SPICES & CONDIMENTS

Allspice

Introduction

The allspice of commerce is the dried immature fruit of the tree Pimenta dioica (Family: Myrtaceae). It is indigenous to West Indies. Jamaica is the main producer of allspice. Its flavour is said to resemble a blend of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. There are a few trees available in the Mahendragiri hills of Negercoil area, Ambalavayal in Kerala and Kallar and Burliar of the Nilgiris. It is a small evergreen tree, flowers are white and branch trichotomously in the axils of upper leaves. Flowers are structurally hermaphrodite but functionally dioecious. Stamens numerous, above 100 in barren trees and 50 in bearing ones. It flowers during March-June and matures in 3 to 4 months after flowering. Fruit is a two-seeded berry. Male trees flower earlier.

Cultivation

It is raised through seeds. The seeds can be stored as ripe berries after collection without extracting seeds upto three weeks. But viability gets reduced slowly after a period of three weeks and is lost completely after nine weeks. The seeds are sown in raised beds of 15 to 20cm high, one metre width and convenient length. The beds may be made of loose soil-sand mixture having sand in the top layer. The seeds germinate in 15 days and continue upto 40 to 45 days. The seedlings can be transferred to bags 3 weeks after their emergence above ground level. Six months old seedlings are planted at a spacing of 6m either way. As there is no manurial schedule available for allspice, the schedule recommended for clove can be followed for this. Plants start flowering when they are 7 to 10 years old, but the peak harvest is obtained from 15 to 20 years.

Harvesting and processing

The berries are harvested when fully grown, but still green. They are sun dried and are frequently turned down with ladles. The process of curing lasts 3 to 12 days, till the berries are completely dried. Curing is complete when the berries become crisp and produce a metallic sound if shaken. A tree yields 50 to 60 kg of dry berries. The Pimento berry oil is distilled commercially in Jamaica. The oil yield from berries varies from 3.3 to 4.5% and its eugenol content is 65 to 66%.

The pimento leaf oil is also distilled only in Jamaica from the leaves removed during the harvesting of the berries. Oil yield from dried leaves ranges from 0.7 to 2.9% while fresh leaves yield 0.35 to 1.25%. It is a flavouring agent in culinary preparations like soups, sauces, ketchup, pickles, meat, and curry powder and in bakery items. In liquor industry also, it is used as a favourite ingredient.

Ag.
Technologies
(Horticulture)