herbsandspices.food The reference guide to herbs and spices
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🌿 Herbs

Basil, coriander, thyme, curry leaves and every leaf worth cooking with.

46 pages in this section

Angelica
The towering northern herb of candied stems and monastic liqueurs
Angelica is a giant, musky-scented herb of the carrot family from northern Europe. Its stems are candied for cakes and trifles, and its roots and seeds flavour gin, vermo…
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Basil
The sweet, clove-scented king of summer herbs
Sweet basil is a tender annual of the mint family, prized for its warm, clove-and-anise scent. It is the soul of pesto and Italian tomato cookery, and it bruises, blacken…
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Bay leaf
The quiet background note in stocks, stews and custards
Bay leaves come from the bay laurel, an evergreen Mediterranean tree. Used whole in stocks, stews and sauces, they add a subtle herbal, resinous depth and are removed bef…
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Borage
Cucumber-flavoured leaves and bright blue, star-shaped flowers
Borage is a hardy annual with hairy, cucumber-scented leaves and edible blue star-shaped flowers, used in summer drinks, salads, Ligurian fillings and Frankfurt green sau…
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Celery leaf
Leaf celery and smallage, the herb-like face of celery
Celery leaf comes from leaf celery or smallage, a thin-stalked, intensely flavoured celery grown for its leaves and used in soffritto, Greek and Portuguese soups and Chin…
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Chervil
The delicate, lacy herb of spring
Chervil is a delicate, lacy annual of the carrot family with a sweet, subtle flavour of parsley and aniseed. A key part of French fines herbes, it wilts quickly and must …
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Chives
The gentlest onion
Chives are the smallest culinary onion: a hardy perennial grown for its slender, hollow, mildly oniony leaves and pretty purple flowers. Snip them raw over eggs, potatoes…
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Coriander (cilantro)
The world's most divisive herb
Coriander leaf, called cilantro in the Americas, is the fresh green of the plant that gives coriander seed. Bright, citrusy and loved across Asia and Latin America, it ta…
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Culantro
The saw-toothed leaf that tastes like coriander, only more so
Culantro is a tropical American herb with long, saw-toothed leaves and a powerful coriander-like flavour. It is key to Puerto Rican recaito, Trinidadian green seasoning a…
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Curry leaves
The aromatic leaf at the heart of South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking
Curry leaves are the glossy, aromatic leaves of a small tree in the citrus family, fried in oil to flavour South Indian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian dishes. They are unrelat…
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Dill
Feathery, sweet and essential to northern and eastern Europe
Dill is a feathery annual of the carrot family with a sweet, grassy, faintly aniseed flavour. Fronds flavour fish, potatoes and yoghurt from Scandinavia to Iran; the flow…
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Elderflower
The creamy, muscat-scented blossom of the early summer hedgerow
Elderflower is the frothy white blossom of the elder tree, picked in early summer for cordial, fizz, fritters and gooseberry desserts. Only the flowers and cooked ripe be…
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Epazote
The pungent, resinous herb of Mexican black beans
Epazote is a strongly scented Mexican herb with a pungent, resinous, slightly medicinal flavour, traditionally cooked with black beans, quesadillas and corn dishes. Use i…
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Fennel
Feathery, aniseed-sweet fronds, wild stalks and golden pollen
Fennel the herb is a tall, hardy perennial of the carrot family grown for its feathery, aniseed-scented fronds, stalks and pollen. Wild fennel is essential to Sicilian pa…
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Fenugreek leaves (methi)
Bitter, savoury greens with a maple-syrup scent
Fenugreek leaves, called methi, are the bitter, aromatic leaves of the fenugreek plant, used fresh as a vegetable and dried as kasuri methi in Indian, Pakistani and Persi…
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Holy basil
Tulsi: the sacred, clove-scented basil of India and Thailand
Holy basil, or tulsi, is a hairy, clove-scented basil sacred in Hinduism and grown in countless Indian courtyards. In Thailand, as kaphrao, it is the fiery star of the st…
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Hyssop
A bitter, minty herb of the Tudor garden and the absinthe still
Hyssop is a hardy, blue-flowered herb of the mint family with a bitter, minty, camphorous flavour. It was once a common kitchen herb and is still used in absinthe and som…
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Lavender
The fragrant herb that belongs in the kitchen, sparingly
Lavender is a Mediterranean shrub of the mint family whose flowers bring a floral, resinous note to shortbread, honey, custards and lamb. Use culinary English lavender, i…
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Lemon balm
The gentle, bee-friendly lemon herb of the mint family
Lemon balm is a hardy, easy-going perennial of the mint family with soft, lemon-scented leaves. It is used fresh in teas, salads, fruit dishes and light sauces.
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Lemon verbena
The most intensely lemon-scented of all herbs
Lemon verbena is a South American shrub whose narrow leaves have a vivid lemon sherbet scent. It is used mainly in teas, syrups, custards and other sweet infusions.
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Lemongrass
The citrus-scented grass of Southeast Asian cooking
Lemongrass is a tropical grass whose pale lower stalks give a clean, lemony perfume to Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and Indonesian curry pastes, soups and marinades.
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Lovage
A giant perennial that tastes of intense celery
Lovage is a tall, hardy perennial of the carrot family whose leaves, stems and seeds taste of strong celery with a hint of yeast. A little adds depth to soups, stocks, po…
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Makrut lime leaves
The double leaf that gives Thai cooking its citrus perfume
