Food Profile: Indigenous Nigerian herbs and spices

Hello Blog fam! 

Hope y'all are doing great. Did you know that some of the very expensive IMPORTED green herbal teas we buy is non-other than leaves of the moringa trees we use to fence and beautify our houses or even feed our goats with???

Or that the curry powder we know is a blend of different spices??? The most confusing which I’m still unsure of is that Basil leaves which we mostly get from supermarkets is actually dried Scent leaves a.k.a  Nchuawun / Efinrin!!! :s

 I don’t know how true that is but a lot of people seem to agree with that. I've come to a conclusion that we've got most herbs, spices and plants in Nigeria but since they go by different names due to the diverse tribes and ethnic groups, they've been lost in translation.  Please share any Herbs, spices, or plants whose local and foreign names you know.  If you know their uses please share also. We’d love to be enlightened. 

Here are some i could come up with:::

- Alligator pepper

- Cameroon Pepper, Ground
- Mpuru uziza seeds "piper guineese" (Ashanti pepper)
- Cloves (Kanafuru)
- Calabash Nutmeg “Monodora myristica" ("Ehu"/ "Ehuru"(Igbo) -"Ariwo"(Yoruba) -"Iwo"          "Erhe (itshekiri)")
- Nutmeg ("Umilo" itshekiri)
- Ginger whole
- Garlic cloves
- Uda Uwentia (xylopia aethiopica) “Negro pepper” (Simply Uda or Enge)

- Locust beans (Iru) - Yoruba type
- Locust Beans (Dawadawa) -Hausa type
- Locust Beans (Okpei) - Igbo type

- Ogiri igbo
- Gbafilo
- Ataiko

- Irugege

- Oburunbebe Stick
- Banga spices 
- Suya spice
- Aridan "tetrapleura tetraptera "(prekese)
- Yaji
- Bay leaves 
- Scent Leaves a.k.a Nchuawun or Ahimu (Igbo), Efinrin (Yoruba)

- Curry leaves  (See - Indigenous Nigerian leafy vegetables and Herbs in Nigeria )
- Moringa leaves(See  - Indigenous Nigerian leafy vegetables and Herbs in Nigeria )
- Dried Beletientien leaves (Also called atama leaf in Efik) - Crushed

- Tumeric

Condiments:::

- Crayfish / Okporo
- Edible potash "Akaun/ Kanwa"
- Achi