leaves along a long central stem and are used in a similar fashion. The pungent leaves are typically toasted in oil prior to the rest of the ingredients being added to the cooking pan. The leaves are best fresh but can be found and used dried as well.

Dill

Dill Dill is a short-lived annual herb. It grows to 40-60 cm tall, with slender stems and alternate, finely divided, softly delicate leaves 10-20 cm long. Dill seeds are used as a spice, and its fresh leaves, dill, and its dried leaves, dill weed, are used as herbs. In india, dill is used extensively in foods, beverages and medicines. It is common to flavor for lentils and bean dishes. Dill seeds also make useful addition to cold, flu and cough remedies. Dill oil can be extracted from the leaves, stems and seeds of the plant. It is well known as the prime flavoring ingredient in dill pickles and other pickled vegetables, but it is also popular for flavoring vinegars. It is an ingredient in many scandinavian and german fish and seafood dishes and sauces, including gravlax, and is used in soups with a variety of origins, including borscht. Dill is used as a garnish in the baltic states, in onion dill bread, and in dips and salad dressings, including those used for potato salad.

Fennel

FennelFennel is widely cultivated, both in its native range and elsewhere, for its edible, strongly-flavoured leaves and seeds. It is a greyish-green, hairless plant with vertically-grooved, branched stems which smell of aniseed when crushed. Fennel seeds are the ripe, dried, gray-green striped to yellowish brown schizocarpic fruits of the fennel bush, which is of mediterranean origin. Fennel is used as a spice, a medicine and food preservative from a very long period of time. Fennel is used as a condiment and as culinary spice for meat dishes, fishes and seafood, pickles, bread giving a special flavor. For medicinal uses, fennel is used to improve eyesight, aid digestion and cure obesity besides other uses. Fennel essential oil is used in soaps, and some perfumes. It is crunchy and slightly sweet, adding a refreshing contribution to the ever popular mediterranean cuisine.

Fenugreek

FenugreekFenugreek is used both as a herb (the leaves) and as a spice (the seed). It is cultivated worldwide as a semi-arid crop. Fenugreek has grown wild in india, the mediterranean, north africa, southern africa for centuries. It is mainly used in spices or curry powder and excellent for fish and sea food dishes, candy, baked goods, ice cream, chewing gum and soft drinks. It also has medicinal benefits like it is used in reducing the blood sugar level and blood pressure, it is rich in vitamins, minerals and proteins. In india, fenugreek seeds are mixed with yogurt and used as a conditioner for hair. It is also used as a digestive aid. It is one of the world’s oldest medicinal herbs. It has a variety of uses, including increasing breastmilk production. Fenugreek seeds are ground and roasted and used to flavor to curry. The seeds are also soaked and then powdered and used to make lip balm and tonic. Fenugreek’s leaves, which are high in iron, are used in salads.

Garlic

GarlicAllium sativum l. , commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family alliaceae. Garlic bulbs, the most commonly used part of the plant, is divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. It is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in mild climates. Garlic is widely used around the world for its pungent flavor, as a seasoning or condiments. It is widely used with kebabs, mezes and various meals in turkish cuisine. Garlic has a long list of health benefits. It lowers your cholesterol level, reverse high blood pressure, boost your immune system, overcome fatigue, resist colds and flus and many other benefits. Besides this, garlic is used as a spice in various cuisines to add that extra flavor and taste. A roasted garlic flavor can add zest to a dish without being offensive.

Ginger

GingerGinger is used to describe the edible part of the plant which is commonly used as a spice in cooking throughout the world. It contains up to 3% of an essential oil that causes the fragrance of the spice. Young ginger rhizomes are juicy and fleshy with a very mild taste. They are often pickled in vinegar or sherry as a snack or just cooked as an ingredient in many dishes. Ginger has been used to aid digestion, treat stomach upset, arthritis, diarrhea, nausea, common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, heart conditions, in addition to be valued around the world as an important cooking spice. It has been used as a medicine in asian, indian, and arabic herbal traditions besides being used as a culinary spice since ancient times.

Hyssop

HyssopHyssop belongs to the mint family. Hyssop and its oil are used to cure respiratory problems. Fresh and dried hyssop flowers are also used as decoration. Hyssop is used both as a medicine and also as a condiment. Hyssop leaves and flowering tops are used in flavoring of soups and salads. Hyssop is also used in the preparation of liquors and perfumes. It is considered as a stimulant, carminative and expectorant. It is also used in colds, coughs, and congestion and lung complaints. Hyssop oil is used as a flavoring agent in perfumery. This particular herb has multipurpose uses and hence widely demanded.

Juniper berry

Juniper BerryThe juniper is a small shrub, 4 to 6 feet high, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere. The berries are used for the production of the volatile oil which is a prime ingredient in geneva or hollands gin, upon which its flavor and diuretic properties depend. Sometimes it is used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages. The oil is used in flavoring liquors and cordial. Juniper berry is used both as a food flavourant and as a food. For the proper functioning of digestive system, the female reproductive system and the menstrual cycle, this fruit is beneficial, and stimulates the appetite, settles the stomach, and relieves gas.

