Basil Powder

Basil

Description

Basil also known as French Basil or Sweet Basil or Tulsi is an erect glabrous herb, 30-90 cm high is indigenous to India. The leaves of basil have numerous oil glands with aromatic volatile oil. The herb bears cluster of small white lipped flowers in racemes. The freshly picked bright green leaves turns brownish green when dried and become brittle and curled. The major types are American Basil, French Basil, Egyptian Basil and Indian Basil.   

Basil

Origin & Distribution

It is indigenous to the lower hills of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh and is cultivated throughout India. It is also cultivated in Southern France, Egypt, Belgium, Hungary, and other Mediterranean countries and also in USA.

Uses

The dried leaves and tender four sided stems are used as spice for flavouring and for extraction of essential oil. Apart from flavouring numerous foods, it is used for seasoning in tomato paste products. The sweet basil oil is widely used in perfumery compounds. It has application in areas of medicine and also used as an insecticide and bactericide.

Botanical name                                                Family name                      Commercial part

Ocimum basilicum L.                                     Lamiaceaee                        Leaf

Indian Names

Assamese                                                           : Tulasii

Hindi                                                                     : Bawari bawari,Ban thulasi,  Tulsi

Bengali                                                                : Babui tulsi

Gujarati                                                               : Sabje

Kannada                                                              : Amli, Huli

Malayalam                                                         : Pachcha/sivatulasi

Marathi                                                                : Sabja/Tulasa

Oriya                                                                     : durlabha

Punjabi                                                                : Imli, Tulasigidda,Tulasi

Sanskrit                                                               : Barbari,Bana thulasi,Tungi

Tamil                                                                    :Tulasi,Tirunirrippachai

Telugu                                                                  : Tulsi-chettu

Urdu                                                                      : Imli

Name in international languages

Spanish                                                                : Alba Laca

French                                                                  : Basilic

German                                                               : Basilienkraut

Swedish                                                               : Basilkort

Arabic                                                                   : Raihan

Dutch                                                                    : Basilicum

Italian                                                                   : Basilico

Portuguese                                                           : Manjericao

Russian                                                                : Basilik

Japanese                                                             : Meboki

Chinese                                                               : Lo-le

Thai                                                                       : Horapa,Horapha

English                 : Sweet Basil