Welcome to the Celtnet Spice Guide. As this site has grown and many more recipes have been added it's become evident that a guide to the various herbs available to the cook is necessary. With spices becoming more commonly available and more exotic spices becoming available from all over the world it has become evident that some kind of guide or introduction to spices is necessary. These pages are an attempt at bringing all the various culinary spices together into one place so that you can see what's available and perhaps find something new to use in your own cooking. To use this Spice Guide simply click on the first letter of the herb name above or below. Alternativey why not just browse through the guide. All the spices given here, whether common or rare, can be obtained via your local supermarket (or more often via your local Asian supermarket) or via a specialist spice distributor.

This is the description page for Spikenard (Nardostachys grandiflora) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the herb: Spikenard.

Spikenard, Nardostachys grandiflora or Nardostachys jatamansi (also known as Indian Spikenard, nard, nardin, jatmansi and muskroot) are two species of flowering plant belonging to the Valerianaceae (valerian) family. The plants are native to the Himalayas of China (Nardostachys jatamansi) and northern India and Nepal (Nardostachys grandiflora) and grow up to 1m tall with lanceolate leaves and pink, bell-shaped flowers. the plants are perennial herbs, with a stout un-branched or sparsely-branched woody aromatic rhizome, covered with reddish-brown thick fibers of remnants, a petiole of withered radical leaves with a single long tap root, typically with 2–7 rhizomes but sometimes up to 15. The flowers are borne on spikes from July to August and tend to be rose-purple to whitish in color and are found in dense heads at the terminus of the plant. The pant sets fruit in September and November.

The dried rhizome is the part of the plant used as a spice. This is very aromatic, and has been in use from ancient times. The Ancient Romans were particularly fond of spikenard (the dried and ground rhizome) as a spice, which they knew of as spicam Indicam (Indian spikenard). It was also employed during the Middle Ages in both European and Arabic cuisines. Today, spikenard is most commonly used in perfumery, where an essential oil is derived from the rhizome of the plant. Dried spikenard rhizome can be obtained from specialist spice retailers.

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