Herbs and Spices in the Florida Garden

This 10-page publication of the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department discusses culinary herbs and spices that can be grown in a Florida home garden or landscape. Information on the general cultural requirements, propagation, harvesting, and use of herbs is included as well as detailed descriptions of common culinary herbs. Major revision by Mary Salinas, Sydney Park Brown, and James M. Stephens.https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh020

Phytopharmacognostic Evaluation and Fourier Transform Infrared Fingerprint in the Quality Control of Various Culinary Herbs: AN ULTIMATE REMEDY IN ASIA

Background: The quality and efficacy of culinary herbs commonly practiced in Asia as a remedy for seasonal illnesses such as cold, flu, congestion, fever and inflammation, etc. The extemporaneous preparations of these culinary herbs are being formulated as traditional practice either in the form of extract, decoction, and paste etc. These culinary herbs are being practiced for curing sporadic illnesses since ancient time. Objectives: In present study five herbs’ i.e. Elettaria cardamomum (cardamom), Cinnamomum zeylanicum (cinnamon), Carum carvi (caraway), Oreganum vulgare (oregano) and Syzygium aromaticum (clove) have been obtained from the market to assure quality of herbs in local market. Methodology: Various quality control tests including microscopic evaluation, physico-chemical characteristics, Thin layer chromatography (TLC) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) have been performed to determine their compliance with the standards. The TLC has been used for the identification of the active ingredients on comparison of their Rf values with the reference standard. FTIR Spectra of these materials have been obtained to identify and confirm structural information and assignment of functional groups. Results: Many of the herbal samples used in this study have been complied with the available official standards as given in Pharmacopoeia. If the samples did not comply with the standards then it indicates that the sample belongs to spurious quality of raw herb, which is the prime cause that may interfere with the therapeutic efficacy and variability of outcomes. Conclusion: This study help to provide a significant data to herbal drug manufacturers for authentication of commercially available herbs which may be used in the formulation of extemporaneous or commercially available herbal medicine.

Setting Up a Lab-Scale Pilot Plant to Study the New Growing System (NGS®) for Leafy Vegetable and Culinary Herb Growth

New cultural techniques have been developed to improve the yield and raw material quality at harvest, and enhance the postharvest shelf life, by standardizing the growing system. Among the different Soilless Cultivation Systems, the New Growing System (NGS®) is a closed-recirculating system that was designed for open fields and protected cultivations. The aim of this work was to investigate the structural setting of the system and its functioning to harness the full potentiality of NGS®. A lab-scale pilot plant (LSPP) was designed with NGS® technology and the technical aspects have been set up to have a standardized and reproducible growing system. The trials were conducted on growing mature-leaf vegetable species; that is, on both head and multi-leaf vegetables, and on culinary herbs at high plant densities. Positive yield results were found for culinary herbs and leafy vegetables. Mints showed high yields for the two re-growths carried out after the first harvest. The LSPP can also be used in a series of reliable experiments and enable researches to test several species, substrates, hydroponic nutrient solutions, and fertigation scheduling.