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.
26 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
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
Fenugreek
Trigonella foenum-graecum
Maple-scented seeds that cook like food and comfort like broth.
Hollow energy · Indigestion · Crampy cycle
Ground, build, and settle
Oats
Avena sativa
Breakfast as medicine — the original nervine food.
Frayed nerves · Restless sleep · 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
Holy basil
Ocimum tenuiflorum
Tulsi — the daily cup for a long, demanding season.
Frayed nerves · Chill & congestion · Dull focus
Ground, build, and settle
Calendula
Calendula officinalis
Pot marigold — the gardener’s skin flower, also a golden broth.
Irritable skin · Sore throat
Ground, build, and settle
Caraway
Carum carvi
The rye-bread seed that was also a wind-breaking tea.
Bloating · Indigestion
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
Sassafras
Sassafras albidum
A sweet woods root of the spring pot — and a modern caution.
Hollow energy · Irritable skin · Puffiness
Ground, build, and settle
Sarsaparilla
Smilax spp.
A sweet, earthy root of the old spring tonics.
Hollow energy · Irritable skin · Stiff joints
Ground, build, and settle
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
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
Life everlasting
Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
Sweet everlasting — maple-hay in the hand, a scenting herb of the field.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Patchouli
Pogostemon cablin
The earth-musk of the stillroom — a sachet leaf that ages into wine and soil.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet cicely
Myrrhis odorata
Anise in a ferny leaf — the old sweetener of a sour pot.
Indigestion
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet fern
Comptonia peregrina
Not a fern — a spice-bush of the sand, smelling of cinnamon and maple.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet marjoram
Origanum majorana
The sweeter sister of oregano — a mild kitchen spice for a quiet pot.
Indigestion
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet vernal grass
Anthoxanthum odoratum
The hay that smells of vanilla when the scythe has been through.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Wild vanilla
Carphephorus odoratissimus
A field leaf that smells of vanilla when it dies — a scenting herb, not a pod.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Woodruff
Galium odoratum
Fresh it is quiet. Dried it is vanilla-hay — the May-wine leaf.
Limit the cup
Ground, build, and settle
Sweet goldenrod
Solidago odora
The goldenrod you can drink — anise in a late-summer leaf.
Indigestion · Chill & congestion
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