Tag: sweet basil

It’s time you put some spice into your life

It’s time you put some spice into your life

This could well be the slogan for encouraging farmers to grow spices and consumers to promote the use of spices in their cooking . Local market base is needed to enable our spice industry to gain a share of the world market for spices. By increasing our spice production, we can also lessen the amount of spices that we import.

Spices are any vegetable product or mixture, in whole or ground form whose significant function is to flavour, season and preserve or impart color and aroma to foods. The Philippines is a net importer of spices. From 1991 -1996 , the country imported an annual average of 1,400 tons of spices reaching almost 2000 tons in 1996 and valued at 3.4 million dollar while exports had an annual average of 150 tons at 0.2 million dollar. The bulk of these exports are pepper. The feasibility of producing locally some of the imported spices such as sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) have not been looked into.

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Uses of sweet basil

Uses of Sweet basil

 

The scientific names of balanoy are Ocimum basilicum, Ocimum americanum blanco, Ocimum citriodorum blanco.

It is also is called albanaka by tagalongs, bidai by ilokanos;  bouak , kalu-ui, kamangi by bisayas; samiling, samirig by bicolanon; other call it bauing, ruku-ruku, valonoi, balanoy.

The English name for this plant is grand basilica and sweet basil.

Indication and direction of use:

For cough take the infusion or decoction of sweet basil or tops as tea.

For gas pain (tympanism) take decoction as tea.

Ringworm and insect bites, apply juice of crushed leaves on the area affected.

Tootache – wet small piece of cotton with juice of crushed leaves and insert into tooth cavity.

 

Constituents

Volatile oil, 1.5%  -ocimen, pinene, terpin hydrate, cincole, methyl chavicol, linalool , anethole, eugenol.

 

Source: Philippine formulary