Makrut lime leaves are the glossy, figure-of-eight leaves of a Southeast Asian citrus tree, used to perfume Thai curries, soups and salads with an intense, clean lime aro…
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Marjoram
Oregano's sweeter, gentler sister
Sweet marjoram is a tender Mediterranean herb closely related to oregano but sweeter, milder and more floral. It is a staple of German and central European cooking, espec…
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Mint
Cool, sweet and impossible to keep in its place
Mint is a group of vigorous perennials whose leaves carry cooling, sweet aromas. Spearmint dominates cooking, peppermint confectionery; both spread by runners and will ta…
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Mugwort
The bitter wayside herb of German roast goose and Asian rice cakes
Mugwort is a tall, hardy perennial of the daisy family with a bitter, sage-like aroma. It is the traditional herb for German roast goose, and related Artemisia species co…
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Myrtle
The fragrant evergreen of Sardinia, Corsica and the Mediterranean scrub
Myrtle is a fragrant Mediterranean evergreen shrub whose leaves and dark berries flavour Sardinian mirto liqueur, spit-roast suckling pig, game and Corsican cooking.
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Oregano
The pizza herb, and one of the few better dried than fresh
Oregano is a hardy Mediterranean perennial whose leaves taste warm, peppery and slightly bitter. Unusually, it is often better dried. Greek oregano is the strongest; Mexi…
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Pandan
The 'vanilla of Southeast Asia'
Pandan is the long, bright green leaf of a tropical screwpine, used across Southeast and South Asia to give rice, cakes and sweets a nutty, grassy, vanilla-like fragrance…
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Parsley
The indispensable green of European cooking
Parsley is a biennial of the carrot family grown for its fresh, grassy, slightly peppery leaves. Flat-leaf and curly types appear in almost every European cuisine, from t…
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Pennyroyal
A pungent little mint with a Portuguese kitchen and a toxic oil
Pennyroyal is a small, creeping European mint with a sharp, minty, camphor-like flavour, used in Portuguese bread soups and Spanish teas. Its essential oil is dangerously…
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Rosemary
Resinous, needle-leaved herb of the Mediterranean coast
Rosemary is an evergreen Mediterranean shrub with needle-like leaves and a strong, piney, camphor-laced scent. It is the classic herb for lamb, roast potatoes and focacci…
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Rue
The bitter herb of grace, used by the leaf and handled with gloves
Rue is a pungent, intensely bitter Mediterranean herb once common in Roman cooking and now used sparingly in grappa, Ethiopian coffee and a few dishes. Its sap can burn s…
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Sage
Velvety, savoury herb for fat, pork and brown butter
Common sage is a hardy, grey-leaved Mediterranean shrub with a musky, slightly bitter, camphor-laced flavour. It is made for rich foods: pork, sausages, stuffing, brown b…
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Salad burnet
A neat little perennial that tastes of cucumber
Salad burnet is a small, hardy perennial of the rose family whose lacy leaves taste of fresh cucumber. It is one of the seven herbs of Frankfurt green sauce and, as pimpi…
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Savory
The peppery 'bean herb' of Europe
Savory is a peppery, thyme-like herb of the mint family, grown as annual summer savory and perennial winter savory. It is the classic European herb for beans and pulses.
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Shiso
The minty, cumin-edged leaf of Japanese cooking
Shiso is a leafy herb of the mint family with a flavour between mint, basil and cumin. Green shiso is served with sashimi and sushi; red shiso colours umeboshi pickles.
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Sorrel
The leaf that tastes like a squeeze of lemon
Sorrel is a sharp, lemony leafy herb of the dock family, prized in French and Eastern European cooking for sauces and soups. Its sourness comes from oxalic acid.
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Stinging nettle
The weed that becomes a spring vegetable the moment it meets hot water
Stinging nettle is a common hardy perennial whose young spring tops, once cooked, lose their sting and make deep green soups, risottos, pies and a wrapping for Cornish Ya…
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Sweet cicely
The aniseed-sweet herb that tames rhubarb
Sweet cicely is a hardy perennial of the carrot family with soft, fern-like leaves that taste of sweet aniseed. Cooked with rhubarb or gooseberries it softens their sharp…
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Sweet woodruff
Waldmeister: the woodland herb that smells of new-mown hay
Sweet woodruff is a low, shade-loving perennial whose leaves develop a sweet scent of hay and vanilla as they wilt. In Germany it flavours Maibowle, the May wine punch, a…
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Tarragon
The aniseed aristocrat of French sauces
French tarragon is a narrow-leaved perennial with a sweet, aniseed-and-hay flavour, the essential herb of béarnaise sauce. It sets no seed; seed-grown Russian tarragon is…
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Thai basil
Purple-stemmed, anise-scented basil of Southeast Asia
Thai basil is a variety of sweet basil with purple stems, narrow leaves and a strong anise-liquorice scent. It holds up to heat better than Italian basil and is essential…
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Thyme
The small-leaved backbone of slow cooking
Thyme is a low, woody Mediterranean shrub with tiny, intensely aromatic leaves. Warm, earthy and slightly medicinal, it survives long cooking and drying better than almos…
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Vietnamese coriander
Rau răm, the peppery-coriander leaf of Southeast Asia
Vietnamese coriander, or rau răm, is a Southeast Asian knotweed with a flavour like coriander with pepper and lemon. It is the essential leaf in laksa and Vietnamese chic…
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Wild garlic
Ramsons, the garlic-scented carpet of spring woodland
Wild garlic, or ramsons, is a woodland plant whose broad leaves carry a mild garlic flavour in spring. It is foraged for pesto, soups and butter, but has several poisonou…
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