Tejpat or Tejpatta or तेजपात or तामलपत्र or Indian Bay-leaf (Cinnamomum tamala [Buch.-Ham.] Nees et Eberm.) तेजपात धेरैजसो मासुमा प्रयोग गरिन्छ च्यवनप्रासमा पनि हालिन्छ। Common name: Indian bay leaf Nepali name: Dalchini, Tejpat Latin name: Cinnamomum tamala Family: Lauraceae Description: Dalchini is a medium size tree with leaves and bark that smell like cinnamon. It grows all along the Himalaya at elevations between 450 and 2,000 meters. Medicinal value: The leaves and bark are used to make astringents, stimulants, and carminatives. They are also used to rheumatism, colic, and diarrhea. from http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/generic_frame.html?Cinn_tam.html Synonyms Cinnamomum tamala: Indian bay (malabathrum, malobathrum) Indian bay leaves bot Cinnamomum tejpata Assamese Mahpat, Tej pat Bengali Tejpata Burmese Thitchabo Danish Indisk Laurb?rblad Esperanto Hinda cinamomo Finnish Kanelilaakeri French Laurier des Indes German Indisches Lorbeerblatt Gujarati Tamaal patra Hindi Tejpat Hungarian Indiai bab?rlev?l Japanese タマラニッケイ, テジパット Tamara-nikkei, Tezipatto Kannada Patraka Lithuanian Indinis cinamonas Marathi तमाल पत्र Tamal patra Oriya Tejpatra Punjabi Tejpatra Russian Малабарская корица Malabarskaya koritsa Sanskrit Tejapatra Tamil தாளிசபத்திரி Talishapattiri Telugu Patta akulu, Talisha Thai อบเชยต้น Ob choey tan Used plant part Leaves. The bark may be used as an inferior substitute of cinnamon or cassia. Plant family Lauraceae (laurel family). Sensory quality Strongly aromatic, somewhat reminiscent to cinnamon or cloves. Main constituents In the essential oil from the leaves, mostly monoterpenoides were found: Linalool (50%) is the major compound, whereas α-pinene, p-cymene, β-pinene and limonene range around 5 to 10% each. Phenylpropanoids appear only in traces: Newer work reports 1% cinnamic aldehyde and no eugenol, whereas older literature speaks of traces of both compounds. Origin South slopes of the Himalayas. Etymology The Sanskrit name tamalapattra [तमालपत्त्र] means ?dark leaf?, although that seems poorly motivated. Greek traders took that name to their own language, but falsely identified the Sanskrit word as a plural form with definite article, (ta) malabathra [(τὰ) μαλαβάθρα] for which they backformed a singular (to) malabathron [(τὸ) μαλαβάθρον]. This name was then taken by the Romans as malabathrum or malobathrum. Many recent languages of Northern India have names for Indian bay-leaf that derive from that Sanskrit term, e.g., Marathi tamal patra [तमाल पत्र]. In Hindi and some related tongues, the spice is known as tejpatta [तेजपत्ता] ?pungent leaf?. Selected Links The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Malabathrum (bibliomania.com) Sorting Cinnamomum names (www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au) Cinnamomum tamala: Indian Bay leaf Indian Bay leaf, flowering branch www.pioneerherbs.com Indian bay-leaves are the leaves of a tree closely related to cinnamon. The tough, three-veined leaves are very popular in Northern India, but are little known elsewhere ? at least, today. They were well known to the Romans under the name malobathrum (also spelt malabathrum) and used both for perfumery and in cooking; in recipes, they were often just referred to as folia ?leaves?, which some cookbook editions misrender as bay leaves. See also silphion for the flavours of ancient Rome. Indian bay leaves were still available during the middle ages and used for beer brewing till the 16.th century (see also gale), but later they fell victim to the multitude of new spices available, and were forgotten. Today, Indian bay-leaves are a spice used almost exclusively in the kitchens of Northern India, especially in the famous Moghul cuisine that was developed at the Imperial courts in Delhi and Agra. In accordance with the origins of the Moghul dynasty, Moghul cooking contains elements derived from Arabic and Persian cooking. This culinary style aims at a complexity and perfection comparable to the architectonic beauty of the Taj Mahal, which was built in the same era. In Moghul cooking style, much use is made of sweet and aromatic spices; besides Indian bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom are considered the most important spices for delicious rice dishes (biriyanis). Furthermore, Moghul cuisine is characterized by rather small chile usage (contrasting habits in the rest of India); cumin, which is a most popular spice all over India, is frequently substituted by a closely related, but culinarily different, plant known as black cumin (see there for a fuller account on moghul cuisine). Indian bay leaves are found not only in biriyanis, but also in Moghul kormas, for which today the northern Indian city of Lucknow is famous. To make korma, meat (or occasionally vegetable) is slowly but for long time braised in a rich, fragrant sauce thickened with ground almonds; often, the cooking pots are sealed to avoid any loss of aroma. Indian bay-leaves also form part of the Northern Indian spice mixture garam masala (see cumin), which is almost the only time when they are used in ground form. Since Indian bay leaves are hardly available in the West, most books encourage the use of laurel (the Mediterranean bay leaf) instead. Though acceptable, you should know that the taste is not the same, and also weaker. The best substitutes are cinnamon leaves or fresh cardamom leaves, but these are also not easy to come by. I prefer the South American boldo leaves: although their flavour is rather different, it is at least strong enough for the highly spiced Moghul foods. Easier and still satisfactory substitutes are a small piece of cinnamon bark or a dried allspice berry. * Table of Contents * Alphabetical Index (index by names) * Botanical Index (index by plant families) * Geographical Index (index by country of origin) * Morphological Index (index by plant part) * Spice Mixture Index * German version of this text * Back to my home page