Pure And Natural Herbs #1197028

Holy Basil, also known as Tulasi or as the botanical Ocimum basilicum, ct. Estragole and Ocimum basilicum, ct. Estragole is negative to part of southern India and south east Asia. It is used extensively across India in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine and for spiritual purposes.

As a food ingredient the dried herb is very popular in Thai cuisine where is it often called Thai Holy Basil (known locally as kaphrao). You will find it in many traditional Thai dishes so look out for it when you next indulge in your Favorite Thai dishes!

Although basil grows best outdoors, it can be grown indoors in a pot and, like most herbs, will do best on a sun-facing windowsill. It should be kept away from extremely cold drafts, and grows best in strong sunlight, therefore a greenhouse or row cover is ideal if available. It can, however, be grown even in a basement, under fluorescent lights.

If its leaves have wilted from lack of water, it will recover if watered thoroughly and place in a sunny location. Yellow leaves towards the bottom of the plant are an indication that the plant has been stressed; usually this means that it needs less water, or less or more fertilizer.

Basil is possibly native to India and has been cultivated there for more than 5, 000 years. It was thoroughly familiar to the Greek authors Theophrastus and Discords. It is a tender plant, best known as a culinary herb prominently featured Italian cuisine, and also plays a major role in Southeast Asia Cuisines of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. Depending on the species and cultivar, the leaves may taste somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, often sweet smell.

The genusCinnamomum(Laureaceae family) consists of 250 spices of trees and shrubs distributed in south-east Asia, China, and Australia. It is a small, evergreen tree, 1015m tall. The bark is widely employed as a spice, its leaves are ovate-oblong in shape, and 718cm long. The flowers, arranged in panicles, have a greenish color and have a rather disagreeable odor. The fruit is a purple 1cm berry containing a single seed. It is found in tropical rain forests, where it grows at various altitudes from highland slopes to lowland forests and occurs in both marshy places and on well-drained soils. However, in latitudes with seasonal climatic conditions, they become exceedingly rare. There are two main varieties of cinnamon namely the Ceylon or true cinnamon (Cinnamon zeylanicum) and cassia (Cinnamom aromaticum).C. zeylanicumis native to Sri Lanka and tropical Asia and exotic to several African countries, such as Comoros, Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The most importantcinnamonoils in word trade are those fromCinnamomumzeylanicum, Cinnamomum cassia, andCinnamomum camphora. The cinnamon essential oil composition varies depending on the geographical origin of the spice and the processing conditions. Likewise, it has been detected slight differences between the composition of volatile oils from buds, flowers, and fruits fromC. zeylanicum.Jayaprakasha etal. (2000)reported that the oil from buds contains higher amounts of mono and sesquiterpenes, and most characteristic compounds such as cinnamaldehyde are found in flowers and fruits and in lower amounts in buds

The barks are commonly used in Cameroon as spices and for the treatment ofcardiovascular diseases and cancers. Cinnamaldehyde(1;75%) andcamphor(56%) are the major compounds in oil and stem bark, respectively.Cinnamon extractinhibits the formation of toxic Aoligomersand prevents the toxicity of A on neuronal PC12 cells. Oral administration of cinnamon extract induced to the reduction of plaques and improvement in cognitive behavior to aggressiveAlzheimer's diseasetransgenic mice. The prevention or treatments of Alzheimers disease are mostly based on drugs inhibition ofcholinesterasefunction or formation ofamyloidplaque. Pathologies anddementiasof the nervous system, such as Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease (Lei etal., 2010) can result whentau proteins(tau proteins are proteins that stabilize microtubules) become defective and no longer stabilize microtubules properly. Chemicals able to prevent the tau aggregation may be a key factor in the development of new drugs.

Ginger is widely used as spice, and it has its origins in India. It is a medicinal plant in folk and traditional medicines. The spice is very common in India (it is known as adrak in Hindi) and China and is now used all over the world. It forms an integral part of many Asian cuisines due to its digestive properties. It is especially helpful in digesting food items such as meat and poultry, and it is frequently added to recipes for cooking meat as it softens the meat considerably, making it easier to digest. Ginger root and ginger oil are also used as preservative and flavoring agents. The aim of this study was to review the chemical composition and biological activities ofZ. officinale(ginger) essential oil. Ginger oil is extracted fromZ. officinalerhizomes, which its chemical composition influences from geographical region, extraction methods, freshness or dryness of rhizomes. The antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, immunomodulatory, relaxant, and warming effects of ginger oil have been confirmed in experimental and preclinical studies.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a plant used in traditional medicine against different diseases because of its various properties (antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, etc.). Ginger is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration. Numerous studies have been carried out to characterize and isolate its main bioactive compounds to elucidate the mechanisms of its antimicrobial activity against pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms in foods. Results indicate that ginger contains monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, phenolic compounds, and its derivatives, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, esters, which provide a broad antimicrobial spectrum against different microorganisms and make it an interesting alternative to synthetic antimicrobials. However, its application in foods has been scarcely explored and represents an opportunity area for further research. This review provides an updated overview of the main bioactive compounds of ginger, its potential application, and toxicity as an antimicrobial in food products.