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.

9 plants

Earth· sweetGenerally safe

Cardamom

Elettaria cardamomum

A sweet, eucalyptus-green seed that finishes a heavy meal.

Indigestion · Bloating · Hollow energy

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetCaution

Licorice

Glycyrrhiza glabra

The blender’s root — it sweetens a harsh pot and soothes a raw throat.

Sore throat · Cough · Dryness

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetCaution

Fenugreek

Trigonella foenum-graecum

Maple-scented seeds that cook like food and comfort like broth.

Hollow energy · Indigestion · Crampy cycle

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetGenerally safe

Oats

Avena sativa

Breakfast as medicine — the original nervine food.

Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · Hollow energy

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetGenerally safe

Holy basil

Ocimum tenuiflorum

Tulsi — the daily cup for a long, demanding season.

Frayed nerves · Chill & congestion · Dull focus

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetNot a cup

Sassafras

Sassafras albidum

A sweet woods root of the spring pot — and a modern caution.

Hollow energy · Irritable skin · Puffiness

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetThin data

Sarsaparilla

Smilax spp.

A sweet, earthy root of the old spring tonics.

Hollow energy · Irritable skin · Stiff joints

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetGenerally safe

Burdock

Arctium lappa

A long taproot that goes to the clay — food first, blood-cleaner second.

Irritable skin · Hollow energy · Puffiness

Ground, build, and settle

Earth· sweetCaution

American ginseng

Panax quinquefolius

A sweet taproot for a spent, dry, overworked body.

Hollow energy · Dryness · Frayed nerves

Ground, build, and settle