***1) Mustard***Description {{Mustard is an annual herb cultivated as oil seed crop or as vegetable or as fodder, of which, 3 species are known for its condiment value. They are pale yellow or white mustard (Brassica hirta), brown mustard (Brassica juncea) and black mustard (Brassica nigra). The leaves of the plant are alternate, long, bristly branched, petiolate, hairy on both sides. Flowers are small, yellow with 4petals, cruciform. Seeds are 1.5-3mm. Mustard prefers loamy or clayey loam soil. It is grown as rabbi crop in North India. It is raised during rainy season from July to November in South India.}} ***Uses*** {{The major processed products are mustard powder used in the manufacture of mayonnaise, dried or dehydrated mustard leaves, whole mustard seeds etc. Whole mustard is used as a flavouring agent in Indian cooking, whereas ground mustard provides flavour and consistency in Bengali fish curries. Mustard flour has preservative and antioxidant properties in addition to providing flavour and colour.}} ***2)Nutmeg & Mace***Description {{Nutmeg & Mace are two distinctly different spices produced from a fruit of an evergreen tree usually 9-12 mtr high. Mace is the dried reticulated ‘aril’ of the fruit and nutmeg is the dried seed kernel of the fruit. The trees are normally unisexual, bearing either male or female flowers. The male flowers are born in clusters, whereas female flowers are often solitary. Fruit is a fleshy drupe, spherical in shape, pale yellow in colour with a longitudinal groove in the centre. When the fruit mature it burst open along the groove exposing the bright attractive mace, covering the hard black, shiny shell of the seed called nutmeg. Nutmeg thrives well in places with warm humid climate from sea level up to 600 mtrs MSL. It grows on a variety of soils from sandy to clayey loams and red laterite soils with good drainage. }} ***Uses*** {{Both nutmeg and mace are used as condiment particularly in sweet foods. The spice in the ground form is mainly used in the food processing industry especially as a standard seasoning in many Dutch dishes. Nutmeg oleoresin is used in the preparation of meat products, soups, sauces, baked foods, confectionaries, puddings, seasoning of meat and vegetable etc. The fleshy outer cover of the fruit is crystallized or pickled or made into jellies. Mace is used in savoury dishes. It is used as a drug in Eastern countries because of its stimulant, carminative, astringent and aphrodisiac properties. Excessive doses have a narcotic effect. Nutmeg oil is used in cosmetics and toiletries. }} ***3)Oregano***Description {{Oregano is a perennial herb with creeping roots, 30-90 cm high, branched woody stems and opposite, petiolate and hairy leaves (1.5 cm long). The flowers are pale purple and the flowering period extends from late June to August. Each flower produces four small structures. The foliage is dotted with small glands containing the volatile oil, which gives the plant aroma and colour. It is a hardy plant and can be grown in all warm garden soils. Temperate to sub-tropical climate is preferred by the plant and it grows in light, well-drained soil in a sunny position.}} ***Uses*** {{Oregano is used in meat, sausages, salads, dressings, stews and soups. In food industry, oregano oil and oleoresin is used in food and beverages. Oregano oil is used in alcoholic beverages and in baked goods. It is a most common spice for pizza. The oregano oil possesses carminative, stomachic, diuretic, diaphoretic properties. It is used in whooping cough and bronchitis. It is also used as an external application for healing wounds. It has antioxidant and anti-microbial properties.}} ***4)Parsley***Description {{Parsley is the dried aromatic leaf of a biennial herb with dense foliage and white flowers. The bright green leaves are finely divided and curled. There are two main types of horticultural parsleys. The one cultivated for leaves, which is found in India and the other grows for its turnip like roots. The flowering stalk reaches up to a height of 100 cm in the second year. Flowers are yellow or yellowish green in compound umbels. Fruits 2-3 mm long, crescent shape, conspicuously rigid and consisting of two mericarps. Leaves and seeds are used as spice. The aroma of the herb is characteristic, fragrant and spicy due to volatile oil present. Parsley is a cold weather crop, growing best in rich, moist soil. In India it grows better at higher altitudes.