Vibrant Botanicals

April 5, 2021
When it comes to using herbs, many home cooks focus on their flavor rather than their health benefits, writes food blogger McGruther (The Nourished Kitchen) in this illuminating guide that encourages readers to consider both as being crucial to supporting one’s body’s needs. McGruther organizes herbs into categories—warming and cooling, drying and moistening, stimulating and relaxing—to describe their effects and how they’re best utilized. Her method is to mix and match herbs with complementary properties to produce a desired effect. To lift one’s spirits, she suggests a tulsi and lemon balm lunar infusion, and for a good night’s sleep, vanilla rose petal honey. While this kind of open-ended approach might seem daunting, explanations of each herb’s health benefits (thyme and sage help “fight off viruses”; fennel “combat inflammation”) and accessible recipes (slow-roasted saffron chicken with rosemary, ginger mint fizz, stone fruit salad with lemon balm) make easy work of gradually expanding one’s regimen. McGruther encourages readers to “explore what you enjoy,” but not without emphasizing that herbs are “an adjunct to medical care, and not a substitute for it.” This will work well for anyone looking to reconsider their approach to cooking, as well as those wanting a more health-focused repertoire that doesn’t sacrifice flavor.