Health Benefits of Spices

Once the spices and herbs were a very precious commodity as much as today have precious gold and oil (the word "spice", in fact, comes from the Latin species, “money”), today they are wonderful resources for our health and for our table. Not only, in fact, surprisingly they enrich our dishes, but also have various beneficial and curative properties, and thanks to their intense aroma are also used as the basis of various cosmetic products for body care.

The spices vary depending on the weather and geographical areas featuring so the flavors, aromas and colors of the typical dishes of different countries: we think of the most
common herbs in the western Mediterranean, egg. sage, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, basil, chili, etc., or to the more exotic commonly used in India or in the Arab countries, such as coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and many more.

Nutrition experts tell us that the herbs and spices greatly enhance the effects of antioxidant vegetables. Remember therefore always add a little to your side dishes and salads, as our dear old “Mediterranean diet” suggests!

Here are some ideas to use the most common herbs in the kitchen and make your most tantalizing dishes:

Marjoram: typical grass of the traditional Ligurian cuisine, try it in the stuffed zucchini, sweet and sour salad with grated carrots, apples and hazelnuts, or with tomatoes, fresh onion and anchovies, accompanied by black bread ... a delight.

Oregano: intense aroma, add it to the salad mixed, for example with San Marzano tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and green peppers, or a salad made with oranges, fennel and black olives. It is also an excellent preservative for soups, pickles.

Basil: there are many varieties, each with its own characteristic aroma. The basic ingredient of the wonderful pesto sauce, is normally paired with fresh tomatoes, but it is to try to smooth or zucchini frittata, along with mint.

Chives: somewhere between garlic and onion, its delicate and aromatic flavor is perfect in salads, for example. Made with Belgian endive, escarole, arugula and corn salad. Fresh use it whenever possible!

Mint is digestive, refreshing, excellent in salad of strawberries and raspberries, perfect combined with melon and chocolate. But try it as we said together with oregano in dishes made with zucchini, with Iceberg and anchovies, or to flavor the salad of cucumbers and yogurt.

Spices are also a valuable resource for reducing the use of salt, as it enhances the flavors and give more taste and liveliness to the dishes. They are so many and so allow you to vary more flavors and combinations, driving out of food ruts: So you also experienced every day new combinations, perhaps involving your kids in a game of exploration and discovery of new flavors.

Remember though, as we say nutrition experts, it is also important to know how to combine spices with each other to maximize its benefits!

Turmeric and black pepper
Turmeric, also known as 'Indian saffron' for its intense yellow color, is extracted from a small root from the orange color of the same ginger family, whose active ingredient, curcumin, proved to be a powerful antioxidant, 300 times higher to that of vitamin E! Therefore, used turmeric, if you want to always keep you young! As we have already said previously, however, the curcumin is not effective unless it is not associated with the black pepper, as used alone is not absorbable. Remember this in the kitchen!

Saffron and turmeric
Saffron and turmeric are a powerful combination to prevent eye stress, fatigue from video terminal and reading, or to night vision problems (in ophthalmology saffron has proved very effective in preventing the death of photo receptors in models neuro degeneration (IOVS 2008) and the combination of saffron, turmeric and black pepper can be a great help to combat macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa). As we have learned, however, remember to always add a pinch of black pepper to the mix!