Introduction to herbs and spices

The history of herbs and spices is as long as the history of mankind. People have used these plants since earliest times. No other commodity has played a more pivotal role in the development of modern civilization as spices. The lives of people and plants are more entwined than is often realized. Some herbs have the power to change our physiological functioning, they have revolutionized medicine, created fortunes for those who grow, process and treat them, and in many cases have assumed social and religious significance. Herbs have changed the course of history and in economic terms have greater importance as ingredients in food and medicine, perfumery, cosmetics and garden plants. The knowledge of herbs has been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.

Even today we continue to depend on herbs and spices for many of our newest medicines, chemicals and flavours and they are used in culinary preparations, perfumery and cosmetics. Many medicinal herbs are also food, oil and fibre plants and have always been grown for a range of purposes.

The term ‘herb’ has more than one definition. In the most generally accepted sense, herbs are plants valued for their medicinal and aromatic properties and are often grown and harvested for these unique properties. Some of the earliest of herb gardens were planted about 4000 years ago in Egypt. Herb growing was often associated with temples, which required herbs and sacred flowers for daily worship and rituals. Both horticulture and botany began with the study of herbs. The earliest gardens were herb gardens. The present-day concept of a herb garden has developed largely from ancient Egyptian, Christian and Islamic traditions. In most parts of the world, herbs are grown mainly as field crops or on a small scale as a catch-crop among vegetables and ornamentals as they were thousands of years ago.

Uses of herbs and spices:

Herbs and spices have tremendous importance in the way we live, as ingredients in food, alcoholic beverages, medicine, perfumery, cosmetics, colouring and also as garden plants. Spices and herbs are used in foods to impart flavour, pungency and colour. They also have antioxidant, antimicrobial, pharmaceutical and nutritional properties. In addition to the known direct effects, the use of these plants can also lead to complex secondary effects such as salt and sugar reduction, improvement of texture and prevention of food spoilage. The basic effects of spices when used in cooking and confectionery can be for flavouring, deodorizing/masking, pungency and colouring. They are also used to make food and confectionery more appetizing and palatable. Some spices, such as turmeric and paprika, are used more for imparting an attractive colour than for enhancing taste.

Because of their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, spices have dual function – in addition to imparting flavour and taste, they play a major role in food preservation by delaying the spoilage of food. Many herbs and spices have been used in cosmetics, perfumery and beauty and body care since ancient times. The toiletries and allied industries use spices and herbs and their fragrant oils for the manufacture of soaps, toothpastes, face packs, lotions, freshness sachets, toilet waters and hair oils. They are essential ingredients in beauty care as cleansing agents, infusions, skin toners, moisturizers, eye lotions, bathing oils, shampoos and hair conditioners, cosmetic creams, antiseptic and antitanning lotions and creams, improvement of complexion and purifying blood. Spices form an important component in quite a few alcoholic beverages and beers.

Medicinal uses:

Herbs and spices have been an essential factor in health care through the ages in all cultures. They are prepared in number of ways to extract their active ingredients for internal and external use. There are a number of different systems of herbal medicine, the most important of which are Chinese and Indian (Ayurvedic) systems of medicine. All spices are medicinal and are used extensively in indigenous systems of medicine. Some of the important uses of major medicinal spices in Ayurveda. Extracts from herbs and spices are used as infusions, decoctions, macerations, tinctures, fluid extracts, teas, juices, syrups, poultices, compresses, oils, ointments and powders.

Many medicinal herbs used in Ayurveda have multiple bioactive principles. It is not always easy to isolate compounds and demonstrate that the efficacy can be attributed to any one of the active principles. However, the active principles and their molecular mechanism of action of some of the medicinal plants are being studied.

Active plant constituents:

Herbs and spices are rich in volatile oils, which give pleasurable aromas. In addition, herbs may contain alkaloids and glycosides, which are of greater interest to pharmacologists. Some of the main active constituents in herbs are as follows.

• Acids – these are sour, often antiseptic and cleansing.
• Alkaloids – these are bitter, often based on alkaline nitrogenous compounds. They affect the central nervous system and many are very toxic and addictive.
• Anthraquinones – these are bitter, irritant and laxative, acting also as dyes.
• Bitters – various compounds, mainly iridoides and sesquiterpenes with a bitter taste that increases and improves digestion.
• Coumarines – are antibacterial, anticoagulant, with a smell of new-mown hay.
• Flavones – these are bitter or sweet, often diuretic, antiseptic, antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory. Typically yellow, and present in most plants.
• Glycosides – there are four main kinds of glycosides. cardiac: affecting heart contractions;

synogenic: bitter, antispasmodic sedative, affecting heart rate and respiration;

mustard oil: acrid, extremely irritant;

sulphur: acrid, stimulant, antibiotic.

• Gums and mucilages – these are bland, sticky or slimy, soothing and softening.
• Resins – often found as oleo-resins or oleo-gum resins – they are acrid, astringent, antiseptic, healing.
• Saponins – are sweet, stimulant hormonal, often anti-inflammatory, or diuretic, soapy in water.
• Tannins – are astringent, often antiseptic, checking bleeding and discharges.
• Volatile oils – are aromatic, antiseptic, fungicidal, irritant and stimulant.

Genetic erosion in herbs and spices:

People all over the world have picked and uprooted herbs from the wild since ancient times. Medicinal herbs in particular have always been mainly collected from the wild and the knowledge of where they grow and the best time to gather them has formed an important oral tradition among healers of many different countries in many different cultures. These ancient traditions successfully balance supply and demand, allowing plant stock to regenerate seasonally. Owing to the strong commercial pressures of food and pharmaceutical industries of today, the balance now has been disrupted by unregulated gathering, leading to severe genetic erosion. Some of the most commonly used culinary herbs such as chilli peppers (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) and basil (Ocimum basilicum) have such a long history of use and cultivation that truly wild plants have never been recorded. They presumably became extinct because of over-collection.