Extractable phenolic and flavonoid content from selected natural and industry processed spices

A total number of 22 different spices (both natural spices and industry produced spices) bought from the Accra Markets, Ghana, were analyzed for phenolic and flavonoid content to see their impact in food preparation. The phenolic concentrations were high in the natural spices compared to the industry produced spices with the exception of IPS1 and IPS2. The trend observed is as follows: NS3> NS5> NS4> IPS2> IPS1> NS7> NS6, and NS5> NS3> NS7 > NS2> NS6 > NS4 > IPS1> IPS2 for 30˚C and cold extraction respectively. The trend observed for flavonoids in the cold extract was NS3> NS6> NS5> NS2> NS4> IPS2> IPS1> IPS13> LS7, while that of the 30˚C extract was NS3> NS5> NS4> IPS1> NS7> IPS2> IPS3> NS6> IPS. Generally, natural spices will potentially contribute extremely more phenolic and flavonoid than industry produced spices if about the same amounts are used in preparing food.