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.
7 plants
Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
The evening apple-scent that settles both belly and mind.
Restless sleep · Frayed nerves · Bloating
Ground, build, and settle
Oats
Avena sativa
Breakfast as medicine — the original nervine food.
Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · Hollow energy
Ground, build, and settle
Holy basil
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Tulsi — the daily cup for a long, demanding season.
Frayed nerves · Chill & congestion · Dull focus
Ground, build, and settle
Nutmeg
Myristica fragrans
A sweet, warm grate for a restless night and a tight middle.
Restless sleep · Frayed nerves · Indigestion
Ground, build, and settle
American ginseng
Panax quinquefolius
A sweet taproot for a spent, dry, overworked body.
Hollow energy · Dryness · Frayed nerves
Ground, build, and settle
Peony
Paeonia officinalis
Named for a healer. A garden bloom whose root was the old easing medicine.
Crampy cycle · Frayed nerves
Ground, build, and settle
Linden
Tilia spp.
Lime flower — honey and hay in a calming evening pot.
Restless sleep · Frayed nerves · Feverish & flushed
Ground, build, and settle