The cupboard
Kitchen herbs & spices
Filter by element or search a plant. Traditional kitchen and folk use — four tastes, not a clinic monograph.
12 plants
Rosemary
Salvia rosmarinus
Remembrance in a needle — a head herb as much as a roast herb.
Dull focus · Headache · Cold hands & sluggish blood
Warm, move, and stimulate
Holy basil
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Tulsi — the daily cup for a long, demanding season.
Frayed nerves · Chill & congestion · Dull focus
Ground, build, and settle
Lemon
Citrus limon
The bright slice that finishes almost every stillroom cup.
Chill & congestion · Indigestion · Sore throat
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Peppermint
Mentha × piperita
The lift in the cupboard — head, belly, and a closed room.
Bloating · Indigestion · Headache
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Hibiscus
Hibiscus sabdariffa
A crimson sour that drinks like a summer cooler and a winter tonic.
Feverish & flushed · Cold hands & sluggish blood · Dull focus
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Basil
Ocimum basilicum
The pesto leaf that also wakes a dull head and a cold meal.
Indigestion · Dull focus · Nausea
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Lemon verbena
Aloysia citrodora
The sharpest lemon leaf in the garden — a cup of crushed green citrus.
Frayed nerves · Indigestion · Dull focus
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Yaupon
Ilex vomitoria
Cassina — a holly tea with a clean caffeine lift.
Dull focus · Hollow energy
Warm, move, and stimulate
Costmary
Tanacetum balsamita
Alecost — balsamic mint and lemon in a stillroom leaf.
Indigestion · Dull focus
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Lemongrass
Cymbopogon citratus
Kitchen lemon in a grass — the brightest citrus pot after the fruit itself.
Feverish & flushed · Indigestion · Dull focus
Brighten, circulate, and clear
Tea
Camellia sinensis
The true tea — green, black, oolong, white. The pot most cupboards already know.
Dull focus
Warm, move, and stimulate
Yerba mate
Ilex paraguariensis
A holly tea of the south — earthy, grassy, caffeinated. Drink it warm, not scalding.
Dull focus · Hollow energy
Warm, move, and stimulate