Today we take a look at spices and Choosing Fall Spices for Taste and Medical Properties.
There are many amazing spices that are popular for fall flavor, but they aren’t just for taste. Many of the popular fall spices also have excellent health benefits. You may love the taste of a certain spice but also consider the medical properties of these spices when looking at the available flavors. Spices can do double duty when you are Choosing Fall Spices for Taste and Medical Properties.
It is not meant to replace urgent medical care. As we have said, we are not doctors, vets, or anything. We share info that has worked for us. For more info, please see our disclaimer page.
This post does contain affiliate links. When you use a link on these pages to a seller product, We get a commission on any sales, at no additional cost to the buyer.
We have many talks on how to grow and use herbs and spices. We also have quite a few DIY Herbal Recipes on our blog site. As always, we use and recommend StarWest Botanicals as our herb and spice go-to. StarWest Botanicals provides high-quality herbs, spices, teas, and a range of other natural products.
1. Ginger
A popular spice to use in the fall is ginger, although Ginger is a wonderful spice to use year-round. Ginger is also becoming more popular as people discover its many healing powers.
Ginger root is the actual root of the Ginger plant. The root is either shaved or ground to get powder. You can dehydrate ginger root and powder it yourself or you can get ground ginger from the store to make it a little easier.
A. It Helps With Digestion
If you are like most people, you have tried drinking ginger ale when you got a tummy ache or were dealing with nausea. This is a very common remedy used for years, and it is from the ginger in the ginger ale that helps with your stomach problems. Ginger is amazing for reducing irritation of your stomach, helping with bile production, and relieving nausea. It is often given to people with digestive issues, women with morning sickness, and even cancer patients dealing with nausea. If you have digestive issues, you can definitely benefit from using ginger on a regular basis.
Aside from helping with your digestive system, ginger is also great for pain and loss of appetite.
You can also make ginger tea, which is amazing for nausea and digestion.
Many herbalists swear to the benefits of Tincture of Ginger. This is a tincture made, generally, from ginger root and Vodka. Yes, there is some alcohol in it but the Vodka is there to extract the health benefits of the ginger root, not to drink for pleasure. Tincture of Ginger is good for headaches, migraines, upset stomach, colic, and other stomach issues.
B. You Can Reduce Bacteria
People who are prone to bacterial infections can benefit from ginger by reducing the bacteria in the body. There have been multiple studies done that show that ginger can actually kill some bacteria, including streptococcus and staphylococcus when used in conjunction with the right antibiotics. Ginger is going to boost the healing process and the ability to fight those bacterial infections, instead of just being used on its own.
C. Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke
Two common diseases that can put your life at risk are heart disease and stroke. To prevent them, you need to focus on living a healthier lifestyle. If you can start adding more ginger to your daily routine, you have a great chance at protecting yourself from these and other harmful diseases.
D. Help With Malabsorption
Another thing that ginger can do for your body is help you absorb more of the minerals you consume. This means when you have healthy fruits and veggies, and other foods with important vitamins and minerals, you are able to absorb as many of those nutrients as possible. This helps to prevent malnutrition and ensures you get all the vitamins you need even without having to take an additional supplement.
2. Cinnamon
Who doesn’t love some cinnamon? Cinnamon is probably one of the more popular spices, often combined with sweet flavors for a nice treat. It also happens to have health benefits, including protecting your heart and helping to prevent diabetes. Cinnamon has a lot of antioxidants, which are always important for general wellness and can help to reduce inflammation in the body.
A. Antioxidants
Like many spices and herbs, cinnamon has antioxidants naturally. Antioxidants are what your body needs to help fight bacteria and different types of infections. While your body naturally has germ-fighting properties, it always helps to have a nice natural boost to stave off illness and infections. Using just a little bit of cinnamon every day can help you with this.
B. You Can Help Prevent Diabetes
Many people have noticed that their pre-diabetes or diabetes symptoms are improved when consuming more cinnamon. This is because cinnamon can help lower your insulin resistance. While you should not rely just on natural remedies for diabetes, there is no harm in adding some cinnamon to your coffee or oatmeal in the morning and seeing if it provides a positive reaction for you.
C. It is Excellent at Freshening Your Breath
If you are concerned about breath that isn’t as fresh as you would like it, consider adding some cinnamon to your breakfast or your coffee. It can help cut down on the breath odor from the coffee itself or freshen your breath during other times of the day. This combined with good oral hygiene is a great way to have fresh breath all day long.
D. Known to Help With Cardiovascular Health
Another health benefit of cinnamon is that it may help with your cardiovascular health. If you are concerned about your heart health, the natural properties of cinnamon might give it a nice, natural boost.
