What are spices and spice yeilding plants.

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What are Spices, their properties and spice yielding plants?

What are Spices?

Spices are aromatic compounds derived from hard parts of the plants and are used commonly in a pulverized state or crushed/powdered state.

The peculiar aroma of a spice is due to the presence of a volatile oil. Volatile oils are the oils which evaporates easily when exposed in air. They bear a certain resemblance to the fixed oils, but differ from them in that they leave no greasy stain on paper, and all dissolve readily in cold alcohol. On account of the volatile nature of their flavoring constituent spices lose aroma when exposed to the air, especially after they have been grounding, that’s why spices are suggested to stored or packed in airtight containers.

Some of the important spice yielding plants are: 


S.No

Name

Family

Part used

        1.

Piper nigrum (Black pepper)

Piperaceae

dried berry-like fruits

     

Eugenia caryophyllum (Cloves)

Myretaceae

flower buds hardened by drying

        3.

Cinnamomum verum (Cinnamomum)

Lauraceae

the young bark of tree

        4.

Elettaria cardamomum (cardamom)

Zingiberaceae

Seed

        5.

Zingiber officinalis (Ginger)

Zingiberaceae

root-like stem which grows underground.

        6.

Curcuma longa (Turmeric)

Zingiberaceae

root-like stem which grows underground.

        7.

Coriandrum sativum (Coriander)

Apiaceae

Dried seeds

        8.

Foeniculum vulgaris (Fennel)

Apiaceae

Dried seeds

        9.

Mentha arvensis (Mint)

 

Lamiaceae

Whole plant

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