9 Powerful Herbs for Cooking, Health and Beauty

Herbs are so much more than what you use to enhance the flavor of food. They also can have extraordinary health and beauty benefits that you may not be aware of. Here are nine powerful herbs that you may want to start taking more advantage of for improving your well-being and appearance.

 9 Powerful Herbs Starting With Cooking and How to Use Them

Basil is one of the top powerful herbs for its contribution on all fronts. This herb with its sweet and slight licorice type flavor is my favorite for cooking anything with tomatoes, squash, fish, lamb, salads to potato dishes. I would be lost without basil and that delicious taste.

Sage is next when it comes to a star multitasking herb. Besides using in stuffing, this aromatic herb is actually a shrub and a part of the mint family with just more depth and slight bitterness than its relation and perfect for pork roast, poultry, hamburgers, legumes such as lentils like my Lentil Mashed-Potato Patties to sausages.

I grow a lot sage as well as basil, dry some on a cookie sheet than process to a fine powder to keep on hand through the winter.

Oregano is another mint-related herb that also never should be neglected. I use this basically for everything that has tomatoes, pizza and all my Italian tomato sauces, vegetables, salads, salad dressings to pork dishes.

Of course, you can’t forget rosemary for its fragrant contribution for cooking as well as it health and beauty benefits. Technically, this herb is an evergreen shrub that does wonder for chicken, stuffings, roasts, pork, potatoes, fish to cauliflower.

Thyme is also excellent to remember. Just like a few of the other top herbs, thyme is another member of the mint family. It is good to use with poultry, soups, stuffing, beef, lamb, pork, beans, cheese dishes or sauce, fish, eggs to vegetables. I even make a shake and bake coating mix with it for chicken pieces.

Parsley really gets taken for granted because this herb is so much more than just a garnish to pretty up a dish. To start, parsley tastes great paired up with meats, vegetables, soups, eggs, to cheese dishes for that extra pinch of tangy flavor it can add to cooking.

A relative of parsley is fennel. This is a slightly sweet herb with a licorice type flavor. Parsley compliments dishes that use tomatoes or basically any sauces, soups, breads, fish to sweet pickles.

You might not be cooking much with another member of the parsley family right now, but dill is another herb that should be on your radar. For cooking alone, you can incorporate it into any cream or plain yogurt-based sauce, fish recipe, potatoes, tomatoes, vegetables to egg salads, pickles, and cottage cheese.

Cilantro and coriander seeds also deserve respect for all areas. Often referred to as cilantro, this lemon-sage tasting herb is fresh coriander, the green part as it grows before it matures with a bulb of commonly known, coriander seeds. Fresh cilantro is delicious in soups, beans, fish, poultry such as my Turkey Patties with Mushroom Gravy, to baked goods.

The Health and Beauty Benefits

If you have a lot of arthritis and pain from inflammation, basil has the potential to bar those enzymes responsible for that suffering just like Cox-2 inhibitors.

Basil is also a germ-fighting warrior with anti-bacterial properties strong enough to combat strains such as Staphylococcus, Enterococcus and Pseudomonas, which may become antibiotic resistant. In fact, some research has shown adding just a tiny amount of basil or thyme essential oil when washing fresh produce has enough anti-bacterial power to kill Shigella responsible for an infectious bacteria that cause diarrhea.

Basil also is known for its flavonoids that help defend like antioxidants for repairing cell-damage for anti-aging and changing DNA to assist in better heart health, cancer to conditions like asthma. Unlike typical antioxidants, flavonoids go the extra mile for having an antihistamine effect for help with allergies to improving memory.

Sage is another herb winner for all its antioxidants to keep youthful among the 9 powerful herbs. It also has anti-inflammatory properties. In addition, it has rosmarinic acid that once it gets absorbed in the gut can change inflammation levels of those types of molecules such as ileukotriene B4. It also can strengthen memory from four of its compounds alone that may prove promising for Alzheimer’s disease according to one study.

Oregano has antibacterial components that researchers found just as effective for killing Giardia as the one typically prescribed drug to treat it. It may even help clear your skin due to those antibacterial properties.

Furthermore, oregano has worthy antioxidant properties due to its phytonutrients for repairing cell structure and function.

Rosemary has remarkable anti-inflammatory properties as well as helping with better blood flow in the head and brain.

Thyme is important for healing and respiratory problems to congestion. Research keeps delving into more of what its volative oil components such carvacolo, borneol, geraniol, and bacteria fighting thymol can do for the body. Thyme on the cardiovascular system can calm internally veins and arteries and reduce blood pressure. Thus, it could have potential for subduing facial redness for those with rosacea.

Parsley has compounds such as myristicin for one that may help inhibit tumor growth to exceptional flavonoids in its volatile oils for protecting against cancer, diabetes to asthma among other diseases. For beauty, parsley has ample beta carotene from vitamin A and vitamin C for a glowing, healthy complexion. Its antioxidants help speed collagen production to avoid aging.

Fennel also is another wonder of a herb for its phytonutrients and volatile oils that can aid in fighting inflammation and bacteria, healing cell damage through all its vitamin C through its antioxidants and boost the body’s defenses and stay younger looking. It also may help lower cholesterol, improve cardiovascular health, and the colon with its fiber, folate and potassium.

Dill can fight free radicals with all its antioxidant capabilities while also neutralizing inhaled environmental carcinogens as well as its beneficial role for antiaging. Besides those amazing qualities, dill also can fight bacteria and even bone loss due to its minerals of manganese, iron and magnesium.

Coriander can also help lower blood sugar, cholesterol, and help with inflammation with its antioxidants. This herb also can keep you beautiful with its folate, antioxidants, vitamin C and beta-carotene for a soft, vibrant complexion.

These are just nine of the best powerful herbs for cooking, health and beauty that deserve your attention. I just hope that you give them a chance to help you get healthier and become your most beautiful self.