Healing Spices in Indian Kitchens
India is the land known for
its rich culinary history, where the use of spices predominates cooking in
every kitchen. These spices not only lend aroma, color and flavor to your
dishes, but also have an array of health benefits and curative properties. This
is the very reason that they have been passed over generations as a part of
secret recipes belonging to cuisines of various regions of the country. Each
spice has one or more potent compounds, which make it effective for combating
one or more ailments and health conditions. As a result, we have been using
some of these herbs and spices as a part of alternative medicine, besides day
to day cooking.
Listed below are the top 10 healing spices in Indian kitchens:
1. Turmeric
(Haldi)
One of the most widely used
healing spice in the Indian kitchens is the rich golden spice called turmeric.
Curcumin, the potent anti oxidant found in turmeric is widely known for its
curative properties, like treatment of internal injuries and fractures,
external cuts and wounds, skin allergies, digestive problems like gas and
bloating, cough and congestion. It also acts as ant repellant.
2. Fennel
(Saunf)
Another refreshing spice
easy to be found in Indian kitchen is the traditional mouth freshener called
fennel, which is useful for healing digestive troubles like colic, gas,bloating and indigestion. You can also use it for alleviating cough, cold and
sore throat.
3. Cumin
(Jeera)
Cumin is a popularly used
spice, which adds aroma and flavor to food, besides providing immediate relief
from digestive problems like diarrhea, indigestion and stomach pain. Conditions
such as anemia, common cold and menstrual problems can also be treated using
cumin.
4. Asafetida
(Hing)
Asafetida is a pungent
smelling spice, occupying an important place in the spice box of every Indian
kitchen. It makes food delicious and additionally, promotes digestion and
treats digestive problems such as gas, bloating and stomach ache. It is used as
a home remedy for infant colic by dissolving in water and applying it on the
stomach of infants.
5. Cinnamon
(Dalchini)
A popular Indian spice used
for adding flavor to food and drinks is cinnamon, which also has an established
benefit of controlling blood sugar levels. Additionally, it can be used to
alleviate conditions like nausea, urinary infections, tooth decay, digestive
ailments and diarrhea.
6. Cardamom
(Elaichi)
Cardamom is another
essential kitchen spice in India, which lends an amazing flavor and heavenly
odor to foods and drinks. Besides flavor enhancement, it has additional
benefits like relieving indigestion, flu, cold, cough, headaches and sorethroat.
7. Cloves
(Laung)
Next on the list of healing
spices in Indian kitchen is cloves, which have been traditionally used to
combat dental problems like toothache and decay. It has anti bacterial and
expectorant properties, making it a natural way to treat congestion, gas trouble
and nausea.
8. Carom
Seeds (Ajwain)
The tiny seeds of carom are
an essential part of every Indian kitchen as they are used to give dishes a
unique flavor, in addition to getting rid of phlegm and chest congestion. Carom
seeds also promote digestive health.
9. Black
Pepper (Kali Mirch)
Black pepper is a strongly
flavored spice, which has been used traditionally for giving relief from
numerous ailments and health problems, including flatulence, bloating,
indigestion, cough and heaviness of stomach.
10. Red
chillies (Mirchi)
Another healing spice found
in each and every Indian kitchen is red chilli, popularly known as mirchi. It
has a medicinal compound called Capsaicin, which has effective pain relief
benefit. Red chillies are used to get rid of cold and yellow fever. They also
aid in weight loss as they stimulate fat metabolism.
All these cooking spices can
be used both as food and medicine as they have the ability to treat a large
number of health problems.
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