Description

Spices are used for flavour, colour, aroma and preservation of food or beverages. Spices may be derived from many parts of the plant: bark, buds, flowers, fruits, leaves, rhizomes, roots, seeds, stigmas and styles or the entire plant tops. The term herb‟ is used as a subset of spice and refers to plants with aromatic leaves. Spices are often dried and used in a processed but complete state. Another option is to prepare extracts such as essential oils by distilling the raw spice material (wet or dry), or to use solvents to extract oleoresins and other standardized products. There are many texts which provide an overview of the industry in general The most important spices traditionally traded throughout the world are products of tropical environments. The major exceptions to this group are the capsicums (chilli peppers, paprika), and coriander which are grown over a much wider range of tropical and non-tropical  environments. Production of spices and essential oils in these wet and humid environments brings special difficulties for crop and product management. Drying the crop to ensure a stable stored product is of particular importance, and in wet humid environments this creates the need for efficient and effective drying systems.