See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/325216609

An Overview of Grouping of Spices

Article · May 2018

CITATIONS READS
2 8,781

5 authors, including:

P. Chhetri A. K. Vijayan

32 PUBLICATIONS 162 CITATIONS

Spices Board India
78 PUBLICATIONS 160 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE

Bharat Gudade Sasanka Sekhar Bora

Spices Board India Indian Cardamom Research Institute
129 PUBLICATIONS 288 CITATIONS 53 PUBLICATIONS 68 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Bharat Gudade on 22 January 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 An Overview of Grouping of Spices
P. Chhetri*, A.K. Vijayan, S.K. Bhat, B.A. Gudade and S.S. Bora
Indian Cardamom Research Institute,
Regional Research Station, Spices Board,
Tadong, Gangtok, Sikkim-737102
*E-mail: prashantchhetri24@gmail.com

Abstract

Spices grouping have a broad application prospective in agriculture and medicine and are
especially significant to the biology diversity research. As spices are vitally important in
medicinal value, it is more important to identify and classify them accurately. The goal of this
paper is to provide an overview of different system of spices classification.

Keywords: Basis, Classification, Spices

Introduction India is known the world over ‘The Home of

The term spices applies to natural plant or
vegetable products or mixtures in whole or
ground form, which are used for imparting
flavor, aroma and pungency to the food
items. Spices are also being used within the
country for flavoring foods and in medicines,
pharmaceutical, perfumery, cosmetics and
several other industries.
It is well known that plants play a crucial
role in preserving earth’s ecology and
environment by maintaining a healthy
atmosphere and providing sustenance and
shelter to innumerable insects and animal
species. In addition plant has plenty of use
in food stuff, botany and many other
industries (Metre and Ghorpade, 2013). In
the same way spices carry significant
information for the development of human
society. Hence precise identification of the
respective spices is vital.
Spices’. India has a glorious past, pleasant
present and a bright future with respect to
production and export of spices. According
to International organization for
standardization (ISO) there are about 109
spices and India produce as a many as 75
in its various agro climatic regions
(www.indianspices.com). Spices may
comprise different plant components or
parts such as floral parts (cloves, saffron
etc.) or fruits (cardamom, chillies etc.) or
berries (all spice black pepper, juniper etc.)
or seeds (aniseed, caraway, celery,
coriander) or rhizomes (ginger, turmeric etc)
or root (angelica, horse radish, lovage etc.)
or leaves (bay leaves, mints, marjoram,
tejpat etc.) or kernel (nutmeg etc.) or aril
(mace), or bark (cinnamon, cassia etc.) or
bulbs (garlic, onion etc.) or other part of
spices plants
(www.indianetzonespices.com).

