Utilization of Traditional Herbs, Spices, Seasoning and Condiments: A Case Study of the Preparation of “Buknu” in Selected Villages of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

Majority of the world’s population is still using the traditional herbal food for their healthcare. India has a good amount of diversity in spices like black pepper, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, tamarind and garcinia. The other important spices relevant to India are coriander, fennel, fenugreek, cumin, nutmeg, clove and vanilla.

Aim: The present case study highlights traditional uses of different parts of medicinal plants for preparation of traditional spice called as “Buknu”, also the therapeutic activity and various pharmacological effects of the medicinal plants used in the formulation of this spice.

Place and Duration of the Study: The documentation of the medicinal properties of the ingredients of Buknu was also done by personal interviews with the local inhabitants and healers in the selected villages of Bhognipur Tehsil of Kanpur Dehat district in Uttar Pradesh during October to November 2015.

Methodology: A review of literature was carried out using several resources through online internet searches, including scientific databases such as Pubmed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, etc.

Results: Buknu is a very ancient recipe and has medicinal values; it is consumed as spice and condiments and also can be used as an ingredient in many digestive preparations such as churan. It is found to have a high therapeutic value due to presence of around 21 types of herbal drugs. The present work is an effort to document the traditional method to prepare Buknu and the medicinal properties of various ingredients used in the preparation of Buknu.

Conclusion: The present study documented a unique preparation of spice traditionally called “Buknu” the word means “to grind”, it is given such name because of its preparation by grinding the mixture of several spices. It is very good and healthy due to its ingredients which have been mentioned in the study. It’s digestive and good for stomach. Its preparation is quick and convenient which gets it an edge over other preparation of spices.