The cupboard
Kitchen herbs & spices
Filter by element or search a plant. Traditional kitchen and folk use — four tastes, not a clinic monograph.
Earth· sweetSweet first warms, then cools, and it softens. It is relaxing — the reason sugar went into cough syrups — nutritive, building, and hormonally active. Sweet herbs feed the brain and nerves, nourish spleen and pancreas, and coat dry tissue. They cleanse by moving blood toward the organs that wash it.
5 plants
Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
The evening apple-scent that settles both belly and mind.
Restless sleep · Frayed nerves · Bloating
Ground, build, and settle
Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare
The after-dinner seed that lets wind leave quietly.
Bloating · Indigestion · Nausea
Ground, build, and settle
Cardamom
Elettaria cardamomum
A sweet, eucalyptus-green seed that finishes a heavy meal.
Indigestion · Bloating · Hollow energy
Ground, build, and settle
Star anise
Illicium verum
One star that perfumes a whole pot of broth or tea.
Cough · Bloating · Chill & congestion
Ground, build, and settle
Caraway
Carum carvi
The rye-bread seed that was also a wind-breaking tea.
Bloating · Indigestion
Ground, build, and settle