Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Uses of Herbs

An herb is a plant with no stem which is valued for its flavor and is a part of vegetable species used for cooking and medicinal purpose. Any part of the plant like leaves, bark, flowers or stem can be used for such purposes. Herbs used for medicinal purpose are more in demand than the other ones. They are used for cooking purpose for adding taste in the food along with medicinal benefits. They can be grown in our garden; nowadays herb gardens are taking place instead of the ornamental ones.

There are many kinds of herbs and a simple way to narrow them is to categorize them on their uses like Culinary, medicinal and ornamental.

Culinary herbs are the ones which are used for cooking. They are delicious and add a great taste to the food. They can be easily grown. Some of them are Stevia and Lemongrass. Stevia can be used instead of sugar and is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar. Lemongrass is a scented and flavored one with a mild lemon flavor.

Right from ancient traditional times, herbs are used to for healing. Some classic examples of healing with herbs are as below:

--> Jewelweed serves as a perfect remedy for all sorts of skin irritations such as poison ivy.
--> Marsh mallow, while used for landscaping, also is used as eyewash.
--> Mullein, Lemon Balm, Sage, Elderberry and Slippery Elm are most commonly used herbs against Swine and Bird Flu.
--> Plantain is most often used for stings and bites and is known for quick relief.
--> Nettles fall under the tonic herbs. They are very nourishing and offer nutritional boost to diet. They are also used as a blood purifier and are high in iron and potassium.