Medicinal Kitchen Herbs From Your Spice Cabinet

Medicinal Kitchen Herbs are a great way to treat common issues right from your kitchen spice cabinet!  You don’t have to have a comprehensive apothecary at home to get started with herbs, and chances are you already have a number of effective herbal remedies right in your kitchen.

One of the best ways to get started with herbal medicine is to open your kitchen spice cabinet.  You’d be surprised how often common kitchen spices also happen to have medicinal properties.

This introductory guide to kitchen medicinal herbs walks you through the medicinal uses of common things like sage, thyme and black pepper.

Thyme happens to be one of my favorite herbs, and I use it regularly for sinus congestion and as a herbal cough syrup. It is, in fact, the very first herb I learned to use back when I was a pre-teen and pouring over herbalism books.

While I could read all day long about Yarrow and Elecampane, my 12 year old suburban self had no idea where to find them…but I could easily pull a bottle of thyme off the spice cabinet to treat my cold (or make my first Thyme Tincture).

I asked the Herbal Academy of New England if they’d be willing to share this excerpt from their Introductory Herbal Course, and they kindly allowed me to share this excerpt with you.  The course itself covers just about everything you need to know to get started with herbs, all in an easy to read, beginner friendly format.

The course includes a comprehensive Materia Medica with details on more than 80 herbal monographs, focusing on easy to find and beginner friendly herbs. It also teaches you how to turn those herbs into all the common herbal preparations, including teas, tinctures, salves, poultices and more.

If you download and print the course as a hardy copy, it’s more than 800 pages long…and that doesn’t include the video lessons!

If you want more details about what exactly is covered, you can find the full table of contents for the course here.

The course itself has much more in depth information about the medicinal properties of kitchen herbs, but this is plenty to get you started and you’ll never look at your spice cabinet (or those potted herbs on your kitchen windowsill) the same way again!

The following is an excerpt from the Introductory Herbal Course from the Herbal Academy of New England.  It is reprinted with permission, and has been edited slightly to fit the web.

Medicinal Kitchen Herbs

Our kitchens are often the most popular room in the house: they are the heart of the home, full of warmth, companionship, nourishment, beauty, delightful aromas, and soulful deliciousness. Preparing food at home—particularly when the ingredients are grown by ourselves, our neighbors, or by local farmers—reconnects us to the land and to those we love as we stir and sauté, boil and steam, and chop, slice, and grate vegetables born from the elements of nature.

Our kitchens also offer the gift of herbalism, quietly waiting in the jars and bins of our spice cabinets. Using kitchen spices as herbs is often not in the forefront of people’s minds when thinking about herbalism, but there is much potential waiting in those small jars and tins!

Spicing Things Up

If you add black pepper (Piper nigrum), garlic (Allium sativum), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), thyme (Thymus vulgaris), or other spices to your meals, you are already practicing the timeless tradition of using herbs to draw out flavor and improve the taste of food. You might not know it, but you are also adding wellness-supporting herbal properties to your food!

Many of us already have an extensive herbal apothecary in our kitchens. Herbs and spices have been tossed, pinched, and dashed into simmering pots and pans across the world from time immemorial. The kitchen spices mentioned above are but a few examples of aromatic herbs that are commonly added to enhance the flavor of meals. Many of these plants owe their inviting aromas and flavors to their volatile oil content, which aids in digestion and helps relax our nervous system. Other kitchen spices are rich in antioxidants, polyphenols, and other important plant compounds. Without us even noticing, these tasty spices keep us healthy.

Hundreds of years ago, the international spice trade changed the course of history and impacted traditional cultures around the globe as Europeans sought out exotic and highly prized spices from Asia, Africa, and other places. It is hard to imagine that some of the most common herbs and spices we take for granted today were at one time so expensive they were stored under lock and key. In fact, the first millionaire in the United States, Elias Hasket Derby, made his fortune in the 18th century by directly importing spices from India, China, and Russia! Fortunately, these days, it is possible to find affordable spices from traditional cuisines around the world.

