“From Cooking Pot to Healing Cup: The Overlap Between Culinary and Medicinal Herbs”
Long ago, when I first started studying herbal medicine, the first thing I wondered was how different medicinal herbs must be from the ones I used in my cooking everyday.
Come to find out a huge proportion of the herbs and spices we cook with everyday are actually medicinal too.
American Thanksgiving is coming up and everyone is about to cook with sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, garlic, onions, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, all of which are wonderful medicinal herbs.
You can see how the line between culinary and medicinal herbs can be very blurry. The difference between the two is dosage. Having a table spoon of chopped up rosemary and thyme in your turkey soup is going to taste awesome, but it won't have a huge medicinal benefit eaten just one time. If you eat a raw clove of garlic every day for three months you'll probably see an improvement in cardio vascular health, blood pressure and increase in blood flow.
Or if you take a cup of sage leaves and decoct those down in water for 30 minutes you'll have an astringent wash that is wonderful for skin ailments like wounds or infections or even a gargle for things like laryngitis.
There are many herbs that are strictly medicinal. For example Juglans nigra (black walnut hull) or gentian. Both are digestive aids that are extremely bitter and really only can be taken in small tincture doses. Like 15-30 drops a day for a couple of weeks. Definitely not something you want to add to your ice cream sundae.
Any herb that is considered culinary is generally deemed very safe and gentile to consume everyday. Medicinal herbs should generally be consumed with guidance of an herbalist or your doctor.
Examples of culinary herbs:
sage (Salvia officinalis)
thyme (Thymus vulgarus)
rosemary( Rosemarinus officinalis)
basil ( Ocimum basilicum)
garlic (Allium sativa)
cayenne (Capsicum annum)
ginger (Zingiberis officinale)
fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
mint (Mentha peperita)
Examples of Medicinal Herbs:
valerian (Valeriana offincalis)
black wallnut (Juglans nigra)
skullcap (Scutellaria laterfolia)
motherwort (Leonerus cardiaca)
oregon grape (Mahonia spp.)
echinacea (Echinacea purpureum)
black haw ( Viburnum prunifolium)
If you don't often include culinary herbs and spices in your cooking, I highly recommend you do. It's a great way to get to know herbs in a fun and delicious way. It also helps your body to learn what herbs are synergistic with it and make it feel more balanced.
Note: I am not a medical professional, the information here is for educational purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose.
