Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Costus Root along with all the Costus Root containing recipes presented on this site, with 6 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the spice-based recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Costus Root as a major flavouring.

Costus typically refers to the root of Dolomiaea costus (formerly known as Saussurea costus) is a species of thistle in the genus Dolomiaea native to South Asia and China. The root is also called by its Latin name radix aucklandiae (root of aucklandia).

Dolomiaea costus is a perennial plant with a typical growth of 1–2m tall and 1m wide. It has long lyrate leaves and heads of purple florets. The leaves take the shape of being auricled at base, with jagged, toothed patterns running down the sides of the leaves and are an average of 0.50–1.25m long. The roots of the plant are stout and can travel up to 40cm in length. It is usually found at elevations of 2,500–3,000m in India; including the Himalayas, Kashmir, Jammu, Western Ghats, and the Kishenganga Valley. Its typical flowering season spans from July to August, with the seeds ripening from August to September. The plant can be grown in a wide variety of soils, ranging from light sandy, medium to heavy clay soils that are acid, neutral or basic, alkaline soils, preferring soils that are moist.

The plant is cultivated as a medicinal plant. Its growing region occurs mainly within India-Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir- its native place of origin. A study by Parmaret. al. 2012 explored the effect of altitude on seed germination and survival percentage, proving that high altitudes favoured high survival and seed germination percentages. This is why they thrive so abundantly in the Himalayan Region which is very mountainous. Cultivation is primarily focused upon the roots of the plants. Most of the roots are exported to China and Japan and as they serve as a big commodity for commerce in Kashmir.

Known in Greek as kostos or kostarin and in Latin as costum, it was used as a spice in classical Rome and Byzantinium, when it was used to flavour wine. Costus was used as a spice in medieval England, for example as an ingredient in a greensauce described by Alexander Neckam in the 12th century (Neckham's Green Sauce). In traditional Chinese medicine, the root is one of the 50 fundamental herbs. It has the name (Chinese: 云木香; pinyin: yún mù xiāng, meaning "wood aroma"). It is found in the popular digestive remedy Po Chai pills and is also used as incense. It is also a culinary spice in China and is one of the ingredients in Chinese thirteen-spice powder. As a spice, costus root is highly aromatic and warming in nature. Because the raw root has a bitter taste, it is rarely eaten whole and is typically prepared as a powder