Aside from using spices for enjoyment and enhanced flavor, traditional cuisines around the globe have employed spices for many of the same reasons that warming, aromatic herbs have been used in the Western herbal tradition—they support healthy digestion, protect against pathogens, and keep harmful bacteria from proliferating in the gut. In hot climates, spicy foods and condiments are also commonly used to encourage circulation to the periphery, which promotes sweating, thus cooling the body.

Spices as Anti-Microbials

A 1998 study on the use of spices in meat-based recipes found that using culinary spices in food inhibited growth of pathogenic microorganisms in warm climates (Billing & Sherman, 1998). The researchers examined 4,578 meat-based recipes from 93 cookbooks and compiled information on the climate (temperature and precipitation) in each country as well as the growth range of spice plants and antibacterial actions of each spice. Meat-based recipes were chosen because of their tendency to produce more food-borne illness than non-meat dishes.

These data were used to investigate the hypothesis that spices inhibit or kill microorganisms that lead to food spoilage. After all, plant secondary compounds commonly found in kitchen spices are powerful antimicrobial (particularly antibacterial and antifungal) agents. The researchers found that as environmental temperatures increased, so did the percentage of recipes that contained spices as well as the number of spices per recipe, both within and among countries. The most intriguing observation was that as the climate’s average annual temperature increased, so did the antimicrobial potency of the spices! At the same time, the estimated fraction of bacterial species inhibited per recipe in each country was positively correlated with annual temperature.

Even though the intention behind using kitchen spices is most often to enhance food palatability, it can be fun to remember that as we spice up our dishes, we are also helping to prevent spoilage and contribute to the healthfulness of our meals.

Sizing Up Your Spices

Using high quality, fresh, and properly stored herbs and spices enhances enjoyment of food and ensures herbal and culinary quality. However, many of us may be in possession of more than a few dusty jars with labels that look suspiciously vintage. Herbs and spices can’t last forever, and their age will show in lack of color, scent, and taste. Conducting a thorough review of your spice rack every few months will help ensure that you have a potent culinary and herbal stockpile on hand.

Review your spice rack by smelling and tasting each herb. Take a good look: the herbs should be vibrant. Upon opening, smell the aroma that wafts from each jar: the herbs should have a fresh scent. The taste should be evident. If an herb fails to engage your senses, it indicates that its chemical constituents have degraded and will not be as potent or flavorful. As a general rule, dried herbs should be used within a year of purchasing.

When restocking, first choose from your own garden and local farmers market to attain the freshest herbs possible and to support your local economy and community. We always recommend organically grown herbs grown in soil away from roads, roof drip lines, and undesirable runoff. If purchasing fresh herbs for culinary use, whatever herbs are not used fresh can be dried for later use.

If experimenting with a new kitchen spice, buy in bulk from a local provider that offers loose, bulk herbs. Bring your own containers or bags to help decrease waste. If there is no date on the bulk container, you can ask how recently the herb was replenished and smell the spices to ascertain their freshness.

Getting To Know Your Spice Rack

When the things around us become too familiar, it’s easy to take them for granted. Reacquainting ourselves with the everyday spices in our kitchens can help open our eyes to their importance and value in herbalism.

We delve into the properties of many common kitchen spices in the monographs below. As you read through each monograph and add information to your personal materia medica, take the time to smell and taste these familiar herbs as if for the very first time. Grab a notebook, a pen, and perhaps colored pencils and markers, and take note of your experience. Pay close attention to the taste, appearance, and scent of the herbs.

Before doing this exercise, take a deep breath and relax to prepare your body and mind. This is a fun and interesting exercise to do with children, too!

In your notebook, record what you notice about each of the herbs you’ve chosen. If you have access to both fresh and dried versions of the same herb, you may want to try both, as you may notice that each has a slightly different quality.

Scent: Crush a few leaves, fruit, or other plant part between your fingers. How would you describe the scent? Write down what you smell and feel.

Taste: Take a taste. What do you notice on your tongue or the roof of your mouth and in your body? Describe what you taste and feel.

