Herbs for Health

My daughter asked me last week what the difference is between a herb and a salad leaf. Good question I thought, so I decided to look it up.

Miriam-Webster dictionary defines a herb both from a botanical perspective and a culinary one.

Botany: a seed-producing annual, biennial, or perennial that does not develop persistent woody tissue but dies down at the end of a growing season

Culinary: a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savoury, or aromatic qualities

The plants we usually talk about as herbs fulfil both these criteria, and it is the culinary definition that would separate herbs from salad leaves - although that separation is maybe somewhat woolly around the edges. ... certainly I use several herbs as added leaves in my salads!

The most commonly used fresh herbs in the UK are (in no particular order)

• basil

• coriander

• parsley (both curly and flat leaf varieties)

• mint

• thyme

• rosemary

• dill

• chives

• sage

• fennel

Other herbs that would have been more common in the past and are now often overlooked include feverfew, chervil, caraway, borage, marjoram, lavender, lemon balm, sorrel, lovage.

Basil

Rosemary

Mint

Chives

Herbs are easy to grow either inside or out, in tubs / window boxes / her beds and even old wellington boots - and they are very useful for adding a micronutrient boost to any meal. The aromas and strong flavours actually alert us to the fact that these plants are particularly high in useful phytonutrients including many co-enzymes, and substances such as quercetin - and it turns out that most of them are also high in a multitude of important vitamins and minerals too.

A basic list of the top nutrients in the common herbs above is below, but a much more detailed analysis has been done and set out beautifully on this website if you want a really detailed look. https://www.veganpeace.com/nutrient_information/nutrient_content_tables/display_tables/herbs_spices/100g_herbs_spices.htm

Top Micronutrients in Common Herbs

• Basil - Vitamin A, Vitamin K

• Chives - VItamin A, Folate, Potassium, Calcium,

• Coriander leaf - Vitamin C, Iron, Manganese,

• Dill - Vitamin A, Vitamin C

• Fennel leaf - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Potassium, Calcium

• Mint - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin

• Parsley - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K

• Rosemary - Vitamin A, Folate, Iron, Copper,

• Sage - Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Iron, Calcium, Manganese, Magnesium,

• Thyme - Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, Manganese

Most of these herbs also contain trace amounts of selenium, other B vitamins, zinc, copper phosphorus and many flavinoids which tend to be anti-oxidant in the body. - I will discuss anti-oxidants and why they are so important in another blog post.

For now I urge you to play around with herbs adding them to any and all of your cooking.

Here are some of my favourite combinations:

• Salmon cooked in a bag with tomatoes, olive oil, basil, oregano, thyme and fennel

• Potatoes chopped small, drizzled in olive oil and slow roasted with any fresh herbs I happen to have - but definitely including rosemary, thyme and parsley

• Chicken cooked with Caraway seeds and served with courgettes slowly melted down in a pan with olive oil, basil and garlic.

• A Lemon Drizzle cake made with added lavender flowers in the batter.

• Mashed potato with chopped dill drizzled with a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar before serving with any fish or meat you fancy.

Happy cooking.