Chemical composition and flavour quality of nagkesar Mammea longifolia.

Mammea longifolia syn. Ochrocarpus longifolius belongs
to the family Guttiferae or Clusiaceae is called
Nagkesar in Hindi. The dried flower buds resemble
the enlarged clove buds. The dried buds are
extensively used in culinary preparations especially
in Garam Masala or spice blend. Samples of dried
buds collected from different trading centres were
analysed for their physical and chemical composition.
The buds contained 0.50 to 1.5% of essential oil and
5 to 6% of oleoresin. The essential or volatile oil is
highly aromatic and sweet smelling. It is
dextrorotatary and poor in aldehydes and esters.
Thirty five chemical constituents of the oil were
identified by GC and GC-MS methods.
Sesquiterpenes were the predominant constituents
of the oil and the major compounds were
ß-caryophyllene (28.25%), δ-cadinene (14.22%),
α-copaene (5.24%), linalool (3.46%), α-humulene
(4.63%), and a-murrolene (3.35%).