Tucked away in our kitchen pantries and cupboards, in our windowsills and gardens, are familiar and friendly herbal mainstays that are as healing as they are flavorful. Like all herbs, culinary herbs also contain minerals, vitamins, and active constituents, and when used properly and in appropriate amounts, can offer potent and comforting options for common discomforts.
As
cold and flu season approaches and back-to-school germs proliferate, knowing
which kitchen herbs you can take right from cabinet to teapot is a great first
step for aspiring herbalists, who may feel more comfortable with herbs they
already use regularly. As always, do check in with your health care
practitioner before consuming herbs.
Fresh or dried, our top five kitchen herbs for cold season
can be prepared separately or together as an infusion.
Dried Herbs: If you’re using dried herbs, make sure they are still potent – compost or discard herbs that are colorless, odorless, and have been in your cabinet for years. If there’s a coat of dust on that jar, it’s time to say goodbye!
Fresh Herbs: The
water content in fresh herbs means that a greater amount should be used – a
good rule of thumb is to double the amount if using fresh herbs for tea.
To
save time, rather than making each cup of tea individually, prepare your tea in
the morning by the quart, and then drink as needed throughout the day. All
amounts below refer to adult servings.
Discover Over 165LostHerbal Remedies Hidden on Your Backyard
Sage – Salvia officinalis – Leaf
Sage,
from the Latin salvere (to save) was in ancient times considered sacred, its
powerful properties inspiring much folklore with one medieval medical
manuscript proclaiming “Why should a man die if sage grows in his garden?” Exaggeration aside, sage is rich in essential
oils, and is antioxidant, astringent, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and
anti-catarrhal (helps body remove excess mucus).
Herbalists
use sage’s drying and warming properties to bring comfort to irritated and sore
mouths and throats, especially in conditions where fluid and mucus are
excessive. An infusion of sage can be gargled and used as a mouth wash to
soothe inflammation.
Interestingly,
Salvia officinalis extract was shown in one double-blind, randomized and
placebo-controlled clinical trial to produce significantly better outcomes in
cognitive function when compared with placebo in studies on Alzheimer’s
patients. Another study showed that one of sage’s active ingredients,
rosmarinic acid, provided neuroprotective effects.
Avoid
medicinal amounts during lactation.
Preparation:
Use 1 1/2 teaspoons of dried sage (3 teaspoons fresh) per cup of hot water.
Rosemary – Rosmarinus officinalis – Leaf
Ah,
Rosmarinus, the beautiful “dew of the sea,” a fragrant, oceanside, evergreen
Mediterranean member of the mint family, whose aromatic pine-needle like
branches were said to adorn the goddess Aphrodite as she emerged from the sea.
Also associated with the Virgin Mary, rosemary’s affinity with the feminine is
again seen in the medieval belief that rosemary growing in dooryards signified
that a woman ruled the roost in that household.
Rosemary
is antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial, astringent,
carminative, diaphoretic, hepatoprotective, nervine, antioxidant, bitter, and
circulatory stimulant! Herbalists use its uplifting, warming, antimicrobial,
and dispersive actions for flus, colds, respiratory infections, and sore
throats.
Rosemary
has long been associated with improvements in memory as well as remembrance,
with sprigs worn by mourners or tossed onto caskets of the deceased. Indeed,
several studies on rosemary’s ability to enhance memory have confirmed what
herbalists have always known, and in 2013, research at Northumbria University
showed that just sniffing the scent of rosemary improved memory as well as
performance in mental arithmetic.
Use
only culinary amounts during pregnancy.
Preparation:
Use 1-2 teaspoons dried rosemary (2-4 teaspoons fresh) per cup hot water.
Garlic – Allium sativum – Root
Used
for at least 5,000 years as both food and medicine, an ancient Roman proverb
states of this member of the onion genus: “One must be very suspicious of
anyone who does not eat garlic.” Known as “the stinking rose,” its strong odor
and pungency were believed to ward off evil spirits, werewolves, vampires, and
hungry tigers, and the bulbs were even used as currency in ancient Egypt. These
days, its medicinal qualities are undisputed.
An
immune system stimulant, a diaphoretic, expectorant, and antimicrobial, the raw
cloves are used to support respiratory issues in the winter months. Garlic’s
anti-inflammatory action can ease some of the discomforts of a cold, as well as
shorten its duration by stimulating the immune system, thinning mucous, and
throwing off a fever.
Garlic
reduces vascular damage, lowers blood pressure, and dilates peripheral
arteries.
Those
will gastrointestinal sensitivities or ulcers may find that garlic aggravates
their condition. Avoid large amounts during pregnancy, postpartum, and
breastfeeding, and if you’re on blood thinners or antibiotics. Avoid if
allergic to alliums.
Preparation:
Crush or chop the cloves and let sit for 10 minutes before taking. To retain
garlic’s healing properties it shouldn’t be heated at too high a temperature or
for too long. Spread on toast or add to tea towards end of steep time and add
plenty of sweetener and lemon!
Ginger – Zingiber officinale – Rhizome
Tongue-tingling
and pungent, this tropical rhizome’s culinary and medicinal uses are detailed
extensively in early Traditional Chinese Medicine and Indian medical texts as
well as ancient Roman, Greek, and Arabic traditions. Ginger’s deeply warming
zest was also a favorite of the English including Queen Elizabeth I, who is
credited with the traditional Christmas gingerbread men.
Fresh
and dried ginger are used differently in ancient Chinese and Indian traditions:
fresh ginger is used to resolve dryness and “heat;” dried ginger resolves
“chill and damp.” Widely used for taming nausea and morning sickness, ginger
also provides a range of application for cold and flu, circulation, the
reproductive system, and as a general anti-inflammatory.
You can find herbs for cold season at your
local grocery store or online.
Herbalists
use ginger’s anti-microbial activity and ability to thin mucous, as well as its
diaphoretic action, to help the body progress through a a cold or flu.
Preparation: 2-3 slices of ginger rhizome in one cup hot water or 1 teaspoon of ginger powder in one cup hot water
Thyme – Thymus vulgaris – Leaf
Another
Mediterranean member of the 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.”
Folklore lineage indicates that thyme was associated with courage: Ancient
Greeks used thyme incense to invoke bravery and medieval soldiers were begifted
sprigs of thyme for courage.
Thyme’s
volatile oil constituents, especially thymol, are antimicrobial against
different kinds of bacteria including those involved in upper respiratory
infections. Choose thyme for “mucousy” respiratory conditions with productive
coughs (rather than dry coughs). Thyme’s antimicrobial, antiviral, expectorant,
anticatarrhal, and lung protective qualities are used by herbalists to support
resolution of cold and flu, as well as other lower and upper respiratory tract
infections.
Just
a one percent concentration of essential oil of thyme has been shown to
decontaminate Shigella inoculated lettuce, reducing the number of bacteria
below detection.
Avoid
medicinal amounts in pregnancy.
Preparation:
Use 1 1/2 teaspoons (3 teaspoons fresh) per cup of hot water, 1-4 cups a day.
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