Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 15.3
Continued
Where grown and
used
Post-harvest
treatments
Item
Plant part used
End use
Nasturtium (
Tropaeolum
majus
; Tropaeolaceae)
Europe, North
America
Buds, flowers,
seed
Food flavouring
Fresh or pickled
in vinegar,
dried seeds
powdered
Papaya (
Carica papaya
;
Caricaceae)
Tropics
Seed
Food flavouring
Fresh
Pomegranate (
Punica
granatum
; Punicaceae)
Mediterranean,
Middle East,
India
Seed
Food flavouring
Fresh, dried,
syrup or
paste
Sandalwood (
Santalum
album
; Santalaceae)
India
Bark chips
Food flavouring,
perfume
Fresh
Screwpine (
Pandanus
odoratissimus,
P. odorus
; Pandanaceae)
India, south-east
Asia
Leaves
Food flavouring
Fresh or water
extract
White mustard (
Sinapis
alba
; Crucuferae)
Mediterranean,
Europe
Seed
Food flavouring
Fresh, dried,
powdered
Source: From Mulherin (1994), Mabberley (1997), Peter (2001) and market surveys.
are also important. Extraneous matter such as insect or plant
parts, stones or microbes may contaminate spices when they
arrive from suppliers, and processors have a duty to treat
these problems before the products can be sold into the
market (Wolf 1995). In the United States, specifications for
foreign material (defects) in spices have been developed by
the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and the American
Spice Trades Association (ASTA). Spice processors may use
air, gravity or centrifugal separators for cleaning the product
and metal detection and magnets are used to remove metal
contaminants (Muggeridge & Clay 2001). Irradiation, methyl
bromide fumigation and cold chill have been used for
quarantine disinfestation (McGuire 2000). However, since
2005 use of methyl bromide has been completely phased out,
except for allowable exemptions such as critical use
exemptions agreed to by the Montreal Protocol Parties.
Because spices continue to be mainly traded in the dried
form, the major quality criteria are based on this form. These
include ash level and acid insoluble ash (both measures of
impurities), volatile oil (to test for adulteration), moisture
content (usually 12% maximum, assessed using the Dean
and Stark method by refluxing a known weight of product in
petroleum spirit and measuring the volume of water that
condenses out), water availability (usually below 0.6 a
w
),
microbial contamination, pesticide levels, mycotoxin levels
(see Table 15.4a), bulk density and mesh or particle size
(e.g. 95% pass through a sieve of specified size)
(Muggeridge & Clay 2001). Pesticides are not seen as a
major problem because of the low consumption rates of
herbs and spices; Codex limits of the nearest equivalent
commodity provide a guide (Muggeridge & Clay 2001).
Thus, the International Standards Organisation lists
spices and condiment standards for post-harvest detection
of extraneous matter content (ISO 927:1982), determination
of total ash (ISO 928:1997), determination of acid soluble
ash (ISO 930:1997), determination of moisture content
(ISO 939:1980), sampling (ISO 948:1980), specification of
ginger (whole, in pieces or ground) (ISO 1003:1980) and
determination of filth (ISO 1208:1982). Individual herbs
and spices may also have their own specific quality criteria,
for example paprika, garlic and cardamom (Peter 2001).
For fresh herbs, quality criteria are largely visual. Prized
visual characteristics are freshness, colour, uniformity of
size and lack of defects such as browning, discolouration
or decay. Leaves should be uniform in size (Wright
2002a). There are no specific standards for flavour or
aroma, but appearance can be considered as a proxy
measure since the fresher the herb the more likely it is to
have an appreciable flavour.
In the United States, there are no market grades or sizes
for fresh culinary herbs (Wright 2002a, b). However, the
ASTA and the European Spice Association (ESA) publish