Energetics: What sensations arise as you smell, taste, feel, and look at the herb? Do you feel warm, cool, or neutral? Do you feel moisture or dryness in your mouth? Do you feel uplifted or grounded?

Don’t worry about getting a “right” answer. Simply record your own personal experience—and have fun! You can compare your observations to the information presented in the spice monographs below!

Common Medicinal Kitchen Herbs for Wellness

All of the herbs listed in the guide below are common kitchen herbs that just happen to have medicinal benefits.  They’re divided up by action, including:

• Anti-Inflammatory – Herbs that fight inflammation, either locally in the digestive tract, or systemically throughout the body.
• Aromatic Carminative – Herbs that are rich in volatile oils, and help promote digestion.  These herbs facilitate the explustion of gas from the digestive tract, thereby preventing indigestion, bloating and flatulence.
• Digestive Bitter – Herbs that promote effective digestion by aiding liver function, stimulating the secretion of bile from the gall bladder or otherwise promoting complete digestion and absorption of nutrients from food.
• Nervine – A herbal tonic that nourishes and promotes the function of the central nervous system.  These herbs are often used to relieve stress and anxiety, as well as promote an overall healthy mental state.

This is just a starting place, and there are many other medicinal herbs to be found in your kitchen, and the herbs listed below often have more than one medicinal action.  The common kitchen herb Thyme, for example, is also anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-parasitic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, diaphoretic and expectorant.  It’s an incredibly effective herb for respiratory issues, as well as cough and sinus issues.  All of those specific uses for each of these common kitchen herbs is covered in detail in the Herbal Academy’s Introductory Herbal Course.

The idea of the guide below is to familiarize you with some of the basics, and give you a starting point for looking at your spice rack as a source of natural, herbal medicine.

Far more detailed information on medicinal herbs can be found in the Herbal Academy’s Introductory Herbal Course.  (And a printable version of the graphic below can be found here.

There are a lot of medicinal kitchen herbs listed on the graphic above, and we’ll go through just a few of them in detail.  All of them are covered in the Herbal Academy’s Introductory Herbal Course.

Sage

Sage, from the Latin salvere (to save) was in ancient times considered sacred. Its powerful properties inspired much folklore—one medieval aphorism proclaimed “Why should a man die if sage grows in his garden?” (Usher, 1991, p. 1).

Actions: Anticatarrhal, antihydrotic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, expectorant

Energetics: Warming and drying

Use: Sage’s drying and warming properties bring comfort to irritated, inflamed sore mouths and throats, especially in conditions where fluid and mucus are excessive—sage is used for canker sores, inflamed tonsils, laryngitis, and pharyngitis.

Sage can be prepared as a steam for respiratory congestion and as a gargle or mouthwash to soothe oral and dental inflammation. Sage is also used to stimulate the appetite and as a carminative to expel gas and ease digestion.

As herbalist Matthew Wood notes, sage is “an herb of remarkable range and depth” (Wood, 2004, p. 220). The specific indications for its use are myriad, as are the conditions it helps to balance. These include “anxiety, blood clots, colds, cystitis, depression, diarrhea, dyspepsia, fever, flatulence, flu, hot flashes, indigestion, irregular menses, memory problems, menopause symptoms, menorrhagia, migraines, night sweats, perspiration (excessive), respiratory congestion, rheumatic pain, and staphylococcus infection” (Mars, 2007, p. 265).

In folk herbal traditions, sage has historically been used as an herb that promotes long life and increased wisdom (think of the “wise sage”), and also to attract protection and prosperity (Mars, 2007). In the 16th century, John Gerard—in line with Greco-Roman tradition—noted sage’s affinity for the head and the brain, declaring that “Sage is singularly good for the head and brain, it quickeneth the senses and memory, strengtheneth the sinews, restoreth health to those that have the palsy, and taketh away shakey trembling of the members” (Grieve, 1971, p. 701).

Safety: Use only culinary amounts during pregnancy and lactation (Gardner & McGuffin, 2013).

Dose: Infusion: 3-12 g dried leaf/day divided into 1-4 doses (Mills & Bone, 2005); Tincture: 2-4 mL (1:5, 40%) 3x/day (Hoffmann, 2003).