}} ***Uses*** {{Parsley is commonly used for garnishing and seasoning of foods. They are eaten fresh incorporated in salad and used as an ingredient in soups, stews and sauces. It is also used as a seasoning in meat and poultry. The roots are used as a vegetable in soups. The dried leaves and roots are used as condiments. The herb is possessing diuretic, carminative, anti-pyretic properties. The juice of the fresh leaves is used as an insecticide. Parsley herb oil and parsley seed oil are obtained from steam distillation.}} ***5)Pepper*** Description {{Black Pepper is the dried mature berry of Piper nigrum, a climbing, perennial shrub mostly found in hot, moist region of Southern India. Under cultivation pepper vines are trailed over support as columns, 5-6 mtr tall, 1-2 meter diameter. The climbing woody stems have swollen nods with clinging roots at each node, which helps in anchoring the vine to the support trees (standards). It has straight upward growing main stem and have lateral shoots from the axils of the leaves having shorter inter nodes without adventitious roots. In such branches the terminal buds get modified into an inflorescence (spike) and the auxiliary buds continue further growth. The root system confined to 75-100 cm radius and depth. The inflorescence is a pendent spike, 3-15 cm long with 50-150 flowers. Flowers are minute, white pale yellow, arranged spirally on fleshy pedantries. The specie is naturally self-pollinated and pollen dispersal is aided by the presence of water droplets. Fruit is a single seeded drupe often called berry. It is spherical in shape, green in colour, changing to red on ripping. Pepper requires hot and humid climate and grows between 20 degree North and South latitudes, from sea level to up to 1500 meters above MSL. The crop tolerates temperatures between 10 degree and 40 degree C. A well-distributed annual rainfall of 125 to 200 cm is considered ideal for pepper. }} ***Uses*** {{Pepper is largely used by meat packers and in canning, pickling, baking, considering for its preservative value. It has the ability to correct the seasoning of dishes, therefore used as a final dash at the end of cooking to effectively adjust the flavour. It is an important component of culinary seasoning of universal use and is an essential ingredient of numerous commercial foodstuffs. It is also used as an ingredient in spice mixes. White pepper is used in products like mayonnaise where, black specks of black pepper is not liked. Other products in use are pepper oil, oleoresin, micro encapsulated pepper, green pepper in brine, dehydrated green pepper, frozen pepper etc. Black pepper is an essential ingredient in Indian system of medicine. Piperine, the pungent principle in pepper oleoresin helps to enhance bio-availability and therefore used in pharmaceuticals. The major functional properties of pepper are analgesic, anti-pyretic, anti-oxidant and anti-microbial. }}

***1) Pepper long***Description {{Pepper long is the dried fruit of Piper longum which is a slender, aromatic plant with creeping jointed stems and perennial woody roots. The leaves are 5-9 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, ovate, cordate with broad rounded lobes at the base. Female spikes are cylindrical, male spikes are larger and slender. Female spikes are 1.3-2.5 cm long, 4.5 mm diameter, fruits ovoid, yellowish orange, minute, drupe and are sunk in the fleshy spike. The spike are red when ripe.}} ***Uses*** {{It is used as a spice and also in pickles and preserves. The fruits and roots are used as medicine for respiratory disease and as counter irritant and analgesic for muscular pains and inflammation. It has carminative, haematinic and anti-helminhic properties. }} ***2)POMEGRANATE*** Description {{Pomegranate is deciduous shrub or a small tree with a dark grey bark, 5-8 meters high. Leaves are opposite, oblong, 2.5-6 cm long. Flowers at terminals or auxiliary, solitary, large, orange red. Calyx persistent, prolonged above the ovary. Petals 1.2-2.5 cm long, thin and wrinkled. Fruits are large, globose, 5-8 cm across, indehiscent with red pulp. Seeds are angular. It thrives best in places with a hot dry summer, with irrigation. In humid weather the quality of fruit is not good. It grows up to a height of 1600 mtr MSL. It can tolerate alkaline and wet soil.}} ***Uses*** {{The seed dried with pulp is used as a spice in many dishes. The fruit juice is cooling and refrigerant. The fruit rind is useful in chronic dysentery and diarrhoea. The pulp and seeds are stomachic and are also used as laxative. The flower buds are used in bronchitis.