Spices are important ingredients of food items and their use in this subcontinent is very high. It is now food habit and tradition. But, their use varies from locality-to-locality, race-to-race, tribes to tribes and among the group of people even with the age. The children and the pregnant women sometimes do not like spicy foods. Therefore, change of food habit can reduce the consumption of traditional use of the spices a lot, and there lies an opportunity to use alternate spices and can be grown easily.
3.0 Search for alternative spicesAs mentioned earlier, the use of spices differs with the community, locality, age group etc., and different community, tribes and indigenous people use alternative spices. There are some important spices are available which can easily be propagated and widely be used. These needs attention for intense study by the researchers to explore their properties and to widen their uses as substitutes of commonly used expensive and imported spices. During the present study following 6 important spice plants are selected and studied in Homestead Cropping and Ecoagriculture Research Center for Sustainable Rural Development (HCERCSRD), Gouripur, Mymensingh, since 2003. The spice plants are:
1.Agyajal
2.Gennum
3.Sugandhi Batali (Pakphai)
4.Tonigok
5.Polao pata and
6.Sinduri Beez
Except Sinduri Beez all of them are edible having attractive spicy flavor and have medicinal value.
Agyajal (Eupatorium sp. Family: Compositae):
This plant is also called as Agijal by the people on Sylhet and Mymensigh and the Hilly Monipuri people call it Laikhaman. It is a perennial herb grows about 1 m to 1.5 m height with heptastecheous leaf large simple arrangement around the stem. Young leaves and twigs are the edible parts. A fully-grown leaf is 25 to 30 cm long and 5 to 7.5 cm wide with serrate lamella. Leaves are almost sessile, lanceolate and dorsiventral. Usually 10 to 15 leaves of the terminal shoot remain soft and are used as spice either raw in salad or in cooking. The leaves become harder with the age and gradually die off form the lowest one, as usual.
The plant usually grows upward but lateral branches develop when the twig or stem is broken or damaged. Inflorescence is a spike. Propagation through seeds, root suckers and branch cuttings. The roots are thick and fleshy and anchor the plant strongly.
Agyajal grows in partially shaded places on humus rich moist soil but it cannot withstand in water logging situation. Watering is required in the dry season. A long terminal inflorescence comes out from every shoots in January and February and the seeds matures with in a month and dispersed with feathery wings. Seed germination takes place naturally on clear ground in the wet monsoon.
Agyajal is a valuable medicinal plant especially for lactating mother. Its decoction or soup is taken by the mothers to get recovery from leucorrhoea, anemia and sickness. It is used as tonic and decoction for fever.
Gennum (Allium sp. Family: Liliaceae):
Pata Rasun (Leaf garlic) or Gennum grows in the hilly homestead areas of Sylhet especially in the Monipuri villages. The leaves are used as substitute of garlic in curry, salad and Barta preparation. It is a very potential spice for common and wider use. Moreover, it grows throughout the year and leaves can also be collected for food preparation. It is partially shade loving and a suitable crop for kitchen garden. Gennum is a bulbous leafy herb grown by the Monipuri people in the homestead. A stock of 10 to 20 plants is enough for a family to meet the demand for garlic throughout the year. Leaves and flowers are like common garlic but leaves are fleshier and remain softer for longer period than common garlic. Gennum usually flowers in March/April and in August-November and produce seeds like common garlic seed. It can easily be propagated by sowing seeds and also vegetatively, by planting bulbs. Allicin, alltin, allisatin sativins, anthocyanin are the chemicals present in Gennum. Gennum is commonly used to cure blood pressure, fever, cough and intestinal diseases. It is also a good tonic and is used in leucorrhoea.
Sugandhi Batali: Persicaria sp.(Ampeligonum chinense Syn. Polygonum chinense var. pakphai Family: Polygonaceae):
Pakphai or Sugandi Batali is grown in the homestead areas of
Sylhet especially in shady wet soil of the Monipuri villages.
It is an erect or partially scandent stout herb with many stout branches. It is a perennial herb grows about 0.5 m to 1.0 m height with heptastecheous small leaves with simple arrangement around the stem. Young leaves and twigs are the edible parts. A fully-grown leaf is 10 to 12 cm long and 2.0 to 2.5 cm wide with complete lamella. Leaves are almost sessile, lanceolate and dorsiventral. Usually 30 to 35 leaves of the terminal shoot remain soft and are used as spice either raw in salad or in cooking. The leaves can also be used as a substitute for betel leaf. The leaves become harder with the age and gradually die off form the lowest one, as usual.
Propagation through seeds, root sucker and branch cuttings. Roots develop at the base of the lower branches when soil is given at the base of the plant. These rooted layers are cut off as closely as possible to the base and are lined out in a new place. The rooted branch removal is usually done in the beginning of the wet monsoon.