Thyme

Like sage (Salvia officinalis), thyme is a Mediterranean member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. Thyme’s name indicates that it may have once been used as sacred incense: “thyme” from Old French thym, from Latin thymum, from Greek thumon, from thuein which means “to make a burnt offering.”

Actions: Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiparasitic, antispasmodic, astringent, carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant

Energetics: Warming and drying

Use: Thyme’s volatile oil constituents, especially thymol, are antimicrobial against many different kinds of bacteria including those involved in upper respiratory infections (Nabavi et al., 2015) and also contribute to thyme’s expectorant, diaphoretic, and anticatarrhal qualities that are used by herbalists to support resolution of colds, the flu, and other lower and upper respiratory tract infections. Choose thyme for mucousy respiratory conditions with productive coughs (rather than dry coughs), as it is drying.

Thyme’s antimicrobial properties also make it useful as a wound wash (use a tea or a tincture for this purpose) and the fresh aerial parts of thyme can be made into a poultice for cuts and wounds. Thyme can also be added to a mouthwash formula to protect the mouth from dental plaque-causing bacteria.

The same volatile oils that contribute to the expectorant, diaphoretic, and anticatarrhal nature of thyme also give the herb a carminative quality. This ability to relax the digestive tract makes it helpful for bloating and gas.

Safety: Use only culinary amounts during pregnancy.

Dose: Infusion: 3-12 g dried herb/day divided into 1-4 doses (Mills & Bone, 2005); Tincture: 2-4 mL (1:5, 45%) 3x/day (Hoffmann, 2003).

Black Pepper

A ubiquitous spice in cuisines around the world, pepper is native to southwestern India. White, red, green, and black peppercorns are all from the same plant, but are picked at different stages of growth and/or are processed in different ways.

Actions: Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, aromatic, digestive stimulant, rubefacient

Energetics: Warming and drying

Use: Black pepper is used in Ayurveda for improved digestion and to address gastrointestinal issues, as well as for colds. Ayurvedic practitioners also use pepper as a warming herb to ease headaches, toothaches, and urinary infections. It is often combined with honey to dry excess mucus secretions. According to Ayurveda, green pepper is considered less heating and white pepper is considered less active (Pole, 2012).

Similarly, Western herbalists use black pepper for immune support during cold and flu season, to stimulate the appetite, to ease digestive symptoms such as bloating, flatulence, and nausea, and to enhance circulation.

Black pepper can also be used as a catalyst in some herbal formulas to increase the digestibility of other herbs in a formula. Modern research has validated this idea, with research showing that compounds in black pepper enhance the bio-availability of compounds in turmeric by up to 2000% (Dudhatra et al., 2012).

When incorporating black pepper into meals, using freshly ground peppercorns is best. Try adding it in small amounts to tea, chai, sandwiches, salads, and popcorn! You could even try a little experiment: prepare a meal or a cup of tea and add black pepper to half of it and no black pepper to the other half. Compare! How does black pepper enhance the taste?

Safety: High doses of black pepper are contraindicated in pregnancy, though culinary use is not harmful (Mills & Bone, 2005).

Dose: Decoction: 1-5 g dried fruit/day divided into 1-3 doses; Tincture: 0.5-1 mL (1:5, 70%) 2x/day (Pole, 2012).

Conclusion

Using herbs in the daily rhythms of meal preparation is a natural way to incorporate them into our daily diets. While some of these kitchen cupboard herbs are equally at home in teas and tinctures, we can also use them in the dishes we prepare, from soups to entrees to desserts, to improve digestion, support immunity, and amp up the micro nutrient and antioxidant content of our meals.

As it turns out, it’s no accident that culinary herbs found their way into the traditional cultural cuisines of the world—that choice was intentional, wellness-supporting, and delicious!

Recommended Resources for Further Reading

The Herbal Academy’s Introductory Herbal Course includes a lot more information on kitchen medicinal herbs, as do these herbal books:

Herbal Guides

Herbal Medicine-Making Tutorials

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