}} ***3) POPPY SEED ***Description {{Poppy seed is the dried seed of Papaver somniferum, an erect annual herb, 30-150 cm long with 0.5-1.5 cm thick stem. Stem is glabrous with thick waxy coating. Leaves are numerous, alternate, spreading horizontally, 15-25 cm long. Flowers are few, solitary, on a 10-15 cm long peduncle. Fruit is a capsule with waxy coating. Seeds are numerous, very small, white grey with an oily endosperm. Poppy is a self pollinated plant. The seed is the spice. Poppy is cultivated in temperate and sub-tropical region and requires well drained, highly fertile, light black cotton soil having good percentage of fine sand. In India it is a licensed crop since the latex of the mature fruit are collected for the production of opium, a narcotic substance. }} ***Uses*** {{Poppy seed (Khas Khas) is used as food and as a source of fatty oil. It is widely used for culinary purposes. Because of its highly nutritive nature it is used in breads, cakes, cookies, pastries, curries, sweets and confectionary. Its seeds are demulcent and are used against constipation. The capsules are used as a sedative against irritant coughing and sleeplessness in the form of syrup or extract. }} ***4)Rosemary ***Description {{Rosemary of commerce comprises dried leaves of evergreen shrub of Rosmarinus Officinalis. This is a dense, evergreen, hardy, perennial, aromatic herb, 90 cm high with small (2-4 cm) pointed, sticky, hairy leaves. The upper surface of the leaf is dark green whereas it is white on the lower side. The leaves are resinous. Branches are rigid with fissured bark and stem is square, woody and brown. Pale blue small flowers appear in cymose inflorescence. It can be grown either as a field crop or as an indoor plant.}} ***Uses*** {{Rosemary has wide range of uses in food processing. Fresh tender tops are used for garnishing and flavouring of cold drinks, pickles, soups etc. Dried and powdered leaves are used as condiment. In medicine rosemary is credited as carminative, anti-depressant, anti-spasmodic, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, carcinogen blocker, liver-detoxifier and anti-rheumatic.}} ***5) Saffron ***Description {{Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world is derived from the dry stigmata of the plant Crocus Sativus. The plant is a bulbous, perennial with globular corms, 15-20 cm high. It has 6 to 10 leaves present at anthesis, one to two flowers with a lilac-purple colour with perianth segments of 3.5 – 5 cm and style branches of 2.5 – 3.2 cm. The yellow style is deeply divided into three branches and the stigmata are bright red. Flowers are arising directly from the corms. Flowers have tri-lobed stigma, which along with the style tops yield the saffron of commerce. Saffron thrives best in warm sub-tropical climate. In Spain, it is grown in dry temperate conditions with an annual rainfall below 40 cm. It grows at an elevation of 2000 mtrs MSL. Photoperiod exerts a considerable influence in the flowering of saffron. An optimum period of 11 hours illumination is desirable. Unusually low temperature coupled with high humidity during flowering season affects flowering of the crop. Spring rains boost production of new corms. Slightly acidic to neutral, gravelly, loamy, sandy soils are suitable for saffron cultivation.}} ***Uses*** {{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. }}

***1)Sage***Description {{Sage is the dried leaf of Salvia officinalis. It is a hardy sub-shrub. Stems are white, wooly, 32-60 cm tall, leaves are greyish green, aromatic, petiolate, oblong, 7-8 cm long. On drying, leaves turns silvery grey with soft velvety texture. The flowers are blue, purple, or white in simple racemes. Sage thrives well in rich clayey and loamy soil. A hot and dry climate is not suitable for its cultivation}} ***Uses}} {{Sage is used in the culinary preparation in the West. The taste is fragrant, spicy, warm, astringent and a little bitter. It is used for flavouring meat and fish dishes and for poultry stuffing. Fresh sage leaves are used in salads and sandwiches. Sage is used as a mild tonic, astringent and carminative. It is diaphoretic and anti-pyretic. Sage oil is used in perfumes as a deodorant. Sage and sage oil exhibit anti-oxidant properties.