You probably saw Mummy put cinnamon, clove or nutmeg in her pastries. You probably saw her put in mixed essence as well. The cinnamon, clove and nutmeg are spices. She put in one or another to preserve her pastries. The mixed essence was meant to flavour it.

At UWI under the leadership of Dr. Maura Imbert, scientists have developed a three-spice extract. The extract both preserves and flavours a variety of foods. The result of hard work, Dr. Imbert thinks it is the first of its kind worldwide. In fact, two 3-spice extracts have been developed. At present they are being market-tested. They bear the label Santa Maria 3-Spice Extract. Beverages, sauces and jams are among the foods they preserve.

These PRESERVATIVES are important to us. For one thing, they are NATURAL and not ARTIFICIAL. They have been developed by extracting the ACTIVE ingredients in the spices and herbs used. Take clove, for example. What makes it preserve? That's what Dr. Imbert and her team had to find and extract from the clove.

Artificial preservatives are already widely used in the foods we buy. Canned and bottled foods of a great variety contain artificial preservatives. Some artificial preservatives, however, are known to be adverse to our health. On the contrary, natural preservatives are simply extracts from spices and herbs used for centuries in foods.

Dr. Imbert is at CARIRI (Caribbean Industrial Research Institute). There, on the UWI campus, she has been active in biochemistry for more than a decade. Born in Ireland, she obtained her B.Sc. at the National University of Ireland. It was her first degree in Chemistry with First Class Honours. She obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at UWI St. Augustine.

With her colleagues she has produced a number of publications. They show intensive research on local plants. From 1968 to 1973 she did research on the Sweet potato. In 1978 her research led to the successful commercial production of a Rum punch. The punch is based on natural lime juice. In 1980 she presented a paper in Bangkok on cinnamon, clove and nutmeg.

In keeping with Dr. Seaforth's work, medicinal plants are also being investigated. Dr. Imbert is doing work on the Aloe Vera commonly called "Aloes". Developing toothache and stomach remedies form local herbs are also being pursued.

The work of Dr. Seaforth, Dr. Imbert and their colleagues is exemplary. Apart from our health care we need to reduce our import bill. Thus we need to increase our use of local materials. Dr. Seaforth and Dr. Imbert are doing just this in their fields.

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