Final year Food Science and Technology student (B.Sc.) Samora Nimrod was given the task of designing and establishing a low cost herb garden at the ECIAF Campus. This project was conceived to educate students on how to develop and maintain a herb garden using simple, local resources, to allow them to gain knowledge on different types and uses of herbs, and to determine the cost of production of such a project.

Listed below are the herbs that were planted in the garden and their associated health benefits:

• Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
  A popular culinary and medicinal herb recognised for its unique antioxidants and its disease preventing properties. This wonderful, fragrant biennial herb is native to the Mediterranean region. It is rich in many antioxidant vitamins, including vitamin-A, beta-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-E, zea-xanthin, lutein, and cryptoxanthin and is an excellent source of vitamin-K and folates.

• Sweet Basil (Annual) (Ocimum basilicum)
  Basil herb contains many polyphenolic flavonoids like orientin and vicenin, as well as exceptionally high levels of beta-carotene, vitamin A, cryptoxanthin, lutein and zea-xanthin, which act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) which cause cancer.

• Shadon Beni (Annuals) (Eryngium foetidum L.)
  Shadow Beni is a leafy herb native to the West Indies and Central America and iswidely used for seasoning and marinating foods in the Caribbean. It is also used as medicine for burns, earaches, fevers, hypertension, constipation, fits, asthma, stomachaches, worms, infertility complications, snake bites, diarrhea and malaria.

• Celery (biennial) (Apium graveolens)
  Celery is an aromatic biennial plant grown primarily for its stalk and taproot, which are used as vegetables.  Its leaves are a rich source of flavonoid antioxidants such as zea-xanthin, lutein, and beta-carotene, which have antioxidant, cancer protective and immune-boosting functions and is recognised as a good source of vitamin-A.

• Thyme (perennial) (Thymus vulgaris)
  Thyme is a perennial, evergreen shrub grown primarily for its leaves, which are used as a herb. Thyme contains thymol, one of the important essential oils, as well as many flavonoid and phenolic antioxidants, and is a rich source of many important vitamins such as B-complex vitamins, beta carotene, vitamin-A, vitamin-K, vitamin-E, vitamin-C and folic acid.

• Chive (perennial) (Allium schoenoprasum)
  Chives belong to the same family as onions, leeks and garlic.  They are a hardy, drought-tolerant perennial growing to about 10-12 inches tall. Laboratory studies show that allicin found in chives reduces cholesterol production by inhibiting the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in the liver cells and is also known to have anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal activities. It contains vitamin A and is one of the richest sources of vitamin K.

• Mint (perennial) (Monarda citriodora)
  Monarda citriodora (commonly referred to as lemon beebalm or lemon mint), is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. When crushed, the leaves emit an odor reminiscent of lemons or oregano and contain the antiseptic thymol, the main active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash formulas. It can be used in salads or to add flavour to meat and seafood. The leaves can be boiled to make tea, which can be used to treat colds, coughs, fevers and respiratory problems.

Once successfully developed, this garden will serve not only as a resource to the Food Science and Technology Unit, but as a source of education to the students as an example of not only the benefits of agricultural ingenuity in application, but as an example of the avenue for entrepreneurial opportunity that exists through the simple utilisation of herbs that are commonly available. The cost of this herb garden was three hundred dollars ($300).