}} ***1)Sage***Description {{Sage is the dried leaf of Salvia officinalis. It is a hardy sub-shrub. Stems are white, wooly, 32-60 cm tall, leaves are greyish green, aromatic, petiolate, oblong, 7-8 cm long. On drying, leaves turns silvery grey with soft velvety texture. The flowers are blue, purple, or white in simple racemes. Sage thrives well in rich clayey and loamy soil. A hot and dry climate is not suitable for its cultivation}} ***Uses}} {{Sage is used in the culinary preparation in the West. The taste is fragrant, spicy, warm, astringent and a little bitter. It is used for flavouring meat and fish dishes and for poultry stuffing. Fresh sage leaves are used in salads and sandwiches. Sage is used as a mild tonic, astringent and carminative. It is diaphoretic and anti-pyretic. Sage oil is used in perfumes as a deodorant. Sage and sage oil exhibit anti-oxidant properties.}} ***Uses*** {{Savory is used in flavouring soups and sauces, egg, salad dishes, canned meat and poultry dressings. An infusion of leaves treats gastric upsets, indigestion and loss of appetite. Savory has aromatic and carminative properties.}} ***3)Star Anise***Description {{Star anise is the dried, star shaped fruit of Illicium verum. It is an evergreen tree attaining a height of 8-15 meters and a diameter of 25 cm. The leaves are entire, 10-15 cm long, 2.5 – 5 cm broad, elliptic, flowers are solitary, white to red in colour. Fruits are star shaped, reddish brown consisting of 6-8 carpels arranged in a whorl. Each carpel is 10 mm long, boat shaped, hard and wrinkled containing a seed. Seeds are brown, compressed, ovoid, smooth, shiny and brittle. The plant grows well in humus rich, mildly acidic to neutral soils, which are light to medium and having good drainage. It tolerates temperatures down to –10 degree C. }} ***Uses*** {{Star anise is one of the signature flavours of Chinese savory cooking. The five-spice powder mix common in China contains star anise. It is used to flavour vegetables, meat, and to marinate meat. It is used as a condiment for flavouring curries, confectionaries, spirits, and for pickling. It is also used in perfumery. The essential oil of star anise is used to flavour soft drinks, bakery products and liquors. The fruit is anti-bacterial, carminative, diuretic and stomachic. It is considered useful in flatulence and spasmodic.}} ***4) Sweet Flag***Description {{Sweet Flag is a perennial herb, semi aquatic, marshy plant with a creeping and much branched, aromatic rhizome. The rhizome is cylindrical about 19-25 mm in diameter and 10 cm long. It is light brown outside, white and spongy inside. The leaves are thick, erect and sword shape, when bruised emits strong scent. Sweet flag produces small yellow flowers on a spike. Plants rarely flower or set seed. Sweet flag thrives best in marshy and moist places under variable climates. The plant is grown in clayey loams and light alluvial soils of the riverbanks.}} ***Uses*** {{Sweet flag is mainly used in medicine. The oil is used to cure gastritis. In the form of infusion it is carminative and possesses emetic and anti-spasmodic properties. It is used in perfumery industry. It also has insecticidal properties. The water-ethanolic extract of sweet flag exhibit anti-oxidant property.}} ***5)Tamarind***Description {{The ripe fruit of tamarind tree is used as a condiment. It is a moderate size to large, evergreen tree, up to 24 mtr in high and 7 mtr in girth. Bark is brown or dark gray, longitudinally and horizontally fissured. Leaves are paripinnate up to 15 cm long, leaflets are 10-20 pairs, oblong, 8-30 mm. Flowers are small, yellowish with pink stripes, pods are 7.5-20 cm long, 2.5 cm broad, 1 cm thick, more or less constricted between seeds, slightly curved, brownish coloured. Seeds are 3-12 oblong compressed, 1.5 cm, dark brown shining. Endocarp is light brownish, sweetish or acidic, edible pulp, traversed by branched ligneous strands. The outer cover of the pod is fragile and easily separable. The tree is not exacting as regards to soil but thrives best in deep alluvium. The tree prefers warm climate but sensitive to frost. Tamarind is suited to semi-tropical region with low rainfall. It can come up even in saline, alkaline and gravelly soils, and soils prone to erosion. }} ***Uses*** {{Tamarind pulp is used in numerous culinary preparations. It is also a raw material for the preparation of wine like beverages. The tamarind kernel powder is found to be extensively used for its sizing properties, in textile, confectionary, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. The testa is used in dyeing and tanning industry. The tender leaves and flowers are used as vegetables. In medicine, it is used as appetizing, laxative, healing and anti-helmintic. It is also used against fluorosis. }}

***1)Tarragon***Description {{It is a perennial herb. The dried leaves and flowering tops are known for its flavour. It grows to a height of 2 ft. The aroma is warm. Two varieties available in the international market are French Tarragon and Russian Tarragon. Soil with a pH of 6.2 is found to be preferred for better yield of herb material and essential oil.