Curry leaf
 
Most Indian cuisine cannot do without the subtle flavouring of a highly aromatic leafy spice called curry leaf.

The curry leaves are from a small deciduous tree which grows profusely throughout mainland. It is commonly found in forests as gregarious undergrowth along the foot of the Himalayas, from the Ravi to Sikkim and Assam, besides Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The trees are also now maintained in homestead gardens, as in Kerala, or on leaf farms as in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa.

The curry leaves are mainly used in seasoning in Indian cooking. They are particularly used in South India cooking to provide a flavouring for curries, vegetable, fish and meat dishes, soups (rasams), pickles, butter milk preparations, chutneys, scrambled eggs and curry powder blends.

In fresh form, they have short shell life, but in dried form it has be preserved for a long time.