1
Different basis of spices classification
A. On the basis of cotyledons
1. Dicotyledoneae: Chilli, paprika, red
pepper, sesame, camomile, chicory,
tarragon, cubeba, long pepper, pepper,
mace, nutmeg, bay leaf, cassia, cinnamon,
star-anise, mustard, wasabi, allspice, clove,
anise, caraway, celery, chervil, coriander,
cumin, dill, fennel, parsley
2. Monocotyledoneae: Garlic, onion, saffron,
cardamom, ginger, turmeric, vanilla.
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
B. On the basis of family
1. Zingiberaceae: Large cardamom, small
cardamom, ginger, turmeric, greater
galanga
2. Solanaceae: Chilli
3. Piperaceae: Pepper, pepper long
4. Apiaceae: Coriander, cumin, fennel,
celery, aniseed, ajowan, caraway, dill, garlic,
parsely, asafoetida, lovage
5. Fabaceae: Fenugreek
6. Lauraceae: Cinnamon, cassia, tejpat, bay
leaf
7. Rutaceae: Curry leaf
8. Clusiaceae: Kokam, camboge.
9. Lamiaceae: Mint, hyssop, marjoram,
basil, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme,
oregano.
10. Brassicaceae: Mustard, horse radish.
2
11. Punicaceae: Pomegranate.
12. Iridaceae: Saffron.
13. Orchidaceae: Vanilla.
14. Llliciaceae: Star Anise.
15. Araceae: Sweet flag.
16. Capparidaceae: Caper.
17. Myrtaceae: Clove, allspice.
18. Myristicaceae: Nutmeg, mace.
19.Papaveraceae: Poppy seed.
20. Cupressaceae: Juniper berry.
21. Asteraceae: Tarragon.
22. Caesalpiniaceae: Tamarid.
C. On the basis of Economic importance
1. Major spice: This spice contributes major
share to spice trade industry-75-95% of total
foreign exchange Ex: Black pepper, chillies,
small cardamom, ginger, turmeric
2. Minor spice: Except the above 5 spices
all other spices are grouped under minor
spices.
D. On the basis of origin & flavour
1. Pungency spice: Pepper, ginger, chillies,
mustard, garlic, bay leaves, oregano,
onion.
2. Aromatic fruit: Cardamom, fenugreek,
cumin, nutmeg.
3. Aromatic bark: Cinnamon & cassia.
4. Phenolic spices: Cloves, allspice.
5. Coloured spices: Paprika, Saffron,
Turmeric.
 E. On the basis of degree of taste
1. Hot spices: Capsicum, black and white
peppers, ginger, mustard.
2. Mild spices: Paprika, coriander.
3. Aromatic spices: Allspice, cardamom,
cassia, cinnamon, clove, cumin, dill, fennel,
fenugreek, mace, nutmeg.
4. Herbs: Basil, bay, dill, leaves, marjoram,
tarragon, thyme.
5. Aromatic vegetables: Onion, garlic,
celery.
F. On the basis of growth habits
1. Herbs: Ajowan, coriander, cumin, tenet,
fenugreek, chillies, parsley
2. Shrubs: Rosemary, chillies (perennial
chillies), pomegranate
3. Trees: Nutmeg, clove, cinnamon,
tamarind, garcinia, Japanese pepper
4. Climbers: Black pepper, tailed pepper,
vanilla
5. Perennial herbs/rhizomatous herbs:
Cardamom, ginger, turmeric, mango ginger,
Japanese ginger, galanga, asafoetida.
G. On the basis of season of growth
1. Annual spices: Spices which complete
their life cycle in one growing season are
called annuals. Examples of this type of
spices are coriander, cumin, fennel,
fenugreek, ajowan and black cumin,
aniseed, mustard, chilli.
2. Biennial spices: It needs two growing
seasons to complete the life cycle.
Examples of biennial spices are onion and
parsley.
3. Perennial spices: Perennial spices are
those which live for more than two years.
Cardamom, turmeric, ginger, black pepper,
saffron, clove, nutmeg, asafoetida and
cinnamon are example of perennial spices.
View publication stats
H. On the basis of parts used
1. Leaf: Coriander, Celery, curry leaf, mint,
parsley, tejpat, hyssop, bay leaf, lovage,
marjoram, basil, rosemary, sage, savory,
thyme, oregano, tarragon.
2. Bark: Cinnamon, cassia, tejpat
3. Rhizome: Ginger, turmeric, sweet flag,
greater galangal.
4. Fruit: Pepper, cardamom, chilli, coriander,
cumin, fennel, celery, aniseed, ajowan,
caraway, dill, pepper long, star anise,
allspice, tamarind.
5. Seed: Cardamom, fenugreek, mustard,
pomegranate, nutmeg, poppy seed.
6. Rind: Kokam, camboge
7. Bulb: Garlic
8. Stem: Celery, lovage
9. Pod: Vanilla
10. Stigma: Saffron
11. Root: Horse radish, angelica, lovage
12. Flower bud: Caper
13. Unopened flower bud: Clove
14. Berry: Juniper berry
15. Aril: Mace
16. Oleogum resin from rhizome and
thickened root: Asafoetida
References
1. Vishakha Metre and Jayshree Ghorpade.
2013. An overview of the research on
texture based plant leaf classification.
International Journal of Computer Science
and Network, Vol 2, pp 2277-5420
2. www.indianspices.com
3. www.indianetzonespices.com
Reactions:
Labels: Applied Botany, Classification of
Spices, General Botany, Herbs used as spices,
Indian Cardamom Research Station, Spices
Board, Sikkim