Annatto, Kaffir Lime, Licorice, Star Anise, Sumac, and Tarragon

This chapter summarizes the information on some of the spices popularly used in Indian as well as the continental cuisine. The spices discussed are annatto, kaffir lime, licorice, star anise, sumac, and tarragon. Among them, annatto and kaffir lime are being grown more commonly while the others are limited to specialized environmental niches. Star anise is common in Arunachal Pradesh, licorice in Himachal Pradesh, while sumac is rarely grown in India, though it is used popularly in the Mughali dishes that are extremely popular in many parts of north India. It is a part and parcel of the Kashmiri cuisine too. Tarragon is found in the hill stations of north India and is used in most star hotels serving continental dishes. In this chapter, each of the crops is dealt with under the following heads: introduction, taxonomy, botanical description, chemical composition, functional properties, medicinal uses, culinary uses, and safety aspects. The references are given cropwise like in the text. This chapter was adapted from the Encyclopedia of Herbs and Spices, by Ravindran (2017).