Author(s):
Dr.Avtar Singh Bimbraw
Senior Agronomist (Retd.) Department of Agronomy Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab, India .
ISBN: 978-93-94174-73-3
Publisher: Excellent Publishers
Language: English
Publication Year: 2024
Binding: Paperback
Spices are called Kitchen King because used in most of the cooking to flavor and make the food tasty of multicultural population in India. Research shows that the presence of healthy compounds fight against inflammation and decrease the damage to the body’s cells, Moreno says, that‘s because each one is rich in phytochemicals, which are healthful plant chemicals. Sometimes on excessive use of spices, may harm to the stomach lining, which cause symptoms of gastritis, stomach pain, stomach ulcer, stomach burning and intestinal disease colitis. The spicy food can also cause heartburn and /or reflux diseases. The utilization of spices with the foods has several beneficial effects as they can stimulate the secretion of saliva, promote the digestion, prevent from cold and influenza and reduce nausea and vomiting. Besides the boosting of immune system, the use of spices helps in treating the various illnesses, strengthening blood vessels and reducing blood clotting. Additionally, they help lower cholesterol levels, increase blood circulation and prevent diseases like atherosclerosis as well as cancer. Spices have exhibited numerous health benefits in preventing and treating a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, aging, metabolic, neurological, cardiovascular, and inflammatory diseases. Spices can also exert antimicrobial activity in two ways by preventing the growth of spoilage microorganisms (food preservation) and by inhibiting/regulating the growth of those pathogenic which is essential for food safety. There is now ample evidence that spices posse’s antioxidant, anti-inflamatory, anti-tumorigenic, anti-carcinogenic and glucose- and cholesterol- lowering activities as well as properties that affect cognition and mood. Spices contribute visual effects to foods through natural pigments and the size of the seed, flake or leaf. Retaining color characteristics in spices is important so as to reduce discoloration of the final food product. The earliest written records of spices come from ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Indian cultures. The Papyrus Ebers (is an Egyptian medical papyrus of herbal knowledge) from early Egypt dating from 1550 B.C.E. describes some eight hundred different medicinal remedied and numerous medicinal procedures. India is a Land of Spices and Flavors, their presences make the Indian food delicious and unique. India is the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices. The overall production of different types of spices has been growing rapidly over the last few years. Production in 2020-21 stood at 10.7 million tones growing at an 8 % Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) since 2014-15. There are several constraints in the cultivation of seed spices but two are the major as lack of adequate infrastructure for commercial production and distribution of quality planting materials of the released improved varieties and low productivity due to use of poor genetic potential in relation to quality yield. Besides these to enhance the productivity of various spices including seed spices the agronomic research required on balanced nutrition and develops the improved cultural practices. This book focuses on the introduction various spices which are having technical names starting letter A to B with 30 chapters. Each chapter has valuable information about common names in various languages, synonyms species, taxonomic classification, Description, distribution, origin, composition, chemical constituents of seed and various parts of plant, photochemical activities, and health benefits, cultivation including climate and soil, cultural practices, plant protection, harvesting, yield, post harvest management and at the end given the source of information. This book is beneficial for the students for update knowledge, project formulation for research and thesis, academician for boosting knowledge for teaching and for formulation research projects and extension workers for improving knowledge and to educate the spices growers, exporters and importers, policy makers for taking decision for their cultivation and trade to different countries. The experience of writing this book was not only one of reading and collecting information in between writing pandemic and movement from India to Australia with many personal and professional challenges. At the end, I am very happy and completed in which form set out to write this book on spices using my experience as Ph.D on medicinal and aromatic plants and crop production experience of twenty eight years as agronomist.