Kokam

KokamPrimarily kokam is used as a garnish, just to add an acid flavour to curries. Both the ripened rind and juice of kokam fruit are used in cooking. The dried and salted rind of the fruit is used as a condiment in curries. We make use of kokam in the preparation of cooling syrups while kokam butter is used as an edible fat which is nutritive, antiseptic and demulcent. The kokam tree is found in southern india and in the evergreen forests of assam, khasi, jantia hills, west bengal and gujarat.

Mace

MaceMace is known to be aromatic product which is used for medicinal purpose. It is used in tonics and electuaries and is recommended for the inflammatory treatment of the bladder and urinary tract. It carries a stimulating effect on stomach and intestines, increasing appetite and reducing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and a helpful remedy for many other digestive problems. Mace is also applied externally and is beneficial in arthritis and chronic rheumatism. Mace is also used in savory dishes.

Mint

MintMint is basically used for garnishing or adding flavor. The mint leaves can be used fresh or dried, whole or chopped for flavoring soups, fish, meat, sauces, stews, vinegar. Mint can be added to drinks and fruit dishes as a garnish. It also makes a refreshing tea. There is a very good reason that mint is the flavoring of choice for toothpaste. It is an excellent breath freshener. When using mint tea as a breath freshener, increase the effectiveness by adding a pinch of anise, caraway or cinnamon. Mint can also be used for medical purposes. Mint is used against stomach disorders, rheumatism, headaches, cough, in tooth paste, inhalations etc. The mint oil and dried plants are antiseptic, refrigerant and stimulant.

Nutmeg

NutmegNutmeg is also used for flavoring various food stuffs. People often use it as a condiment particularly in sweet foods. Nutmeg is also used as a spice in the food processing industry. It is also used in the preparation of soups, meat products, sauces, puddings, seasoning of meat, baked foods, confectioneries, vegetable etc. In eastern countries, people use it as a drug. Nutmeg oil is used in cosmetics and toiletries. Nutmeg is beneficial in the treatment of fever, asthma and heart disease. It is used exclusively in indian sweets. Nutmeg oil is used to relax muscles and has a sedative capability. It can reduce flatulence, aid digestion, improve the appetite and treat diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Pepper Long

Pepper LongPepper long is used as a spice. It is also used in pickles and preserves. Pepper long has carminative, haematinic and anti-helmintic properties and most commonly used to treat respiratory infections such as stomachache, bronchitis and diseases of the spleen, tumors, cough and asthma. Today, long pepper is a rare ingredient in european cuisines, but it can still be found in some north african spice mixtures, indian vegetable pickles, and in indonesian and malaysian cooking.

Pepper

PepperPepper is one of the oldest and best-known spices, commonly called the "king of spices". Pepper is accepted as a universal table condiment used to flavor all types of cuisines worldwide. It is also used in stocks, pickling, sausages and in medicinal uses. Pepper is used in massage mainly for muscular pains and stiffness. Can also be used to treat sports injuries. For colds and flu, it can be taken as a steam inhalation, combined with eucalyptus. It is also beneficial in anemia and poor circulation.

Pomegranate

PomegranateThe pomegranate fresh seeds are used as a garnish on potatoes, apple sauce and rice dishes. We can also use its seeds on top waffles, pancakes, or ice cream sundaes . The fruit of pomegranate is useful in chronic dysentery and diarrhea. Pomegranate juice consists of vitamin c and is considered as a health drink. The juice can be used in a variety of of ways as a fresh juice, to make sorbets, jellies, cold or hot sauces, flavor cakes, baked apples, etc. Pomegranate juice can also be made into a wine. Dried pomegranate seeds are used as a spice in indian and iranian cooking. These seeds are usually collected from a wild, sour pomegranate and not from the sweeter pomegranate which is typically eaten fresh. The seeds are used to add a flavor to foods. All you need to crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle before using as a spice and add flavor to your cooking.

Sweet Flag

Sweet FlagThe root of our herbal product – sweet flag is used as an expectorant and an anesthetic. It is also known by the name of rat root, sweet sedge etc. It is widely used for its anti-arrhythmic, hypotensive, vasodilatory, anti-tussive, anti-bacterial and expectorant properties. Sweet flag has a very long history of medicinal use in many traditions as an aromatic stimulant and mild tonic. It is is highly valued as a rejuvenatory for the brain and nervous system. It is used as a remedy for digestive disorders in ayurveda. Sweet flag oil is used to cure gastritis. It is also used in perfume industry and has insecticidal properties.

Turmeric

TurmericTurmeric (haldi) – comes from the root of a leafy plant related to ginger. It has a bright yellow color and a pungent, warm, earthy aroma and taste. Although it becomes bitter if used too much. It is mildly antiseptic. Turmeric is an essential spice in indian food, giving a rich, appetizing color. It is a mild antiseptic as well. Turmeric has medicinal use also. Because of its digestive property, it is being used in curries, fish dishes and with beans. Research shows that turmeric inhibits blood clotting, reduces liver toxins, and helps the liver metabolize fats and so aids weight loss. Besides being used as spice, turmeric has its application in varieties of other purposes like dye, in religious purposes, medicines and ointments. It is used in healing therapies, as cosmetic and many other purposes.