It flowers in October and November.
Plant is rich in flavonoids. It contains a 5,6,7,4’-tetrahydroxy-methoxy-flavone, batalifolin, and essential oil. Leaves contain polyphenolic substances, ellagic, gallic and 3-O-methylellagic acids, Beta-sitosterol, kaempferol, kaempferol glocosides and quercetin. Plant is used as tonic and antiscorbutic. Paste is applied for healing wounds.
Tonigok ( Piper longum Var. tonigok, Family: Piperaceae) :
It is an edible plant with pleasant smell, semi-erect creeper, like betel leaf, grows in shady places of Sylhet, Mymensingh and Chittagong. It is a perennial herb grows about 1 m to 1.5 m height with heptastecheous leaf large simple arrangement around the stem.
Leaves are the edible parts. A fully-grown leaf is heart-shaped, 10 to 15 cm long and 8 to 12 cm wide with round lamella. Leaves are simple, stalked, pale greenish, and dorsiventral. Usually 10 to 15 leaves of the terminal shoot remain soft and are used as spice either raw in salad or in cooking. The leaves become yellowish with the age and gradually die off form the lowest one, as usual. Leaves are used as, sex stimulant and extract of leaves exerts anti-tumor activity in cancer. It is also useful against leucorrhoea and is diuretic and vermifuge. It is a symbol for long life as believed by the Monipuri people. Leaves contain alkaloids and phenols like chavicol, arakene, and diastases.
It flowers in March and April. Petals are white and fruits are small berries produce on a long spike in clusters.
It can be propagated through seeds as well as vegetative parts. But vegetative propagation is easy and quicker. Vegetative propagation can be made from runner shoots and rooted branch cuttings.
Polao pata ( Pandanus sp., Family: Pandanaceae):
Small Keya or screw pine like plants. It is a shrub with long spiny-margined sessile leaves. The leaves have pleasant Polao fragrant and are used as flavoring agent for cooking Polao. The plant has also medicinal properties used for curing rheumatism and relieving headache and earache.It is a perennial herb grows about 1.0 m to 2.0 m height with long leaves with simple arrangement around the stem. Young leaves are the edible parts. Leaves are with spadix covering the stem, long spiny margin, and dorsiventral. It grows in wet places almost all over the country. It can easily be propagated with root and stem suckers, stem bits and slips.
Sinduri Beez: (Bixa orellana, Family: Bixaceae):
It is also known as Rakta Beeza, Bilati Haldi or Monkey Turmeric, Chinese dye tree etc. It is a medium sized tree, occasionally planted in the hilly areas of Chittagong, Sylhet and Mymensingh. It is also planted as a decorative tree for its attractive copious pink colored flowers and red fruits. Leaves are simple, alternate, heart shaped and dorsiventral. Edible red dye can be extracted from the pericarp of the seeds and contains coloring constituents e.g. bixin, bixol and orellin.
To obtain dye, mature seeds are soaked in hot water and kept for a few days in a wooden container. After filtration the water is kept for about a week to settle the dye ingredients. Then the filtrate is dried and preserved and used for dying foods especially, for coloring Ghee, Polao, oils, butter, curry and sweets. It has also medicinal value. Leaves are used in fever, dysentery and jaundice. Seed is astringent, anti-dysenteric and diuretic and the pulp is prescribed in epilepsy and skin diseases. Root bark and seeds are a good remedy for gonorrhea.
As the Sinduri Beez is easy to grow, its propagation should be expanded and its use should also be popularized to avoid synthetic chemical dyes in foodstuffs, which cause detrimental effect to our body.
Conclusion: As mentioned earlier, people use many spices in different localities traditionally with their food as per food habit. The quantity required for the 160 million people is really great; many of the spices are imported, as the local production is not sufficient to meet the huge requirement. Therefore, it is very important to think about the situation, and to popularize the use of indigenous spices, which can easily be grown and be available throughout the year. The spices described here are chosen considering their cosmopolitan nature, growing facility in the homestead areas even in the partial shade with little care. They possess enormous medicinal value and very easy to grow, propagate and maintain. As a homestead crop, all members’ participation for care and upkeep, organic culture and availability in fresh condition without any adulteration can be ensured. More importantly, all these non-tillage plantation crops have great importance in soil conservation.
References:
1. Bhattacharya, S., 1989: Chironjeeb Bonoushodhi, Ananda Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Kolkata, India.
2. Ghani, A; 1998: Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh; Chemical Constituents and Uses, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
3. Singh, H.P., 2002: Strategies for augmenting production, productivity and export of spices; In Indian Spices Production and Utilization, Editors: Singh, H.P., Shivaraman, K. and Tamil Selvan, M.; Coconut Development Board, India, Publication No. 108, Kochi, India.
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