Preliminary Phytochemical Screening of Selected Indian Spices

Abstract

Spices are commonly used in Indian kitchen as flavouring agent in food and used as food preservatives. Many of the spices are used in folk medicine. The objective of the present study is to analyse the phytochemical composition of few of the selected spices viz., clove, cinnamon and star anise. Phytochemical compositions of the spices were carried out with water and methanol extracts. The experimental result showed that the different extracts of these spices contain alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, terpenes, tannins, saponins, glycosides, carbohydrates, free amino acid, crude protein and phenolic compounds.