}} ***Uses*** {{It is used for flavouring vinegar, pickles, prepared mustard and to a limited extent in soups, salads, meat dishes, salad dressings and liquor. The aromatic leaves are stomachic, stimulant. It is also used in perfumes.}} ***2) Tejpat ***Description {{Indian Cassia also known as Tejpat (Cinnamomum Tamala) is a small to moderately sized ever green tree. The leaves of this tree is the spice having clove like taste and a faintly pepper like odour. The tree has height up to 7.5 mtr with zigzag branching, trunk up to 95 cm girth, bark rough, dark grey to reddish brown in colour.}} ***Uses*** {{The leaf is mainly used for flavouring food. It is widely used in pharmaceutical preparations because of its hypoglycemic, stimulant and carminative properties. It is also used in Indian system of traditional medicines. }} ***3) Thyme***Description {{Thyme is a hardy perennial shrub, 20-40 cm high, the dried leaves are curled, brownish green colour, 6.7 mm long, marketed in whole or ground form. The flavour is aromatic, warm and pungent. Flowers are light violet, two lipid, 5mm long, with hairy glandular calyx. The major types of thyme available in the international market are French Thyme, Spanish Thyme and American Thyme. Thyme prefers a mild climate, a mallow upland soil and grows best in the hills.}} ***Uses*** {{Thyme is used to season, tomato soups, fish and meat dishes, liver and pork sausages, headcheese, cottage and cream cheese. Thyme oil is used in treatment of bronchitis. It has anti-spasmodic and carminative properties. It possesses anti-oxidant and anti-microbial properties.}} ***4)Turmeric***Description {{Turmeric is the boiled, dried, cleaned and polished rhizomes of Curcuma longa. The plant is a herbaceous perennial, 60-90 cm high, with a short stem and tufted leaf. There are 7 to 12 leaves, the leaf sheaths forms the pseudo stem. The lamina is green above and pale green below and has a length of 30-40 cm and width 8-12 cm. Inflorescence is a central spike of 10-15 cm length. 1-4 flowers are born in axil of the bract opening one at a time. About 30 flowers are produced in a spike. Seeds are produced in capsules and there will be one to numerous sunken capsules in an inflorescence. Turmeric is a tropical crop cultivated from sea level to 1200 meter MSL. It grows in light black, black clayey loams and red soils in irrigated and rainfed conditions. The crop cannot stand water logging or alkalinity.}} ***Uses*** {{Turmeric is used to flavour and to colour foodstuffs. It is a principal ingredient in curry powder. Turmeric oleoresin is used in brine pickles and to some extent in mayonnaise and relish formulations, non-alcoholic beverages, gelatins, butter and cheese etc. The colour curcumin extracted from turmeric is used as a colourant. Turmeric is also used as a dye in textile industry. It is used in the preparation of medicinal oils, ointments and poultice. It is stomachic, carminative, tonic, blood purifier and an antiseptic. It is used in cosmetics. The aqueous extracts has biopesticidal properties. }} ***5) Vanilla ***Description {{Vanilla, a member of the orchid family is a climbing monocot possessing a stout, succulent stem; short petioled, oblong leaves; about 20 cm long. The inflorescence is a raceme with 20 or more flowers. Flowers are 6 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, either yellowish green or white. Fruit popularly known as ‘beans’ or ‘pod’ is a capsule, nearly cylindrical and about 20 cm long. Vanilla thrives well from the sea level up to 1000 meter MSL., under hot, moist, tropical climate with adequate well-distributed rainfall. Natural growth is obtained at latitudes, 15 degree North and 20 degree South of the equator. The optimum temperature ranges from 21-32 degree C and rainfall 2000-2500 mm annually. Dry period of about 2 months is needed to restrict vegetative growth and induce flowering. It grows best in light, porous and friable soils with pH. 6-7. Partial shade is essential for successful cultivation.}}