The curry tree is native to India, today it is found wild or become wild
again, almost everywhere in the Indian subcontinent excluding the higher
levels of the Himalayas. In the East, its range extends into Burma.
Description of Curry leaf essential
oil:
An aromatic shrub or small tree. The tree is an aromatic deciduous one,
five meter in height, 15-40 cm in diameter. It is cultivated mainly in
homesteads but to a certain extent on a plantation scale.
Appearance: Clear liquid
Aroma : : Curry leaf essential oil is a blend of sweet and
spicy, with a bitter tone characteristic of some spices
ColorPale yellow
Chemical constituents: Curry leaf oil has various chemical
compounds that include ?-caryophyllene , ?-gurjunene , ?-elemene ,
?-phellandrene , ?-thujene , ?-selinene , ?-bisabolene , furthermore
limonene, ?-trans-ocimene and ?-cadinene.
Extraction:Steam distillation of leaves
Pharmaceutical uses :
Diabetes : Curry leaf oil is found to be used in the cure of
diabetes.
The curry leaf tree contains special compounds that inhibit the enzyme.
This means that the rate at which starch is broken down by the enzyme can be
slowed.This is potentailly a breakthrough for diabetes sufferers. A patient
with diabetes cannot control the levels of glucose in their blood. This is
usually because they do not produce enough insulin to deal with the rises in
levels of blood glucose that occur after eating a meal or sugary snack.
Slowing the rate of starch breakdown, by blocking the alpha-amylase enzyme,
can lower the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream from the
intestine. This breakthrough could lead to the development of a new drug for
diabetes. It may not be too long before the curry leaf emerges as a new
innovative medicine.
It has also been found to prevent hair loss and as a means of helping the
skin maintain it's natural pigmentation.
Flavor industry :
The leaf are extensively used for flavoring curries, pickles, soups,
chutneys.Curry leaves are extensively used in South India and Sri Lanka.
They are particularly used in South Indian cooking to provide a flavouring
for curries, vegetable, fish and meat dishes, soups (rasams), pickles,
butter milk preparations, chutneys, scrambled eggs and curry powder
blends.They are mainly used fresh, but are also used dried or powdered. For
some recipes, the leaves are oven-dried or toasted immediately before use.
Another common technique is short frying in butter or oil. The main
applications are thin lentil or vegetable curries and stuffings for samosas.
Because of their soft texture, they are not always removed before serving.In
India the leaves are sold in markets still attached to the stem. In Europe
they are generally sold as dried leaves but some are imported fresh. It is
also an excellent source of dried spices used in western countries. Curry
leaf is mainly a culinary plant.
Other uses :
It is cultivated as an ornamental plant throughout South Asia.The wood is
greyish-white, hard, close-grained and durable. It has been used to make
agricultural tools. Fresh leaves are steam distilled to produce an oil which
is used for the production of soap.Volatile oil is used as a fixative for
soap perfume.