E. Reduces Inflammation
Lastly, cinnamon is known as a natural anti-inflammatory spice. This means when you consume it, it can help reduce the inflammation in your body. This is great if you have trouble with your joints and conditions like arthritis, which is worsened by that extra inflammation. Try using cinnamon more often and see if you notice any improvement.
3. Cloves
This is a spice you probably use often in the fall when combined with some of these other fall flavors, but don’t realize all of the reasons to use it more often. Cloves can be found in many forms, but getting ground clove in the spice section of your grocery store, to using clove oil as an essential oil.
Cloves are also anti-inflammatory, similar to cinnamon, so they help with conditions like arthritis. It also works as a natural antiseptic and can even provide mild numbing. Many people use clove oil on a toothache. Clove is a versatile spice that happens to have a lot of health benefits.
A. They Are Loaded With Nutrients
To start off with Cloves let’s look at the types of nutrients they contain. You may occasionally add cloves or clove oil to your dishes, especially in the fall when you want to add spices to soups and baked goods. However, you may not realize just how many nutrients cloves contain. A single serving of cloves has up to 6 grams of protein and 33 grams of fiber. It also contains potassium, sodium, zinc, calcium, iron, and many vitamins including D, K, B12, B6, A, and E.
B. You Get a Natural Immune System Boost
It is always good to boost your immune system whenever possible, especially when you can do so naturally. Cloves provide these benefits thanks to all the antioxidants and various nutrients found in the spice. When you start adding more cloves to your dishes during the fall and year-round, you have the ability to boost your immune system naturally. This is done by improving your white blood cell count to decrease your body’s sensitivity to different bacteria.
C. Cloves Help Protect Your Liver
Your liver is a vital organ you might not think too much about, but it needs protection just like the rest of your body. With cloves, you are getting a lot of antioxidants, which can help protect your liver and other vital organs from free radicals. This is going to help to naturally clean out your liver and keep it from being damaged by anything you consume. While you should still look for other ways to protect your liver, this definitely doesn’t hurt.
D. You Can Improve Your Digestion
Your digestive system is a lot more sensitive than you might imagine. This is why just eating too much of something or the wrong thing can cause stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting. To balance out your digestive system, you need to stimulate your digestive enzymes, which is what cloves can do for you. This is going to help with nausea, reducing gas, and improving your stomach’s digestion overall.
4. Nutmeg
Another fall spice you should know about is nutmeg. Like cinnamon, it is a frequent spice to be used in fall dishes, especially baked goods and coffee drinks. This has a taste similar to cinnamon, so there is a lot of versatility when using it.
a. It has been linked to various health benefits, including improving cognitive function. This is a natural way to improve your thinking and memory.
b. Nutmeg can help provide natural pain relief.
c. Nutmeg is a carmenogen, a spice that helps with digestion and helps in reducing indigestion.
d. Some people have also noted nutmeg’s ability to help with insomnia.
e. It also helps with detoxifying your body.
f. Improves oral health by balancing the flora in the mouth and helping keep good bacteria healthy.
5. Allspice
What is Allspice?
When you begin gathering spices and seasonings to use in your fall dishes, you might come across something called allspice. While at first, it seems like a combination of spices together, that is not what this is. Allspice is actually a type of berry that is often used in fall flavors like cider. Here is what you should know about allspice.
A. It reduces inflammation
First of all, allspice, like many other spices, has natural properties that allow it to reduce inflammation in the body. If you have arthritis or gout, you probably experience more pain and discomfort when your joints have inflammation. You can start reducing it naturally by using Allspice more often.
B. You can improve your immunity
To boost your immune system, start incorporating more herbs, fruits, veggies, and spices into your diet. Allspice is a great way to start improving your immune system, as it is a natural antifungal and antibacterial spice.
C. You get more antioxidants
Everyone wants more antioxidants, and spices like allspice can start adding more to your system. Some antioxidants that allspice has include tannins, eugenol, and quercetin. These are compounds that make it a good antioxidant spice for preventing illness and infections.
D. It helps with circulation
Allspice is also great for improving circulation in your system, thanks to minerals like iron and copper. With good circulation, you are promoting good red blood cell growth, which gives you more energy and helps with your health overall.
Even if allspice is unfamiliar to you, there are many reasons to use it. Start incorporating it into your dishes.
Obviously, Choosing Fall Spices for Taste and Medical Properties is not a full list of spices and their medical properties but it is a place for you to start and something to start you thinking. Enjoy your fall spices and the flavors that they give but also take into account that they can be good for you too.
We hope Choosing Fall Spices for Taste and Medical Properties has given you some new info and opened up some possibilities for you in the spice world. Now when you choose what spices to use in your baking or on your coffee, maybe you will think about those spices and the benefits they will be giving you.
If you are interested in other talks similar to this please check out the ones below.
How to Make Your Own Thieves Oil
Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.
Recent Comments